Days 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10!!

Phew! Sorry for the delay in posting an update, but I've been very, very busy with getting the Airstream ready for our trip. We leave in less than 2 weeks, and while I'm getting close to wrapping up the loose ends, I still have SO MUCH left to do!

BUT - I did finish the polish job. YEAH! After it was all said and done, I logged roughly 60 hours into the project. Fortunately I had help for about 20 of those hours. And a BIG help from my friends for donating spare shirts for my project. I couldn't have done this without the shirts of off their backs! (I needed extra cotton rags, and some good friends were willing to donate. Thanks!)


So you can see my homemade scaffolding here in this shot.

It was pretty safe, but I still nearly fell of twice :-)





It wasn't exactly OSHA-approved, but it enabled me to get to the higher places. It was really, really tough to get the top areas.


This is what it looked like pre-polishing. You can see the remnants of the original Wally Bynam number (9318). The number goes with the owner, not the trailer. I was able to track down the original owner, a man from Ft. Dodge, Iowa who bought the trailer in 1964 and sold it in 1980. I know that the next owner lived and kept the trailer in South Dakota from 1980-2006, when I bought the trailer and moved it here to Denver. You can see the 50-year old nameplate there on the front. It used to be a nice, royal blue color.



Once I had all of the top portion polished, I began work on restoring the nameplate.








Using a technique I use for pinewood derby cars, I masked the letters with painters tape.

She's ready for paintin'!


I found a very nice deep blue spray paint at Home Depot. It was the closest I could get to the original Airstream Blue. I figured 2-coats should hold up fine for a few years at least!




The final product, with the tape removed. You can see in this shot that I'm not quite done with the bottom portion. I decided to keep moving around the backside to focus on getting the highest spots done.

















Then for fun, I went out and got some "Glass Chalk" to customize my own Bynam numbers and add a quick little graphic to show everyone where we come from: 5280' - the Mile High City.

















It was a daunting task...and I'm glad I'm done!

















On a bit of a sad note, I found out that my Uncle Grady passed away over Memorial Weekend. This was my last weekend for polishing. I found myself reflecting on his life during my alone time, working on the trailer. He taught me many things in my life, and I always enjoyed catching up with him at family functions. He will be sadly missed. But I thank him for the time he spent with us, and for providing happy memories to keep me focused and directed during my last push. Thank you, Grady, for all that you were to us. I promise to do my part to allow your legacy to live on! a.Z.

Merry Christmas! ...from the Zimmer Fam!















From our family to yours, we wish you the very best this holiday season! May 2010 be filled with many blessings and incredible memories.
















Your friends in Christ...
Aaron, Kathy, Jade, Kaleb, and Kim
....and Gwen too!



:-)

Summer 2009 - Part Deux

Summer Camping - Lathrop State Park
















My Camping Girls -- All 4 of them















Hello! I hope this message finds you well, and that your summer is going as well as ours! Phew, has it been busy or what?

First things first, I've had several members of my family get married this summer, but unfortunately we have not been able to attend. But I wanted to give them a shout out and a BIG 'OL congrats! Hope that life is going well for you and your new adventures!

Here in Colorado, we have been very, very busy living life and exploring our great state. We spent our Xmas money on Elitch Garden passes, and have been having fun at the water park and riding the roller coasters. Life is good :-)


We've squeezed in a few camping trips so far, and are hoping for another 2 or so before the season is over. The kids are having a blast fishing...but still have coaxed one onto their own lines yet. I still have hope for them yet! As you can see, Gwen loves being in the outdoors, and can barely sit still :-)





We finally got the hitch hooked up for the Durango -- now we can use the Hemi to pull the Bullet!










Jade's getting busy with soccer. She has 3 tournaments this summer on her new team, and then will hit the regular season hard in the fall. Kaleb will start Roller Hockey this fall too!



I could ramble on all day, but personally I think photos are better....so here you go!

Summer 2009

Hello My Friends!

Okay, first things first. I guess it has been a while since I've posted any pics up here in cyberspace. For those of you who have been checking regularly to see the updates, I'm sorry. I guess our busy life got in the way. Truth is I've become a Facebook junkie, so if you're not already a friend of mine on that website, well, sign up and you can stalk the Zimmer Fam thru that website.

So here's a quick synopsis of our past year:
Fall '08 - Not much to say. Jade entered 4th grade. Kaleb entered 1st grade. Kim really enjoyed her time alone with Mom. The weather was decent and the weekends were filled with soccer.

Winter '08 - We were pretty busy in December. Didn't really get to go skiing until January. I busted my neck playing hockey, which ended my skiing season, and as I would later find out, my hockey career (bummer). But Kathy, Jade, and Kaleb got some good skiing time in. We also snuck up to Breck a few days to get in some swimming!



















Spring '09 - We kicked it off with Kimmee's 2nd b-day (Apr 7th), the Kat's 25th b-day (Apr 14th), the K-man's 7th b-day (May 1st). Jade will be turning 10 at the end of this month (Jun 29th) and I'll be hitting #35 in July. We've got a lot of camping and fishing trips planned, so stay tuned with pictorial updates from our adventures!








Kim had a blast at her b-day party!






















Life is still good here in D-town. So far we are surviving this recession...still looking for the economy to pick up. Jade just tried out (and made) the varsity girl's soccer team for U-11. She'll be on a traveling squad for the fall, playing mostly in-state teams. We're pretty proud of her and she's very, very excited. Kaleb starts roller hockey in the fall. Kim, she's just busy being C-R-A-Z-Y! We have no major trips planned in the horizon, although we may be trekking back to Nebraska soon to pick up some stuff from my parent's house. We're also considering a trip to K.C., but not sure yet. Other than that, we're just trying to keep our head above water!

The Zimmer Fam - Summer '09








Kim was there, she just didn't want to be in the picture!





Can you blame her?













Kaleb got a new pair of Heeley's from Par-Mar for his b-day. He's a skating fool now!









Jade had to build a castle for a school project this spring. She decided to make it edible! We used rice crispy treats, ice cream cones, licorice, and frosting!




Kaleb had to get a few more teeth pulled. This is his "Novacaine" smile :-)










Jade is turning 10 in June. She's a beautiful little girl!











Mama's boy!




























Kaleb earned his Tiger badge in Cubscouts and graduated to Wolf.












Par-Mar's visit in May.













Kaleb is very, very proud of his summer haircut!

Happy July 4th!

Hey there everyone. Well, we had a blast for my birthday! Sorry I didn't get these pics posted sooner, but I've been pretty busy around here. Kathy and I are leaving for New Orleans for the weekend (she has a Jazzercise conference), so I wanted to get these up and posted before I left.

We spent the day at Elitch Gardens which is a local amusement park. We had a blast! Yes, Kimmee did go, but she was hiding in this picture. She's behind Jade in the wagon!





I joined the older kids with riding a few rides before we hit the water park. We rode 3 rides that require you to be 48" or taller, but here's the thing. Kaleb is only 47" tall. So we stuff his shoes with socks so he can make the cutoff. He went 3 for 3 in the extreme rides. Yea! Here were are on the swings -- very extreme :-)

















We did get to do the Tower of Doom, which is an exiting free fall drop ride. Of course we had a blast!











Mom and Kim went to the water park. We joined up with them after riding our 3 rides and had a blast in the sun! Kim's enjoying one of many Slurpee drinks that we bought on that hot summer day.





A rare shot of Kim and Kaleb. How sweet!













We all had fun that day, but boy did it get hot! Nearly 100-degrees. Good times!



























We were barely out of the park when the kids crashed hard. It was all good!














Kaleb and I had some fun playing with the sparklers at night.


























I used the delay shutter speed option to capture his sparkler in motion. Very cool!










Oh yeah! Jade, Kaleb, and I did the death drop swing ride at Elitches. It cost $40, but was well worth the scream!








We joined up with some friends for the Rockies game that night. Awesome game! The Rocks won 18-17. Unbeleiveable! We got to see a grand slam -- an the Rockies never led the game until the bottom of the 9th inning.




Of course the main reason we went to this game was to enjoy the fireworks show. These shots were taken with my camera phone.






Now we're done with b-days for the year and ready to enjoy the rest of the summer.

ciao~ Look for my post from New Orleans!