It's feeling a little like the yard barn project, reincarnated, around our house these days. We have started a "little" backyard renovation project. And by "we," I mostly mean Joel.
The kids absolutely love to eat outside. Love it. Sadly, our little 10x10 backyard patio isn't big enough for the grill and a patio dining set so every time we want to eat outside, we have to drag the card table around back. It's super annoying. Plus the card table is in pretty shabby condition and the vinyl on top has been repaired with scotch tape in multiple locations.
So, it's either go buy another card table OR dig a 12'x25' hole nine inches deep, make several trips to various locations to get rid of the dirt, rent a jackhammer to break up the concrete patio, figure out where to put this busted up concrete and then, four truck loads later, haul it away, haul away two truck loads of the pea gravel that was under the concrete slab, have 9 tons of regular gravel delivered to the driveway, haul the gravel to the back yard, rent a giant compactor to settle the gravel, have 5 tons of sand delivered to the driveway, haul it to the back yard, haul 250 huge pavers to the back yard, painstakingly arrange the pavers in the correct pattern, order some patio furniture from Sam's Club and badda bing, badda boom, we can have dinner outside any time we want to. Needless to say, we opted for the second option. Slightly more expensive and time consuming than the first but (hopefully) worth it in the long run.
As you can clearly see, Tyler has been a HUGE help in the project. He never put pea gravel back on top of dirt that was just cleared out. He also never put dirt on top of the fresh gravel. And he definitely never put pea gravel and fresh gravel in the grass where it doesn't belong. Also, he never tripped over the strings that are marking a level surface and skinned his knees such that he was in need of a new bandaid every 5 minutes. See what I mean? Big help!!!
I love how he's wearing boots and shorts - cause Daddy was wearing boots so he needs to wear boots. Also, I love how his boots are on the wrong feet.
Oh and did I mention that we also decided to dig out two feet on either side of our drive way so that we can put pavers down there as well? Since we both park our vehicles in the driveway, there's not a lot of room to get in the car without walking in the grass. This is SUPER annoying, particularly in the spring and fall when the grass is wet and the ground is soft and your heels sink into the mud while strapping the kids in their car seats.
We're currently in the gravel compacting stage and then on to the sand hauling and paver placing phase of the project - Joel thinks we've entered the home stretch. Gawd, I hope so. Otherwise, by the time we're done, it'll be July or August and 105 degrees outside and no one will want to eat out there.
The kids absolutely love to eat outside. Love it. Sadly, our little 10x10 backyard patio isn't big enough for the grill and a patio dining set so every time we want to eat outside, we have to drag the card table around back. It's super annoying. Plus the card table is in pretty shabby condition and the vinyl on top has been repaired with scotch tape in multiple locations.
So, it's either go buy another card table OR dig a 12'x25' hole nine inches deep, make several trips to various locations to get rid of the dirt, rent a jackhammer to break up the concrete patio, figure out where to put this busted up concrete and then, four truck loads later, haul it away, haul away two truck loads of the pea gravel that was under the concrete slab, have 9 tons of regular gravel delivered to the driveway, haul the gravel to the back yard, rent a giant compactor to settle the gravel, have 5 tons of sand delivered to the driveway, haul it to the back yard, haul 250 huge pavers to the back yard, painstakingly arrange the pavers in the correct pattern, order some patio furniture from Sam's Club and badda bing, badda boom, we can have dinner outside any time we want to. Needless to say, we opted for the second option. Slightly more expensive and time consuming than the first but (hopefully) worth it in the long run.
As you can clearly see, Tyler has been a HUGE help in the project. He never put pea gravel back on top of dirt that was just cleared out. He also never put dirt on top of the fresh gravel. And he definitely never put pea gravel and fresh gravel in the grass where it doesn't belong. Also, he never tripped over the strings that are marking a level surface and skinned his knees such that he was in need of a new bandaid every 5 minutes. See what I mean? Big help!!!
I love how he's wearing boots and shorts - cause Daddy was wearing boots so he needs to wear boots. Also, I love how his boots are on the wrong feet.
Oh and did I mention that we also decided to dig out two feet on either side of our drive way so that we can put pavers down there as well? Since we both park our vehicles in the driveway, there's not a lot of room to get in the car without walking in the grass. This is SUPER annoying, particularly in the spring and fall when the grass is wet and the ground is soft and your heels sink into the mud while strapping the kids in their car seats.
We're currently in the gravel compacting stage and then on to the sand hauling and paver placing phase of the project - Joel thinks we've entered the home stretch. Gawd, I hope so. Otherwise, by the time we're done, it'll be July or August and 105 degrees outside and no one will want to eat out there.
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