Patio Project

Well, we finally did it. It was a scorching 100+ weekend, but Chris had an extra day off, so we put the labor in Labor Day this year. Thank heaven for my wonderful brother-in-law, Joshua, who cheerfully donated his time and talent. We started the patio expansion by marking off the area, and then the digging began. That's about the time I decided to go shopping. (Unfortunately, I'm being totally serious.) The first day that's about all we got accomplished. Day 2 (Sunday) we went to church bright and early and tried to get back to work before it got too hot. Fail. It was hot when we woke up. Anyway...we finished constructing the form for the concrete, leveled the area, filled with sand, and tamped it down. We were ready for concrete by that evening, but it couldn't be delivered until Tuesday morning because of the Labor Day holiday. Monday, we just took a break. Not too shabby. Tuesday Chris and I got up at 5:30. Ouch. Haven't seen that time of the morning since Little Toot started sleeping through the night. Concrete man arrived at 5:45 and it was still dark outside. This was nice because it wasn't too hot yet, but kinda stinky because it was still a bit difficult to see (especially for people with bad night vision, such as myself). We had read DIY blogs and watched YouTube videos for weeks, but you still don't quite know what to expect until you've done it once yourself. But everything considered, I think it went pretty well. It looks nice so far, and in a few days we'll be able to put our patio furniture in place and get some pretty, fall plants in pots out there and I'm sure I will LOVE it. Here's some pics of the process, and I'll put a few more up when it's "decorated!"