Project #2... The Retaining Wall

Jonathan transplanted all of the plants while Tom and I worked on the deck stairs. This is the side of the house everyone sees when they drive up the driveway. Pretty ugly huh? Well, the patched siding doesn't help matters either. To put in the retaining wall that the landscape designer planned was quoted at $12K. Gulp. There was no way we were going to fork out that much dough. So we decided to do it ourselves for a quarter of the price(with Tom and Sandy's help). Here is the "before" picture.

First step, paint the side of the house with tar to prevent water in the basement. Start bringing in some dirt; 5 yards of clean fill was delivered on Thursday morning (Aug 14th). When they brought the other 15 yards the next day, it was dropped too far away from the house... right where we wanted to build the wall. So Tom and I spent a few hours shoveling dirt away from the trench and closer to the house.

Isabelle felt like a big girl helping with the trench.

Jonathan is surveying the deliveries made on Friday... 4 yards gravel, 4 yards processed gravel, the actual stones, caps, fabric, drainage pipe, geogrids, etc.

A friend in the ward lent us his plate compactor. We learned a lot about building foundations. Everything has to be so exactly level and firm. Any deviation at the bottom and it just gets bigger as you go up. Tom did a great job leveling out the trench.

Someone has to read the instructions, right?

Our friend Lance came over to help out. You can see him kneeling down getting the next stone perfectly level while I direct the angle of the stone according to the "imaginary line" in my head.

Its shoveling time.

The kids think climbing up and down the dirt is great fun. Each of those bricks is roughly 80 pounds. I couldn't lift the bricks so I pinned them, shoveled gravel and dirt, and directed the menfolk.

Jonathan and Tom, victorious after our first day on the job. 5 Levels done. Quite the accomplishment for them.

I don't know how many hours Tom spent shoveling dirt back and forth, but he was always up and shoveling long before I woke up each morning.

By Monday night, we had seven layers done.

Keeping it level as we stepped up the slope was the tricky part.

Tuesday night Lance and Dave came over and helped us finish it. The caps are only laid on top, they still need to be cut to size and glued. And Jonathan and I have since decided to go up one more level, but it is mostly done.

So much better!!!!!

First Project - The Deck Stairs

The stairs to our deck were very steep so I was always worried about the kids falling. They were also ugly, narrow, and in a poor location. So we decided to do something about it. We built new stairs next to the old ones. I designed them and Jonathan's Dad and I built them together.

Here we are with the stringers attached and I'm starting on the kickplates. Now the kickplates are done and I'm starting the stair treads while Jonathan checks on our progress. In the meantime he is transplanting bushes on the other side of the house in preparation for the next project, the retaining wall.
How high are these posts supposed to be?
Here is a comparison of the old to the new.

The kids were fascinated by the new stairs.

Emily was being very patient in the stroller.

The steps are done (except the very bottom kickplate since that one will take some extra figuring).

Triumph!
The railings are done and Tom has demolished the old stairs.

Hooray! Much better!

Random pics...

Jonathan's Dad came out to visit us on July 30th with the plan to stay with us for a month and help us with a bunch of projects. The next posts will cover the progress on the projects, but here are some random pictures taken in the past couple of weeks.

Grandpa looks tuckered out. Maybe we've been working him too hard.

Or maybe the kids have tuckered him out as well as themselves.

I've been pretty tired lately too.

Isabelle has been great about holding Emily and keeping her happy while we are taking care of other things.

The first project to get done was the playground set that we've had partially built for almost a year now.

Every week Jonathan makes homemade pizza. Yum, yum.

I'm cutting Jonathan's hair...
...with an audience.

We forgot to check the garden for a couple of days and look what we have here. A zucchini as big as Emily. By the way, Emily weighed 12 pounds at her two month checkup last week.

You can't see him very well in this picture, but the brown thing in front of the peach tree is the woodchuck which keeps getting into our garden and orchard.
Here is my happy girl.

Blueberry Picking...

Saturday - July 26th
One of my favorite things about Connecticut is berry picking in the summer. Blueberries are the best to pick. They are so easy and tasty. In the past I haven't really been a blueberry fan, but we have found that blueberries from the orchard, frozen, are great in shakes. It is subtle, but it rounds out the flavor of a fruit shake. During the summer we make shakes at least once a week, sometimes more. Our kids beg for them often. Since fruit is healthy and the kids don't seem to mind the flax seeds and protein complex we add in, I don't mind serving them shakes often. As they get older, or as we have more children, we are going to have to start making two blenders worth each time.

Isabelle and Miriam did a fantastic job picking the "blue" berries and not the purple unripe berries this year, unlike last year. They loved it.

David had a lot of fun as well. Last year he sat and ate what everyone else was picking nonstop the entire time. I'm sure you can imagine his diapers over the next few days. Luckily, now that he is old enough to do his own picking, he couldn't go through nearly as many blueberries since it took him longer to pick his own. I was so glad since we have enough problems with his diapers (he has been having awful diarrhea for several weeks now, but the doctor said 2-yr olds often go through this stage).

Emily decided she wanted to get in on the action as well this time.

This particular orchard has their blueberries covered, though not all orchards do. I guess it depends on the variety of blueberry.

We love this orchard in part because they also sell freshly made ice cream. It is so nice to sit as a family and eat ice cream after an hour or so of labor. They also had a golden retriever. Again, Isabelle and David loved playing with the dog while Miriam sat on top of the table so the dog couldn't get to her. The dog had a stick and a gunney sack. She loved playing tug of war and even Jonathan and I got into the game. Sorry, no pics, just videos which I haven't figured out how to show here yet. David decided he didn't like the dog taking the stick or the sack so he would cry when the dog took one of them and then when the dog got distracted with the other, he would hide it. He was quite creative in his hiding too... across the building, into the greenhouse, and up on a table. It was hilarious to watch.

The Pool - July 16th

We decided to get passes to go to the town's pool during the summer. Luckily they have a separate kiddie pool for the little ones. Isabelle has always been our water baby. She loved the watering mushroom the most.
Miriam and David were happier not getting their heads wet.

Emily felt left out.

Someone left two yellow shovels there. David loved playing with them and threw a fit at the end when we made him leave them. Hee. Hee. Look at Jonathan's tan lines.