Patio Madness!

I brought my camera to work today to finally upload pictures. So here's some more! After enjoying the successes of our awesome brick walkway (here elegantly sprinkled with petals from our pear tree), we were ready to tackle the back patio!

And it is awesome. Trent did an amazing job and a little teamwork plus a whole bunch of perfectionism resulted in my new favorite place. Here is a close up of the handiwork with our lovely new ferns!

The nearly finished product!! Trent was still working on the back wall portion, but this is pretty much it. Isn't it awesome?! Sadie thinks so. It's been getting lots of use, almost every breakfast and dinner have been enjoyed out there. Here are some examples:

Trent, Joel (with Eaden, the awesome 11 month old) and Paul enjoying a bbq out on patio, last Sunday afternoon.

Alex and I enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon while his parents get a chance to finally eat with both hands. I am in love with this little person.

Joel and Eaden taking a stroll around the big backyard. That's our fantastic shed which chickens will be living to the left of shortly. And our newly refurbished garden boxes that are will hopefully do amazing things this summer. Not patio related, but cute.

Friday night, neighbors came over, with Thomas to build a bean-bag tossing game for their elementary school. Patio provided an excellent surface for highly technical construction. Thomas (assistant coach), Trent, Dave and Kristen (left to right).

Thomas and Kristen drilling the legs. Of course, Trent figured out a way for the legs to fold down. Awesome. You can kinda see in this picture that we had extra stones that we used to connect the gate to the back steps to the patio. It is more loosely arranged, so hopefully some moss will get in there and grow!

Here is another example of the in-between area. I really like it. There was a lot of standing around watching other people (or taking pictures of other people) working, but great conversation and new friends is always fun!

Eventually, Trent had to bust out his skills to finish up the project as it was starting to get late and I had a 10 mile race in the morning. We finished the whole thing from boards to game in about an hour and a half. With lots of beers and conversation. Hooray for the patio!!