Getting Resourceful (Sunday, July 3rd, 2016)

After a nice day of rest, we headed out this morning again to help our kids settle into their new home one last time.  Our youngest daughter and her boyfriend both came home for the occasion, so we left the house at about 8:15 to go pick him up, and then headed down the road.  We all enjoyed Santiagos burritos in the car for breakfast (except for our youngest daughter who got scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese since she has to eat gluten free).

And when we got there, the work began once again. 

Our oldest daughter and her husband will be hosting a small fourth of July party tomorrow, so we wanted to make some of their space a little more usable for them.  And since they don't have a back yard yet (it's basically a mud pit because of all the rain they've been getting), I thought that would be a nice place for us girls to start.

Here is a shot of the back yard and patio area after the move-in.

I brought a push broom, but didn't really consider how stuck the mud would be, and of course the kids really don't have any yard tools yet.  So we headed across the street to the construction zone to see what kinds of tools we could find for scraping.  We found two wooden landscape stakes, which the girls both used.

And a banister which had been discarded for some reason.  It was actually the best tool of all.  It worked great and didn't give me any splinters.

We also worked a little bit to smooth out the mud so we could put in some sort of stepping stones to get from the back patio to the stairs that lead up to the deck.  Of course, this was done with rudimentary tools as well, because we didn't have any proper tools.

I had brought down a few flagstone stepping stones, hoping that it would be enough to make a path between the patio and the stairs, but as I started looking at the project, it really wasn't going to be enough.  So our youngest daughter and I headed back to the construction sight to see what else we could find.

This looks like it might work nicely!

And look at this great pallet!

It was so caked with mud that it was pretty heavy, but we did it!

It is coming together nicely!

We ended up using the flagstone on the other side of the patio, so it didn't go to waste

While we were in the backyard, trying to be resourceful, the men were all in the garage installing a garage door opener.  I think at the end of the day they will have been much more productive than us girls, but we're having a ton of fun, so it's okay.

Now that's what I call "Using your yoga block"

Hopefully this is better than it looks!

There was even a little time for a much needed lawn mowing before lunch.

Steve brought down his lawn mower since the kids don't have one yet

The local grocery store was very helpful in preparing lunch

The men are back at work again, but I think they almost have it.

By the end of the day, they had a pretty functional backyard, and a working garage door opener and a beautifully mowed front yard!



The even had the flag mounted on the front of their house!

I think we wore him out!  He slept all the way home.

It was all completed before the rain moved in again

What a great day!  All of us were together, and we got so much accomplished!