Building a Play Area - Part 2

At the end of Part 1 the play area had been framed and the fence had been installed but the area inside the frame was still uneven and sloped. The next step was to add some (5 cubic yards) landscape soil to the lowest area to bring it up closer to level. I forgot to take a photo of the mountain of soil that was delivered before I moved it all to the backyard and racked it in to place, but take it from me, it was heavy and difficult to move!

Landscape soil raked in to place

We had scheduled the delivery of the top layer of "playground mulch" for two days after the landscape soil to give me a chance to get the soil moved in to place but I was thankful that the delivery happened early in the morning a day later that we had planned as we avoided a big thunderstorm that would have made the mulch much heavier and harder to move. The photo below shows the mulch mountain.

Mount Mulch

The mulch was easy to move with my trusty ice scraper (I could scoop about three times more with the ice scraper than I could with a normal shovel) and by 10am on Friday it was all racked in to place.

Mulched and ready to go!

This photo from above shows the very nearly finished play area with just the gate to finish over the weekend.

The view from above

The major part of the project was finished just in time as Jack's first big outdoor toy arrived about 4 hours after the mulch was racked in to place. Check back soon to see Jack use his playground for the first time.

Building a Play Area - Part 1

Because Jack is a little boy that loves to climb on things, slide down slides and swing in swings, he of course needs a playground of his own in our back yard. For most families with a house that has a decent sized back yard, installing something to climb or swing on and slide down would be as simple as selecting the items, having them delivered and then following the pages of instructions to put them together. But, of course, we are the Mulley's and nothing is ever that easy!

We love our house but the back yard is on a slope, quite a significant slope which isn't illustrated all that well in the photo below. So, I decided I'd need to level an area of the yard to allow a swing set and some type of climbing frame and slide to be installed safely.

If you look closely you can see the string between those posts.

After some measuring (and research on materials) I settled on an area 24 feet by 16 feet and set about trying to determine how much of a slope I'd have to level. The photo above shows the "stakes and string" method that I used to determine that over the 16 feet from back to front there was 21" of slope! This meant that the front of the retaining wall that I'd need to build would be nearly two feet off the ground and that I'd need to fence the area in to ensure that Jack didn't fall out.

I scribbled a design down on paper and calculated the number of 8 foot pieces of lumber and the number of 8 foot fence panels I would need and got some quotes. I would have loved to support a local company, but when their quote was nearly 60% more than Lowes they unfortunately didn't get my business. Lowes delivered 52 pieces of 4"x4"x8' lumber and 10 fence panels the following day.

Scout wondered if I was building her a Molly-free house

I framed out the area of the yard and found a spot that I was happy with.

If the yard was flat I could have stopped here!

I dug holes on Friday evening around the base pieces along the back and quickly found that the trees from the neighbors yard had roots extending at least 15 feet in our yard, some of which were barely below the surface and required a lot of work to break/cut and remove. It took over 2 hours to sink and level the three pieces of lumber along the back wall of the play area!

Luckily the rest of the digging was root free and once I worked out how to best stagger the pieces along the side the frame quickly (read: all day Saturday) took shape.

Molly wondering when the roof of her new kennel would be installed

On Monday I installed the fence posts and put the fence up

Fort Mulley is taking shape

Here is a look inside the fenced in play area before the soil and mulch goes in and the area is finally level.

Here you can really see how sloped the yard was

To be continued...

Ooops, I Did It Again....

Unfortunately, we have been keeping a little secret from our friends and family for quite a while now.  We want to start off by apologizing for all the fibs, half-truths and flat-out lies that we have been telling you, but please know that it was all for good reason. 

We couldn't be more excited to tell you that we are welcoming the newest Mulley to our family this fall!  Baby Mulley #2 is expected to arrive November 4, 2012.

Here's what's been going on...

26 Feb:  I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.  YAY!  That night, as Dave was putting Jack to bed, I overheard them talking on the baby monitor.  Dave said to Jack, "Are you ready to be a big brother?  I just know you are going to be so good and will love your baby brother or sister." Melt my heart!  And the lack of control over my emotions begins!

9 Mar:  Had to go into the doctor a little earlier than expected as I was having some cramping and spotting.  Got an early ultrasound and some blood work.  Everything looked okay, but I would be going back for a follow-up appointment in a couple weeks.

11 Mar:  Started feeling a little bit nauseous, but nothing too big of a deal.  No vomiting, just a yucky feeling here and there.

13 Mar:  Med with the OB Nurse to discuss medical history.  Got some more blood work done.  When I left I look like I had been in a knife fight the bruising was so bad.

this was taken over a week after they drew blood...

 15 Mar:  Bunco night in the neighborhood.  I didn't drink and was immediately asked if I was pregnant.  I lied!  (Sorry neighborhood friends!)

16Mar:  Happy hour at a local bar with friends.  I didn't drink.  Told everyone that I had consumed too much at Bunco the night before.  (Sorry Marcus, Tati, Rob, Rick, Deron and Jess!)  Why the heck is everyone inviting me out to drink now.  I haven't had an invite to drink it months!

19 Mar:  Had my follow-up appointment from my ultrasound on the 9th.  This ultrasound found a healthy little embryo with a heartbeat (YAY!) and also something else in my uterus.  Maybe another gestational sac?  Doctor said we'd keep an eye on it.

24 Mar:  Threw up for the first time.  I was at a race with Dave and desperately needed to use the restroom.  The obnoxious race volunteers wouldn't let me use the real bathrooms inside so I had to use the porta-potty.  As soon as I had one foot in the outhouse, I lost my lunch!  I don't do well in a porta-potty on good days...especially not when I've been experiencing some nausea.  (Yes Rebecca, I was pregnant.  I laughed off your comment at the time.  I apologize for the fib.) 

29 Mar:  Ultrasound.  This was supposed to be my first, but I had some complications earlier.  No changes with the other UFO in my uterus, but the baby looked healthy and has a strong heartbeat.  Doctor said I'm measuring right with my due date of November 4. 

19 Apr:  Mom straight-up asked me, "Are you working on Mulley #2?"  I lied, "Nope."  (Sorry, Mom!)

20 Apr:  Went in for my monthly "belly check".  All my numbers looked great, said the doctor and I got to hear the heartbeat with the doppler.  Such a sweet sound!  All is looking good.  Mom was visiting so I took this opportunity to tell her about our newest addition.  I gave her a picture frame with all SIX of her grandkids' pictures.  Needless to say, she was thrilled for us!

*I typically blog while Jack is napping, but lately I have been taking advantage of Jack's naptime to do a little napping of my own.  That is one of the reasons that the blogging has been a little sparse lately.  I'm hoping that blogging will pick up again now that I'm not quite as tired as I was there for a while.*

Medal

Wow, this is only my second post on this blog! I typically leave the blogging to Elizabeth, but I wanted to share this great photo from last weekend.

I ran a Half Marathon and was a little disappointed that I didn't make my goal time. That was until I got home and Jack took an interest in my medal. I asked him if he wanted to wear it and he replied "gesh, gesh" (which we take as "yes, yes" around here!).

I put the medal around his neck and his face lit up with a huge smile and he took off running to show Elizabeth. I finally managed to get him to stand still long enough to snap these photos - note the beaming smile!

I am not sure who had the bigger smile for those few minutes - me or Jack, but he certainly brightened my mood for the rest of the day.

My Milkshakes Bring All the Boys to the Yard...

Okay, well not my milkshakes but Bruster's milkshakes certainly bring Jack to the couch.  Dave got a milkshake the other day and since Jack really likes to share things, he was more than happy to help Daddy with his milkshake (even though Jack had already had his own scoop of ice cream).  Daddy got a little tired of sharing and was worried that he wasn't getting his fair share so he told Jack, "It's all done, let's go put it in the sink".  Jack took hold of the milkshake and helped Daddy take it to the sink.  Here is what happened next...




Jack is no fool.  He knew there was still plenty of milkshake left!

Wagon Rides Around the 'Hood

We have been trying to take advantage of all the beautiful weather we have been having lately, so today we decided to go on a wagon ride around the block.  Dave wouldn't allow me to sit in the wagon with Jack so I acted at the historian and took some pictures of our journey:

oh, hang on, let me get my cup put away

looking good

uh, maybe I need a little more to drink

Daddy and Jack out for a stroll

acting like he's in a parade saying "hi" to everyone we meet

Jack Does Chores

At the ripe old age of 16 months, Jack already has some chores that he is expected to help out with around the house.  One of which is getting the laundry to the laundry room.  Obviously, he can't get the basket down the stairs, but soon he will be able to chuck the dirty clothes over the banister and then he can get them downstairs (I kid, I kid...or do I?).  Once we get the laundry basket down the stairs, Jack pushes it from the stairs to the laundry room.  This week, he also decided that he wanted to put the clothes in the washing machine, too.  Shwew!  Having him help, sure does take a lot of extra time!

I'm coming to get  you and I've got a basket full of stink with me!