Finished Deck!

Well we finally finished the deck.  It took a little longer to finish painting due to a couple rainy days but it's done. 

We stained the top rail and the deck boards brown and painted the vertical pieces (posts, balusters, beam, outer joists, stringers) white.  We're pretty happy with the result!

We put our furniture, grill, and planters back in place and we are ready for the summer!

We had our neighbors over last night and they talked about how much better the house looks since we've been here.  So I thought I'd show just this part of the house and how it's changed since we've owned it.

 

I think it's a vast improvement on the "Before" picture!  I still need to stain the planters but that shouldn't take long at all.

One other improvement in the house this week was the addition of furniture in the basement.  It just barely fits inside the posts but it is very comfortable.  Now we have a place to sit while Samantha makes play food for us!

We did have a lot of fun this week though.  Samantha and I went swimming on one of the very hot days.  We went to the lakefront concert for a picnic lunch (and had to get some ice cream afterwards!). The homebrew club at work had it's annual picnic so we all had fun there on Friday.  Our niece, Isabelle, had a basketball tournament in town so we got to see her play and visit with them.

Our big weekend event was the "Taste of Two Cities."  Over 40 food trucks from DC and Baltimore line up in a park.  We wish there were more trucks around here because they have some pretty great food!

We finally got to plant our garden as well - tons of peppers, tomatoes, and a few random items.  It took a long time to weed and till the garden but it was worth it!


I also did a couple domestic/parenting things this week.  I made two strawberry-rhubarb pies (my first time doing a "lattice" pie). 

And I made some "sponge balls" for Samantha to play with outside when it's hot. 

But it doesn't stop her from playing with them inside too!

We also played with "paint."  She's going to be quite the artist - look at the concentration on that face!

And of course she found her favorite bucket-hat again!

 

And finally, since my dad doesn't update his blog:
My parents have been working hard at the "River House" lately.  This weekend was a big demolition of the back addition of the house.  My brother and dad worked hard to remove this (falling down) structure.  They will be putting a slightly larger (and much better built) addition on back eventually.