Memorial Day Weekend - TONS of Progress!

This was quite the busy week!  The week included some fun (field day, dance class, play date) and a lot of doctor/dentist appointments.  The kids did a very good job behaving this week so I was very grateful. 

The big news of the week though is the progress on the patio.  We started this work back in October so it's been a long time coming. 

My parents came down to help us and it was wonderful!  My mom watched the kids while my dad helped us on the patio.

We started out with adding more base gravel material and lots of tamping.  It takes a long time to get the slope correct over the whole surface - and many passes with the compactor.

Once the slope was correct, we added a layer of sand before starting the installation of the patio pavers.  

We decided on a herringbone pattern in the center of the patio with a straight border to make it look a little fancier. 

Due to our pattern, we needed to cut several pavers.  This was a very loud and dusty operation!

The majority of the work this weekend was back breaking.  There was so much shoveling, pushing heavy wheelbarrows, lifting, moving, and placing large wall blocks and hundreds of patio pavers.  Each of us easily carried tons (literally) of material.  I think we'll all be sleeping well and be very sore tomorrow!

We were able to finish the lower patio and lower wall.  We still need to install the steps, upper wall, upper patio, and fire pit. 

At the beginning of last week the area looked like this:

And now it looks like this (with some added gravel to the upper level):

It's going to be slow going to complete the patio with no help with the kids but Samantha was enjoying the lower patio today so maybe she'll entertain herself by riding her bike in circles!

I'll end this post with a picture of our big sleepy baby.  After carrying all those pavers, blocks, and wheelbarrows of gravel, he seems light!