Outside Weekend

Since this weekend was one of the first that we had been home in over a month, it was great to spend time outside and work on some projects.  One of the things that Tim wants to get done this summer is to fix the next section of grass in our yard.  "Fix" consists of killing off all of the grass, adding a ton of topsoil, leveling out that ton of topsoil, cultivating the whole thing and then reseeding.  Over the past week, Tim execute step one - kill all of the grass.  One of our friends had just dug out a patio so he had a lot of dirt and offered to give it to us.  Can't beat free dirt!

So the plan for this weekend was to spread out all of that dirt and try to level out the yard a bit.  Lucky for us, our neighbor down the street is a landscaper and happens to own lots of heavy equipment.  Including this cool little toy:

It was really fun at first, until it took all day long and stopped being quite so fun.

Nana and Poppa had brought over a big box that their new patio furniture came in for the kids to play in.  I dragged that upstairs from the basement and put it outside for the kids to camp in.  They gathered up their camping gear (a lantern and camera, to start) and spent the rest of the day playing in and around the box.

Aaron hung out in his stroller in the shade

They added a bunch more things to their camping trip, including a big bag of giant building bricks.

What a cute little monkey!

They asked to have lunch at their camp.  How could I ever say no to that?

Aaron had lunch too, and then settled down for a snooze in the fresh air.

Hours later and the dirt was mainly spread and the yard was level enough.  Tim was very glad to be done!

Before returning the tractor, the kids had to have a turn sitting on it.  Cameron asked if he could drive it.  We said no (although I think if I hadn't been there, there is a good chance Tim would have let him!).

Leah's turn on the tractor!

It was very nice to have a weekend at home and spend most of it outside.