Something to do with all those cucumbers

Peel them, remove seeds and put them in a smoothie!   This is blueberry cucumber mint. Not bad at all!   Plus a bagel with coconut butter - YUM!

Catch up: good bye pool

I'm sure everyone remembers the pool.  This pool was probably put in about 25-30 years ago and like most things 25-30 years old, it needed attention.  We were ok with keeping the pool as long as it was cheaper to keep it then to deal with it, but last year, this happened.

The liner sprung a leak!  We did attempt to patch it, (by we, I mean Mark) but it didn't take.  It was time.  

It is not all that easy to fill in a pool.  It is more then just dumping a bunch of dirt in.  You want to make sure it is done correctly so you don't end up with a mud pit or a sink hole.  You also need to be aware of all the electrical aspects and plumbing.  We hired a local general contractor to get all this done.  It ended up costing slightly more than a new liner.  Maybe more than slightly, but definitely cheaper than renovating it!

First thing is first.  They rip up all the pool parts, the deck, etc, and throw it in the hole with some dirt.

Big trucks are everywhere!  We needed fill dirt and rocks!

The dirt and rocks are mixed together and then mixed into the hole.

Eventually, everything is flattened out with dirt on top.

It is so flat!

The graders also put down grass seed and hay.  This whole process took about two and a half days.  We also had an electrician come out and some one else to do some touch up work on the retaining wall.

So, it does seem strange to spend so much money getting rid of something.  But it is so nice to not have to worry about the pool!  The pool was not in use last summer and we really didn't miss it.  The kids are excited about the promised tree house.  Hope we can get to that soon!

Catch up - DC trip

For my first catch up post, we are going back to February when the kids had a four day weekend.   It was the perfect opportunity to visit our ex-neighbors who were spending a year in DC.  James and Andy were very excited and went ahead and packed their toys a couple of days early.  We were going to ride up with John and Christopher so Ms. Juliet was very stressed when she saw this picture.  I mean, how were we going to fit everyone in the car!

We left 6am on a Friday.  No, no one went back to sleep.

We made pretty good time on the way there, although we did have to stop a few times.

Although it was tempting to stay with the Turners in their 900 square foot apartments with their two adults and three kids plus our two adults and 4 kids, we opted to stay in a hotel.  This was James and Andy's first stay in a hotel (we are condo people) and they were really excited.

They were also excited to see their friends:  Henry, June, and JoJo.

The weather was going to be bad all weekend.  There was no way around it.  Day 1 we spend walking around the mall. 

The older boys loved it, the younger ones, not so much.  I forgot the number one rule of traveling with Andy.  You must have snacks!

Although James was only in Kindergarten at this point, he already seemed to know a lot about DC history.  I was so impressed!

Now, the real reason we came:  girl time and margaritas!  Thanks to Brandon for watching all SEVEN kids so we could go out.

Day 2 we went to the air and space museum.  Not the one off the mall, the big one by Dulles.  It was huge.  I was taken aback that they had the REAL Enola Gay.

They had cute programs for the kids like a paper airplane contest.  Can you believe it is someone's job to run these things?

Really, the kids just wanted to run around.

Monday found us heading home.  It had snowed pretty much all around DC, so we had an impromptu snowball fight at one of our stops.

Time back was 9 hours.  Christopher threw up all the way home, but I was driving so it wasn't my problem.  ;) 

It was a great adventure and I am so glad James and Andy had the opportunity to travel a little bit.  Thanks so much for showing us around Ms. Becky!