The Summer of the YARD

Last year we spent most of our time working on the interior of our house.  It's come a long way and it feels like our own. For 2013, we're going outside.

Late last year, just before snow started blowing, we ripped down the fence on east side of our house. It was falling over so badly that previous residents had chained it to a tree. I enlisted the brawn of our friend John and a bit of help from my li'l guy. Cooper LOVES to get in the middle of whatever we're doing. Especially if it's Dad and power tools, a rake, a shovel, the list goes on.

He'll get his tools (for a while it constituted a stack of hammers) and get right down in the middle of everything. It makes getting stuff done next to impossible. This afternoon we worked in the yard and I nearly took off his foot with a shovel or smacked him with a hammer a few times. It's nerve-wracking, darling, terrifying and endearing all in the same instant. Hopefully, he's learning something... at least not to bonk yourself in the head with a rubber mallet. 

So, back to my original point... We've declared it, "The Summer of the Yard."

First on the list is Cooper's Pirate Ship.

Yes... One of these:

It may not sail the Spanish Coast, but it'll do fine plying the alleys near Lee Street. I'd like to say I'm not encouraging this, but I am... I'm just about as desperate as he is.  And every time he calls out, "Raise the sail, matey!" it only concretes my resolve.

The plans are on order, but first we have to move a playhouse, level the yard... and the list goes on.