Spring Yard Work Phase 1: Prepping for concrete

It's just that time of year when people get out into the sunshine to work on their homes. For us, it was no exception. Starting back in March, we began working on our yard to make it child-safe. It's been a long process, and it still isn't done, but here's what we've done so far:

This is the home when Tim was purchasing it back in 2005, the owner was a retired marine and spent lots of time meticulously manicuring the yards:

Here is the home in 2007. The landscape has not been maintained as scrupulously, but it still looks nice- maybe a little overgrown:

Here is the home in 2009, right before (like three days) before Madeleine was born, the fence is getting run down and the landscape has grown enormous (and so have I) over the 4 years Tim has owned the property:

Another June 2009 shot, the yard looks pretty good, green and flowery:

We knew we needed to add a pool fence for our kids to keep them from drowning. Then we realized that a pool fence around this pool would feel too enclosed, so we decided to rip out all the landscaping and concrete it to make a deck area. Once we got the deck in, the fence would be exposed, so we decided to build a new one. This is how it went:

What do you think, does this face make him look tough?

At least Sima found a cool spot in the shade while the rest of us worked tearing out landscape and dirt.

All in all, it was about 6 yards of dirt and two trees later that we were finally ready to pour concrete. On to Phase 2!