Anyway - excavation is going along fine. We have hit a few snags, but nothing devastating. On day two, the excavator started to dig out the stumps and large rocks (and I mean LARGE) out of the new area. The only snag he ran into was our neighbor. We have a neighbor that was a little concerned about his property lines, but mostly is just nosy and wanted to see what was going on. We are well within our lines, but the guy is a retired cop and wanted to see what was new. This is the second time he has come onto the property and started wondering around. He was friends with the people who lived here before, and he probably did it then too. It makes me kind of uncomfortable and I am glad that Mat's family is in this week while he is making his visits. He talked to the excavator for awhile and then we chatted. He is a nice guy - just mostly lonely. He came back on Thursday and again on Friday but mostly because Mat really needed to set him straight on the property lines so he would stop coming around unannounced. So I think we are finally in a good place. Only time will tell!
Anyway, on Thursday, we hit a snag called two very, very large ledges (aka boulders) that the excavator cannot move. They are kind of in the middle of part of the yard we are digging out, but it will be fine. We think he can expose them a little and it will look nice and we can still get the yard we want. He also cleared a ton more large rock and our side yard on the side of our house (the part that seems to be making the neighbor the most nervous). Yes, we have a 9 acre yard, but most of it is to the back and left side of the house (by our driveway). We litterly have about 50 feet on the other side of the house between our house and were the neighbors property begins. But we are well under that on what we are doing. Anyway, the yard is going to be on two levels. We will have a lower yard and an upper yard. It is terraced due to 1: the boulders and 2: the slope that we are dealing with in the backyard. We are thinking of putting the playset and our garden and playhouse, etc. up there. That will leave most of the yard below for the kids to just run around and if we want to entertain (besides our deck).
Friday - snag was - at the end of the day, the excavator was rolling along and a piece of his machine came undone. He needs to have it replaced over the weekend. It is because of the unlevel of our backyard - he was on too much of a incline and something slipped. Not safe! Poor guy. But he did a lot of work this day. He took out all of the stumps and most of the logs off to the place that wanted the wood. This took him the whole day because he had to load his truck and then drive it about 45 minutes to the wood place and then back. The machine didn't break until late in the day, so he got a lot of work done. He will be back fresh on Monday to remove the last of the logs and level more of the ground. It is getting there - slow by sure. I think by the end of this week we will see a HUGE difference, and hopefully he will be close to being done.
We are really enjoying Mat's parent's visit. They leave tomorrow morning and I know we will be sad to see them go. And it was nice to have them here this week. They got to see the yard unfold, and Sally helped me wash almost every window in the house (we have like 22!). They are really clean! The house is coming along. Today Mat and his dad took down not one, but TWO satelitte dishes that were on the roof. Why you say? Because these people that lived here before did strange things. There were wires EVERYWHERE! But Mat braved the roof and took care of it. I took a short video below of the coming down of the one satelitte dish. I thought Mat was going to fall for sure. UGH! And Mat's dad cleaned out the gutters - they look so much better. I don't think that was ever done. I sprayed bleach on the mold that the people had let grow on the front porch and deck and that is all gone. Looks great! We will have this place in good shape in no time.
The kids are doing great. Enjoying the visit from their grandparents. They will be sad when they leave. The love the extra attention! Mat's aunt comes in on Wednesday, so they will be looking forward to that. They have been playing outside a ton. They love the swing set and sand box and just walking over the newly plowed yard. We are still taking daily walks. Mat's mom brought sidewalk chalk, so they had a lot of fun drawing with that, plus a sprinkler toy which they loved today, which was finally warm enough to use.
Finley learned a new word. "Booger" Isn't that nice? Arlington taught it to her. She is always touching her nose and she came to me the other day and said "booger in nose". Nice, right? Sigh. Gotta love the big sis teaching the little sis those kinds of words.
Arlington is doing great. On Thursday morning Sally and I took her to her new school for a tour so she could meet her Kindergarten teacher. She was so excited. But she was so quiet while we were there! So looked around the class and did a little hop while we were there to show her excitement. She saw the library (huge hit), the cafeteria, the gym, the art room, the music room. ALL favorites of hers. She was fasinated by the blackboards - never having seen ones so large. I am glad Sally got a chance to see the school and we got to ask a few more questions. I turned in all of her registration papers, so she is all set! The Kindergarten teacher could not be more nice and we have heard wonderful things about her. We won't know if she is in afternoon or morning Kindergarten until August. We just hope which ever it is, she is in the same class as the other little Kindergartener in our neighborhood. We also took Arlington to the library this week, as usual so she could get more books. If she could - Arlington would read every book they have there. I have to limit her because she loves them all.
Cainan is doing great as well. He is still adjusting to the new surroundings. He has always been a little timid when it comes to new things. He is getting along fine, but he needs to learn how to walk up and down our steps outside and step up in our doorway, and get his footing on the ground outdoors. But he is coming a long. He asks to hold my hand less and less. He hasn't braved climbing on the newly excavated area yet, but he will soon. He seems to love dirt.
Tomorrow Mat's parents leave and Mat and I have little jobs around the house. I am going to start priming our bedroom in preparation of getting it painted. We are doing a cranberry shade in there - similar to our old house. Anything is better than blue. So that will be the last big room upstairs and then we will just have to two bathrooms upstairs and the hall. Then I can move downstairs - yeah! The paint is doing the house some good.
We are also going to order the kids playset. I think we found one we like and it takes a few weeks to arrive, so we want to have that ordered. That way we can install it as soon as the excavator is done.
So that is it! Below is a few pictures and the little video. Enjoy!
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