A New Patio!

Mike loves being outside.  And honestly, so do I.  He's been pushing for adding on to the patio since we bought our house 4 years ago.  I've been holding him back for awhile, but I think what we decided to do was a good compromise.

We added approximately 380 sq feet of concrete slab to the back.  Since we live on the front entrance street in our neighborhood, it's really not safe for our kids to play in the front yard.  Now that Sammy is getting older, and Sophia is getting mobile, we really need a safe area for them to play.  Hence the add-on!

The concrete workers showed up at 8 am on Friday morning.  Right as we were working on our clean up job from the prior night's shenanigans.  I think they thought it was pretty funny.  As did the garbage men.  But that is another blog, from another day.

They built the forms, laid the rebar, and were ready and waiting for the concrete by 12:30 pm.  Unfortunately, the concrete didn't get there until 4 pm!  One of the workers had brought his son with him, who appeared to be about age 6.  I'm thinking it was due to Spring Break in session all over the Houston area.  Sammy was really interested in the little boy, and when we were getting ready to leave to visit the nursing home for our monthly playdate, Sammy wanted to share his toys with the boy, who basically had to sit in our backyard all day.  I thought that was really sweet - and it was completely his idea.  He selected several Matchbox cars and some Transformers, and excitedly gave them to the boy to play with on our covered patio area.  Very sweet!  I think the boy and his father were grateful.

After the concrete was poured, they were helping it to set and brushing it.  We let Kona into the front yard to go to the bathroom, and didn't realize that he had run around to the backyard . . . right across the freshly poured concrete!  I was so embarrassed - God bless the concrete contractors.  They laughed and smoothed it out!  We were really impressed with all of them.

When it was almost done, we went around to the corner and placed our mark for eternity onto the slab.  Check it out!

Lindsey and Sophia are on the left, and Mike and Sammy are on the right!

As it rained all day on Saturday, we had to wait until today to fully enjoy our new play area!  Mike grilled steak, Sammy rode his bike in circles, and Sophia practiced her walking again.  I even made a hopscotch to teach Sammy how to play, but he wasn't very interested . . . the kids were too busy having fun!

So . . . what do you think?  The area in the front, with the picnic table and table and chairs on it, was the addition.  Was it worth the $1500?  I find it quite priceless at the moment . . .