April 10, 2015

full sun

On Superbowl Sunday we had a huge snowstorm. It was beautiful - that frosting kind of snow, but the rain the evening before coupled with a drastic drop in temperature caused one of our two trees out front to basically burst. Like a pipe. Which was weird. And really sad. And caused our whole house to look different. And a whole lot less private.

Then, a few weeks ago, our backyard neighbor cut his trees down, the ones that shaded a good portion of our backyard.

The guys we hired did a great job cleaning up the front, except that 1/4 of the branches and tiny stuff was frozen to the ground for about a month. The backyard guy, well, they did ok. They did leave us a bunch of firewood, which was very nice. I'm tired to death of raking small bits of wood though. I'll be curious to see how the first mow goes. We did rent a chipper to handle everything that was left. We were pretty excited, but it was short lived. That was a giant pain in the butt. I don't know if it was because a lot of it was evergreen or if it's always a giant pain.

So, basically we have a whole new yard. I don't think any of us are really thrilled with the changes, but they were so out of our control, so what can you do? So, instead of moaning I'm making plans.

This summer we'll have a crawler, a 5 year old and 8 year old and I want to focus on some areas for the range. Rather than putting in a play structure, which we've hemmed and hawed about, I'd rather install a few things that would be usable for a few years for everyone.

A small, permanent balance beam

A pull up/hanging/upside down bar

A digging area and a couple small raised beds for the kids. Especially for that one kid that likes to dig all the holes. We have the raised beds for them, but no fill dirt just yet.

The biggest thing I'd like to add to our collection, both for the backyard and for park play dates is a slackline. They've come down in price quite a bit the past couple years and I know it would be a hit for the kids - and I'd really like to try it too!


Obviously I'm hoping for some serious playtime outside for the kids - - so I can be outside too!!




3 comments:

Carol H said...

Tetherball??

Luci & Loree said...

Well, that is a very positive way to look at the changes in the yard, that were way beyond your control!! things that are useful for all for a long time!

Anonymous said...

If you are looking for a slackline, i would recommend a gibbon slackline. i first got the classic line and the funline for the kids. There is also a new gibbon slacklines app for learning how to slackline. best way to learn it if you dont have anyone who can show you.

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