FREE TRACTOR RIDES!

Last weekend was Father's Day. I think Willem had a great day. The girls and I got him a couple of adirondack chairs to put around the pool or wherever. He got breakfast in bed then we headed off to church and then my parent's place for lunch. Mom made lunch and afterwards I expected to just mill around and relax. Apparently the men that my dad and Willem are wouldn't allow them to just sit still. They moved furniture, a new bed into our spare room and then Dad got all ready to cut grass. Apparently he had been itching to get on our tractor and do some cutting. I think he was feeling nostalgic about when he was a boy growing up on his family's farm. Far be it from me to stand between a man and his desire to cut OUR grass on Father's Day or any day for that matter. We all ended up getting involved. Below are a couple of pics of Daddy riding our IH.

Anyways that whole "Dad wanting to ride the tractor thing" got me thinking. If any of you out there want to "ride" the tractor. We are giving free tractor rides every weekend! They last about two hours long and you go in circles until the grass is all cut down!

We have this enormous slab on the side of our house. I say enormous, it's about 20 feet by 18 feet or so. It used to be a little house. Anyways it's too big to break up easily and dispose of and it's too big to ignore. And it's very close to the house so we're unsure what we will do with it. In the meantime we have decided to make good use of it. We put our above ground pool on it and it fits perfectly with enough area to sit and chill. Not permanent, but until we can afford to get someone out here to bust it up it'll be home to our swimming hole.

For those of you who are wondering how our bathroom reno is going here is an update. We needed to bust up the concrete in order to relocate a toilet and to move the shower drain into place. It was a pretty daunting task but it ended up being not that bad. Willem cut with a concrete blade on his circular saw to try to score the concrete. He then tried busting it with a sledge hammer. He finally decided to rent a jackhammer and it was smooth sailing after that.

We got the drains in place, plumbed up and concrete is now curing downstairs over what was a huge gaping hole. During the week we hope to finish all the plumbing and get sheet rock up so that we can begin floating the walls and tiling the ground. We're still shooting for it to be finished by July 6 but my guess is we'll be lucky if it's operational. Keep your fingers crossed.

That's it for now. I'll leave ya with a couple more pics of bathroom demo and that pic of the tree house i've been meaning to put up. Hope all of you dads had a great Father's Day!

Yardwork, Drivers Ed and Demolition!!

So I've grown to like the look of a freshly cut lawn. Problem is we have way too big of a lawn and it's the beginning of summer. In order to achieve a fresh cut lawn we have to cut at least once a week. The section off the back porch took it upon itself to populate with crab grass which grows at a tremendous rate. I swear i cut it with the mower and the next day it is back to where it was the day before. It's astonishing! Just another thing we need to take care of.

Due to my new fascination with fresh cut lawns, i've had to learn how to help maintain this jungle we own. I've learned how to cut with the tractor which I have to say is quite relaxing. I climb on with my ipod and just ride....for hours. I can get some great thinking done as well as a great tan. I've been caught several times singing at the top of my lungs. The birds don't seem to mind and I can't hear myself so my hope is no one else can either. The picture below is of a very frustrated me on the tractor. I needed Willem to help me figure out how to turn the thing off and he was busy snapping away pictures!

I think our tractor looks like something off Bob the Builder. It's cute! (Don't tell Willem I said that) We've yet to give it a name but i'm working on that.

We spend a lot of time cutting down branches these days. They hang too low and one has to duck and maintain control of the tractor to get anywhere near the trees. Therefore the fourwheeler gets used a lot to haul branches to and from our burn pile. The girls have come up with their own mode of getting around too. They've taken the once neglected Barbie Jeep and now it is their very own off road vehicle. They will go to get the mail for me. Run up to the house to retrieve stuff for us and ride all over the place just for the fun of it.

Maddy took it upon herself, being the big sister that she is, to teach Savannah how to drive last weekend. It's a scary glimpse of the future. Savannah isn't the best driver and Maddy gets really impatient. I guess the front yard is the best place for Savannah to learn. Thank God we won't be letting her get behind a substantial wheel anytime soon!

We started our next big project tonight. Below is our mud room. I am in love with this room. I have this vision of it being the entryway from our outside chores and play. My goal is for the kids and us to clean up in here before tracking dirt and mud in the house. It is already equipped with a half bath. We decided to add a shower in there so Willem can really clean up when needed and we have a full guest bath on the first floor. Our goal is to get this done before July 6, when my sister and brother in law show up for a visit. We wanted to have something for them to use and we need it when we start demolishing the master bathroom after they leave. Josh and Janelle we can't wait for you to get here. We'll be taking a much needed break!

I know the pictures look fuzzy, but Willem tells me it's from the sheet rock dust in the air. Maddy loves demolition as you can see. She's a big help. Savannah, well Savannah likes the thought of helping but she's there for moral support and posing for the camera.

We'll post more pics as they develop and some pics of our new tree house and "swimming hole" soon. Till then Happy Trails!