Blame It On Niece Camp!

Well, the Jacobs family truly had a physical journey last weekend when my two amenable children and my big, strong, hunk of a husband (read on and you'll see the need for much buttering up) pitched in and accomplished fulfilling a little dream I started conniving a couple of years ago, to make a seating area in my garden.  

It all started in 2007 at Niece Camp.  One of the activities we did that year was painting on paving stones.  And then the next year we made our own paving stones by pouring concrete into pizza boxes and then decorating the wet squares with gems and finger writing.  I love all of my paving stones that remind me of my fun nieces and have wanted to do something special with them ever since. 

In a whole separate line of thinking I came up with this seating area idea, mulling that over for awhile, like I said, and came up with a design to incorporate the paving stones into a patio area in front of my garden.  Actually, Kaylee pushed hard to convince me to go ahead and make the plunge.  Otherwise, this dream would have stayed a dream.  Teamwork!

So here's a look at the yard before our three day test of endurance started.       

And we're off!  There was a little mixup in the beginning about who, indeed, was going to be in charge of this project but the one with the biggest shovel won.......it helped a smidge that he also knows just a little something about construction and how stuff goes together.  I do the dreaming and scheming.  Bob makes it real (yawn!) by adding to the mix things like levels, measuring tapes, and the OCD need for everything to be perf.....uh, I mean right!  

We used brick pavers and flagstone.

First we......well, THEY pulled out some of the existing brick border so we (I did help a little!)could make the circle patio fit inside the garden itself. 

I saved as much of the dug up soil as I could because I'm expanding the garden over along the north fence and will need it to do that.  I ended up with this and some trash cans full.   

Bobby had other fish to fry (i.e. hanging out with Jennifer) so Kaylee and Bob did most of the digging.  And there were some sore backs all around later that night, to be sure.  When I wasn't playing photographer I was taking the grass plugs they dug up and replanting them in low places around the yard while also creating lovely playground material for the hens (insert frustration here).  I also sifted and collected the best of the soil to use in the new part of the garden. 



Bobby was back on Monday and Kaylee was glad to turn some of the job over to him.

He laid all the the pavers for the outside of the circle but there were jobs to be had by all.  It was hot and the sun didn't feel sorry for us and let up even one bit.

See, I actually did help a little.  But the afternooon shade helped and brought much welcome relief.

Time for a break before Bobby headed back to Oklahoma.

The semi-final result.  I still need to do the north fence garden.  And I'm thinking a fire pit might be fun.  We'll see!

Here are some examples of the niece pavers that are now part of the patio.  I know Kaylee isn't a niece but I was glad she took part in the fun.

Amy

Sadie

I don't remember why Mimi's ended up on a broken regular brick but there it is!

Erin