This weekend, we had several volunteers to help us on the house. Once again, what a blessing it is to have friends that are not only willing to help, but who tell us they're coming over to help! Uncle Frank, Drew Stewart and Co., Mitch and Jared all helped out on Sat. Our neighbors are continually astounded and repeatedly tell us, "you guys have SO MANY friends." Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Here's what we were able to accomplish on Saturday alone:
- Poured concrete into both footings for posts (and beam)
- Removed a stubborn tree stump from garden area
- Removed "ghetto" solar panels from roof
- Installed upstairs new guest bath window
- Finished up electrical in attic and both upstairs bathrooms
- Made forms for pouring concrete footings
We had a lazy morning and didn't get up to the house until about 9:30am. Mike and Uncle Frank stopped by our friend's house from church who let us borrow a concrete mixer (thanks Josh Hvidding!) They got to work right away on mixing and pouring.
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| Thirty-seven, 80 lbs bags of cement! |
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| Mike, the apprentice :) |
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| Pouring carefully. |
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| Filling in the hole, finally! |
Enter Drew Stewart and Company. Drew brought Ez and Maddox, and Auntie April put them right to work. We had a big stump to remove, and Dad told them they couldn't go swimming until they helped me get it out! It was a great motivator...
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| They weren't very excited about this job. |
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| Picking up rubbish wasn't cutting it... EZ wanted the tools! |
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| I finally caved and let them try out the bigger tools :) |
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| Maddox in motion... he only nicked his leg once, after that he was more careful :) |
We took a lot of breaks. The boys got side tracked with other jobs too. There are just many things to try on a job site like this one... and so many mentors :)
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| Maddox helping uncle Mike tap the concrete. |
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| He liked this job. |
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| Ez wanted something that was more skillful... |
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| so he tried out masonry. |
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| Uncle Frank likes to start 'em out young. |
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| Since Maddox was the master, he didn't need anymore supervision. |
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| Ez was trying to coach him. |
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| "Pound it harder, Maddox, like this... " (*note the fist and face). |
Finally, after all that hard work, we let them swim! Child labor laws. There were a few minor incidents (let's just say Maddox can't quite touch the bottom of the shallow end yet). Drew and Mitch had to jump in [on two separate occasions] to help him out. It just taught us adults to keep a VERY close eye on the keiki. Maddox, however, wasn't fazed. Then Robbie came with pizza and snacks... and Asher (who ate all day long).
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| Maddox resting after a hard day's work |
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| Asher with his cute "Shaka" |
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| Lunch Time |
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Asher watering the lawn. Not sure if I'll get in trouble for posting this one,
but his dad took the picture and it was too funny not to add :) |
After lunch, it was time for the "solar panels" to come off the roof. These boxes were literally an accident waiting to happen. Imagine 4 x 4's, plexi glass, aluminum roof sheeting, a hose and a slope. These are the ingredients used in the home made solar panels that we removed. Voila!
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| Yikes! |
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| Mike said they were heavier than they looked. |
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| Roof walkin ain't no thang. |
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| Comin' down. |
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| Don't fall, Drew! |
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| Professionals. |
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| Spectators. |
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| Panel # 2 |
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| Finally finished! |
Of course, the day ended with a relaxing game of pool basketball, in which the "boys" (and by boys I mean Mitchell) broke the rim. Oh well :) Guess we have to get a new one! Maddox and Ez loved cheering on their dad...
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| Smasher :) |
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| 2 v 2 |
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| A little "D" |
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| Maddox getting super excited! |
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| All "the Boys" |
All in all, it was a GREAT day of accomplishment and recreation :) Thanks for the help and company guys!
