The big reveal...our new patio!

Here is our major spring break project! It is a brick patio with a fire pit in the center. Our property slopes quite a bit to a stream in the back (the stream feeds into Forest Lake), so we had to contend with a very uneven, sloping spot for the patio. We (thanks to lots of help from Tom) formed the circumference of the patio with landscape timbers and rebar. At the backside, the timbers are stacked 3 high. Close to the house, they are buried into the ground.


We filled the patio area with 1 1/2 cubic yards of yellow sand. Over a couple of weeks, the sand compacted itself. We bought the brick from a CSISD employee who just happened to have two pallets of brick in her backyard that she didn't want and who just happened to see my posting on the CSISD "swap shop" looking for free or cheap brick. We paid $50 for the brick! Two trucks were needed to get it all to our house (thanks Britina for letting us borrow your truck! Thanks Tiffany for helping to unload!).

Kyle created an ingenious leveling device using a couple of pieces of scrap wood, we leveled off the sand, and began laying the brick.

Braden was a big helper--really! He used his wagon to load bricks, then delivered them to us on the patio a few feet away. We used a level and a mallet to attempt to keep the patio level. We placed the bricks in a "running bond" pattern, and used a brick cutter to cut the smaller pieces. After we finished, we swept additional sand into the cracks, went over the entire thing with a plate compactor, added the fire ring in the middle, filled that with gravel, bought two benches from Academy, picked up a couple of wine barrel planters from Amanda, planted them with bottle brush plants, and then we were done! Braden really wants a kid-sized bench to complete the picture--he keeps dragging his kid-sized chairs out there.

Our first family fire was great fun. Garrett kept trying to blow the fire out and the boys were SO excited! Last night we had our first fire for company (Mom, Tom, Tiffany, and Scott). We made smores and admired a full moon and lots of stars! This thing is going to be a blast!

Another backyard project is currently underway...I can hear lots of sawing and hammering as I type this! Curious? You'll just have to wait!