Side Yard Project - Patio Complete

Mr. B and our neighbor made a ton of progress on our side yard project. The boys started by digging french drains for our downspouts and laying out the playground area (no pictures yet - still work to do). After we girls were able to go look at patio pavers together and decide which ones we liked (I picked these cobblestone-esque 16x16 pavers at Lowes. They're Charcoal and Tan. Which works perfectly in a space shared by a tan house and a charcoal house), the boys got to work digging, tamping, and laying the patio and small retaining wall.

Just pretend that our fence is painted, it helps the visualizing.  Anyway, it took about a week of working at night after dinner and kids were in bed for the patio and retaining wall to be ready for our inaugural fire pit. And we've been out there every other night since it was completed.

Please excuse the dog butts - I was working with darkness and a limited window of time between first fire pit lighting and first marshmallow roasting. Now it's the girls' job to stain the chairs and pick materials for big planter boxes that will flank the patio,and the crusher fines, river rock and trees are being delivered today. It's going to be awesome when this is all complete - which is going to happen quickly!