"You are the sun - you are the rain - that makes my life this foolish game"

DAY 4:  You know I'll get off on that count one of these days...but I'll try. 

Today the smaller picker-upper machines (totally the official name) came in to finish up the devastation. We really enjoyed the big scooper thingy. 

 There had been a large tree in the back of the yard that took a while to remove. RKZ and I felt badly about removing trees that have been here for 30 years - but the yard had become such a jungle of debris that it was hard to decide what needed to go and what could stay. It bummed us out to see the large trees go. But, the previous owners had let them take over the yard and we weren't enjoying it or using the space well!

Gary, our contractor trying to avoid the shot. Yes, he's here at 7:30 am every day. I had my pi's on this morning! Lovely!

 One worker was patiently cutting the top of our old pool to make it all one level around the deck (with one step up). It will make a big difference to all of you who tripped over our old deck and it's many levels and root "pop-ups"!

Thunder enjoyed the work today. 

H-P decided to throw the large pieces of baby puzzle all over the floor.  He was "anti" doing the puzzle. My poor floor! How will it survive?? 

Bored with construction, we moved on to play dough. Notice the tray that my "preschool" mom got me hooked on using inside to contain the mess. 

Quote of the day: Thunder says of this large root ball - "Look Mom, it looks like a meatball!" 

 It's hard to see if you haven't seen our pool before, but the old spa (foreground of the pool) has been completely filled in and the entire deck has been leveled. Also notice that there are NO large trees around the back and sides of our yard. Ignore that big house behind the pool :)

This is the side yard - where all of those huge trees and our pool equipment used to be. It just looks so clean and full of potential to me. And they are going so quickly! Inspection #1 was today and it went well. 

Only bummer of the day was that I spent most of it (12:30 - 3) at the doctors' office because H-P has some nasty cold. He is now on antibiotics and steroids and eye drops. It's 9:15 pm and he's totally awake and talking up a storm. Wow - like a newborn all over again ;)

"Restore life the way it should be I'm waiting for this cough syrup to come down"

These lyrics are from some crazy song I heard on the radio from "young the giant." Feel free to look it up. 

DAY 3 (I think. You know how I am with day counts): about 20 men (no lie) descended on our house around 7:30 am. They began cutting down trees and taking the old plaster off the pool.  

The tree I liked the least in our yard

Men chipping away at the fiber glass. 

The new view from our kitchen window

Those large sheets of white are sheets of fiberglass 

Thunder wanted to know why everyone had masks on. I told him that it was bad to breathe the fiberglass flakes. That kept him inside and away from the workers. This was around 8 am this morning.  

To get out of the house, H-P, Thunder and I went strawberry picking with my mom's group. 

Thunder waiting for our tractor ride. 

H-P is not picking his nose. He doesn't do that yet. But here the boys are waiting before our "tour" of the local farm. 

Thunder on the tractor that took us around the farm. 

Along the way, the tractor stops and the guide hands out different vegetables to taste. H-P wasn't sure about the cilantro! 

or the carrots (but they made nice teethers!)

Thunder pretending to eat his carrot. 

H-P didn't really like the celery. He wasn't too happy today. He's getting sick. 

At the final stop, the kids all get to jump out the tractor to pick strawberries. Thunder loved it (even though he doesn't' really eat fruit)

 The farm is "Tanaka Farms" in Irvine. Here are the kids of the mom's group we joined. A diverse group, for sure.

I wanted a close up of Thunder. He loved the tour! 

 MEANWHILE....BACK AT THE RANCH...

Two Bulldozers moved our giant shed from one side of the yard to the other. 

This is the new view from our bedroom. No more wall!! 

Trees are gone (except for the Maca) 

The pool sans plaster but with RKZ and H-P (Buck above) 

The current view of the back of our house. This will help with seeing the progress. 

Our bedroom doors. 

H-P has begun to get really sick with a flu-type illness. Poor guy! 

Thunder being punished for something and throwing a fit. 

The side yard. This is wear the bulldozers have been coming in and out. 

As a joke, I took a picture of the dirt being traipsed into our floor. I know that this is what you get with construction. We are still excited about the changes. Just dirt now.