Backyard Project

We've been living in our house now for almost 5 years. Our backyard is fairly big for a house that is downtown. It has these three beautiful old maples that provide a huge shaded canopy over our entire backyard. When we first moved Derek had big 'green grass' dreams. He wanted a small patch of grass to tend to and cut and call his own (I swear this is a universal man thing). When we moved in, the entire backyard was a huge patch of stony dirt. So Derek worked hard to dig it all up and replaced it with proper dirt. He planted grass seed -but it didn't grow (not enough sun and the roots from the trees would suck up all of the water). The second year he tried planting sod -it died too. The third year he tried planting seed again (this time a very special shade seed) it died too. The fourth year he dug up all of the dirt and decided we had to try a different approach. The fifth year after many, many weekends of incredible hard work we now have this beautiful backyard to hang out in. Derek did all of this work by himself! He didn't have one bit of help (some of the beams were over 100 pds!!). He even designed it himself which I find pretty amazing. I feel pretty lucky to have such a hard working and talented husband. It looks amazing and is really nice to hang out in as a family. We finally have that extra bit of outdoor space we needed to enjoy extra special family time. Ian has a little sandbox and kiddie pool that he loves to play in. The yard isn't quite done yet and it already looks so nice. It's even nicer at night when the lights are lit. Very romantic and relaxing - which is exactly what we need after a long day's work or a full day of running after an energetic toddler!