The Brick Brigade

Deke getting the bricks for us

Hard at work

The Brick Brigade

The boys were really such a huge help with this project.  Ty helped out with almost every aspect from the digging to the paver laying.  Joel started the digging on Weds and got about 1/2 of it dug out. On Thursday when the boys and I got home, Ty and I started digging again and took the 1/2 to 3/4 of the way dug out before Joel got home.  Joel then had the tough job of hauling bags of paver sand from the front yard to the back on Friday, but he did get some help from a neighbor.  Still a very hard job to do.  On Saturday we were able to start laying the pavers.  We would load up the bricks in the trailer and drive them around to the backyard.  From there, Deke was in charge of handing Ty and me the bricks and we would carry them to Joel, who would lay them down.  I was doing that job all by myself earlier that afternoon while the boys took a nap.  It was amazing how much faster it went, once they started helping.  They really surprised me and they actually stuck with it for quite a while too.  I think they helped us for about 1.5 to 2 hrs before they went back to playing.  Those bricks were not light either.  Each brick weighed 6lbs. I kept worrying that they were going to drop one of the bricks on their toes, but they never did. 

We are really enjoying our new patio.  Deke said the other night that it was a "bwetiful patio"  and I totally agree.  I think we've had dinner out there every night this week.  Now if we could only get rid of the mosquitos...