The Back patio

It's summer!

Which means we've been working up a storm on the house-- inside and out.  We've worked on the back patio before though....

First we fixed this problem by installing a gutter system....

So that we are no longer terrorized by killer icicles. 

Here it is last summer, partially decked out for Drake's birthday party, but those are fake ferns.  We couldn't take them down because birds were nesting in them.  Also, do you see the little bird houses built in?  Those were really hornets nests.  So there was a lot of work to be done.  We weren't home for much of last summer, so that project got pushed to this year...

But last year we cleaned the deck and stained it-- but we  didn't like the cedar color, so then we painted it white, but I didn't like the white, and it didn't hold up very well SO we went with slate grey this spring, and I like it very very much :) 

behold!

A couple other things-- we painted the "pergola" white and also painted the fence white-- we also powerwashed the chairs and cushions and gave the chairs a fresh coat of glossy navy paint.  A BIG upgrade.

See Rowan's little sand and water table over in the corner?  That was his first birthday present :)  

He loves it and makes a giant mess every time he plays with it.  

We combined our Memorial Day cookout with an impromptu belated first birthday party for him since we didn't really get a chance to have a birthday party at home with him because we were traveling a lot this Spring.  I don't think  he noticed that it was late....

He really enjoyed the trips too!  (This is in Central Park)