Last week was our summer "vacation." By which I mean that Kris didn't have to go to work, my older kids didn't have to go to work and no one did math. Well, maybe Noah still did some math. What to do with a whole week off? Well we did consider a few different short trips... but in the end we knew, that what we really absolutely had to do... was repair the fence between our yard and our neighbors. The thing was propped up every few feet along most of it's length...and still was threatening to completely collapse at even the suggestion of a brief gust of wind. So fence repair became the first priority for our week. And Monday morning began with the demolition. Kris's instructions to the kids were that all the slats and cross supports come down, every nail and or screw be removed, and the wood stacked across the yard at our woodpile for cutting later. Then the old posts had to be removed from the ground and new holes dug for the new posts. And you know what? They did it. I helped some. Kris helped some. But most of the tearing apart of the old fence was accomplished by the kids working together. Bigger boys did most of the actual demolition, little kids led by Aislin managed to remove most of the nails. Only one kid got hit in the head with a hammer... he did it himself. And only one kid stepped on a nail... no lock jaw yet and it has been a week, so I am guessing we are in the clear. By Monday night, the old fence was gone and the new posts were cemented in and my children were seriously hungry and exhausted.
The next day we built an all new fence. After the first few feet they developed a pretty smooth rhythm. One person holds a new slat in place, one drills in the first screw, one checks it is level and while the other screws go in, someone is handing over a new slat. Still took all day. The neighbors bought us all some fabulous pizza though that we ate in their backyard as we finished the last few feet. The fence looks fantastic. And most of the raspberry bushes and flower beds survived. Ronan was sure to tell his big brothers in his email to them that he had built more fence than they had a couple years ago, when Kegan and Rhys helped extend a fence and do some repairs on another side of the yard.
The rest of our week had a little more of a "vacation" flair to it... after a few hours Wednesday morning of Dad cutting up all those wood slats and children stacking them all to burn next winter. We saw a movie everyone had been waiting for... and their Daddy even paid for everyone's tickets. We went to the museum in Denver and saw a traveling exhibit on the Mayans, had a picnic and did a quick zoo visit. We went out to eat at a favorite restaurant. We drove to the top of Pike's Peak... there is still popcorn in the back of my car---evidence of what happens to a sealed bag full of air (and popcorn) when you transport it to higher altitudes (hint: it explodes...and scares the bejeebers out of everyone in the car). We grilled some delicious teriyaki chicken with pineapples and peppers and made ice cream and a fruit tart that I ate way more than my share of (fruit is good for you! Even when cream and butter are involved). We even watched some futbol.
It was a great week.. and I don't mean it was a great HALF a week after we finally got all that work out of the way. Because the work was fun too. It was it's own kind of fun. And I hope the kids remember it that way too. I hope they remember how it felt to work hard together. And I hope they remember that even while they were working and sweating, they were also being silly and singing Disney songs and telling bad jokes. I hope they remember how good their dinner tasted after working so hard for so long. I hope that every time they look at that fence, they are proud of themselves.
