Deaver Reservoir fun times two

We had so much fun playing at Deaver Reservoir last year that we decided to take the kids and paddle boards there again.  We took a few Andreasen kids with us.  This year Emma, Bethany and Julia were also able to go with us.  We went on Labor Day, but it wasn't too busy there. We had a good time. The kids loved playing in the water and on the beach.  Joshua found a dead crawdad. He had fun playing with it.  It was lots of fun. I took an ungraceful fall off the paddleboard into the water. I think I was the only one who fell off.  David was the designated life guard.  He had fun taking Aaron on the paddle board with him.  Aaron also liked riding in the canoe.  MaryAnne got quite a sunburn on her back and shoulders.  It took a few days for her to start to get over it.

Here are the pictures of our fun:

Basketball hoop at the new house

When we left Henry Road the boys felt bad leaving their basketball hoop.  We loved playing together as a family.  I told the boys we could put in another hoop here on Mountain View Street.  It took a little while, but we got a new hoop.

We ordered one hoop off the internet. It turned out being more expensive and not as good as our last hoop. We made the decision to return it. It was kind of a headache to return, but we finally got it done. It ended up being sent back before we knew how much the return shipping would be.  The company made a mistake with the shipping so they refunded our whole cost of the hoop.

We found another hoop at Walmart.com.  By the time we decided to buy the hoop it was on clearance for more than the original price. We couldn't use Julia's discount on clearance things so we bought a bigger backboard. It is funny that we could buy a bigger backboard for cheaper, but that is how it worked out.

We took out a stretch of grass beside the driveway to put in concrete.  It will make a bigger court and we won't have to water and mow that little stretch.  Neil and David took out the grass together to get ready for the concrete.

Neil started digging the hole for the hoop and realized that the sprinkler system went right under where we wanted to put the hoop.  It turned into a lot more digging and a bigger project than planned to put the hoop.  We got all the sprinklers working and the hoop in thanks to Neil's hard work and smarts for figuring things out.  We have used the hoop and enjoyed it.

Lydia was super excited to help with the concrete.  After a while she decided it was a dirty and hard job.  She tried her best to help. She liked putting her handprints in the wet cement.

Here are some pictures of all the work and the finished project: