A Sunny Sunday.

Some days are just great.

We started the morning by suiting up and heading out to feed the pigs.  That turned into a stroll around the farm to check the bonfire that was still smoldering, and from there Caspian declared we needed to take a walk in the woods.  He led the way, up the hill through the oak trees.

Looking back towards the barn and the bonfire.

He led us up to the top of the ridge, back to the edge of our property, over the fence, and on into the city-owned woods.

It was sunny, crisp, and early, and everyone was feeling good.  After making it to the top of the hill first, Caspian continued to lead the way, and asked repeatedly if he was the strongest.  We told him yes.

This boy has been pretty whiney recently, and often demands that someone pick him up because he's too tired to complete a walk.  Not today.  He braved fences, steep inclines, thorny bushes, and vines without a single complaint or request for help.  He only asked for repeated confirmation of his strength and bravery, which we gave while doing our best to cover smiles.

The big sister was happy, with small bouts of frustration that she wasn't in charge of this particular family escapade.

Alexe was extremely proud of her little boy.

After pulling the forms off the porch footings, I started the process of bringing the soil back in to level out what will be a bricked ground level patio.  I'm very pleased with how these turned out.

The bevelled top that will remain above grade and visible above the bricks.  The brackets are firmly anchored in the steel-reinforced blocks, and in however many years, when the wood posts may need to be replaced, they can simply be unbolted, and new ones slotted in.  Everything we're doing here is with the long-view, finally.

After my welding class with Mickey on Wed., I took a swing at making a clam rake with my stick welder.  A scrap piece of rebar, and a clam rake head, both found in the scrap metal pile behind the workshop, worked out nicely.  

Alexe put a batch of sweet potatoes in the oven at 6:30 this morning, and by 10 the family was sitting down to second breakfast: hot delicious potatoes with melted Kate's butter, and some cold milk.  Alexe has a new local farmer who is providing the BTC with sweet potatoes, and she's excited by how pretty and tasty they are.  She has eaten many a sweet potato in her life, and said that this was the best one she had ever had.

Today was a church day, so after the long morning we changed into more presentable clothes, and headed into town.  Home again a little after noon, we played outside in the sun, delaying lunch and nap time.

Not long into the play time, Caspian started shedding clothes.  (The sticker on the bottom of his shoe is from children's church, a lesson that referenced Toy Story and an owner writing their name on the shoe of things that belong to him.  Weird lesson that made me feel a bit off, but the kids like stickers.)

Shy girl.  Imagine what she was like for the photographer that was in town for four days last week.

I'm really taken with my concrete work.  First forms I've built, and first concrete I've finished myself.  On the day of the pour we walked to town for a bbq dinner at DandDs, and I left it a little too long before coming back to work the top and round the top edge.  It stil happened in the dark, but it took a lot of elbow grease to draw the smooth layer up.

Eventually Caspian took everything off, and Annaliese changed, so we headed inside for lunch.  The kids never ended up taking a nap, I lit another bonfire in a different section of the property, the kids had a play date, Alexe and I went out to the river to take a very long walk, dinner was had, kids were bathed and put to bed, and Alexe and I curled up for a quiet evening and a very bad movie on her Saturday night.  (Her weekends are Sunday-Monday.)

Several of these concrete pillars will be used as buried supports for a couple things I have planned, but Alexe liked the look and feel of some of the taller ones, and I think they're destined to be random sitting spots.