Two Bedrooms and a Baby: Backyard-again

That title sounds like "backyardigans" which is a kid show. That I've never seen. People say that at some point I'll be sick of it, but at this point we've lucked out in the TV department. As in - we just don't turn it on :)

So...

We had our first summer barbeque. In September. Summer in the City.

Sunday morning the boys slept in until 7:30. I woke up at 5:30, got the coffee going, and started planning. Today would be the day.

This was a sunny light sky in the morning that gave me happy tummy jitters:

One thing that was really bothering me on this morning was that it was going to be really really costly to get our storage bench made and it is a critical part of the backyard. We're really far over budget on "home improvement" this month (roll over from last month's garage remodel), so spending a couple hundred on building a bench just wasn't a good idea.

On a coffee high at 6:30 I had a brilliant idea.

My uncle bob made my mom a porch swing a million years ago for the house I grew up in. She's been carrying it around and keeping it in storage since we moved from a house with a porch (about 15 years). We're now in a house we plan to stay in for a couple years, and alas, no porch.

But (spoiler alert), the swing is hung!

As soon as I heard the first "mama" coming from T's room, I ran into, gave kisses to the boys, and told Bubbs he was going to hang the porch swing today :)

Bubbs went out during T's nap and got a swing hanging kit from the hardware store as well as way too much chain.

Our motto is, "buy more than you need, measure once, screw up? Who cares? You've got more!"

Since the swing was to be hung (and drilled into) the walls of T's room, we had to wait until nap was over to start the work.

As I was preparing some ribs (my first ever attempt - post coming) and T was asleep, my mom came down and asked if she could take the boy with her for a couple hours.

Um - YES!

So, boy gone, ribs in the oven becoming fall of the bone tender, and house cleaned...

I went down to supervise the swing hanging (and furniture moving).

Good thing I came down, too - because this is what I saw:

Okay, I'll admit that the swing is hung crooked at my request. I have really short legs (or as I like to say, a really long torso) and most chairs and benches are uncomfortable for me because my feet don't touch the ground. I wanted to test the swing at both heights, and surprise, surprise, I liked the super short side. Plus, when T swings it back and forth, he won't get forehead bruises.

Since he bought more than enough chain, he was able to re-cut the shorter side and mama got her swing at the perfect height.

That's my beer, in the sun, in my backyard.

This swing is really amazing - and I'm gonna have to give my Uncle Bob a huge hug to thank him for his amazing design. The back is reclined a bit, so you're in good shape for relaxing.

Once my passion flowers grow up on the fence, the view is going to be fantastic.

Once I sat in this chair with my Summer Solstice Beer and my feet up, I knew this was the right move (and the cheapest one).

Check out our leisure stations:

Leisure Station #1
This is the perfect location to have your morning coffee. It is where the sun streams in first, and the chairs recline (and bounce) just enough for it to be super perfect coffee/newspaper placement.

Leisure Station #2
The porch swing was a stroke of genius and is the most amazing:
1) cuddle spot with the munckin
2) cuddle spot with the Bubbs
3) view of the whole yard without the ugly foundation eyesore
4) sunny nap spot around 3pm
5) beer drinking sun soaking reclining relaxation station
(why is this all underlined...time to do some investigative work)

Leisure Station #3
This spot still needs some work, but the bench rocks and once those passion flowers grow to fill the asbestos shingles, it will be really pretty and comfy!