Memorial Day and Mega-Deck Update

This past Memorial Day we went to the Vaughn's pool for some swimming. The water was a little chilly at first, but Emily and Liam eventually warmed up. Both had car floats that they rode incessantly. Emily even became brave enough to jump repeatedly from the pool side into Melissa's arms.

Now for the Mega Deck progress. Memorial Day weekend Eric decided to tackle the railing (which might be important seeing as the deck is now the tallest structure outside of the Atlanta area).

The Tuesday after Memorial Day, Eric put on all the ballusters, which means now Emily can roam freely (and without danger of plummeting to earth). We promptly hoisted rocking chairs via a rope and Emily took to her bigwheel. She is getting much better with the pedals. Again note the ability to pedal without instant death lurking at the edge.
I predict Mega-Deck to be our spring/summer/fall evening permanent locale.
Emily gives the thumbs up to Mega-Deck's railing. However, we all give a thumbs down to the only entrance currently to Mega-Deck - crawling through the windows behind Eric.

More good times on Mega Deck's maiden voyage.

Finally, an update of yet-to-be-born baby Adams. Melissa poses here on Mega -Deck. She needs to be careful. Because of Mega-Deck's supreme altitude, there is less oxygen - Got to keep fetus Adams well oxygenated.

Next phase of "mega-deck": installing joists and flooring...

Here are the most recent developments with our ongoing mega-deck project....

Yay, joists - I'm no construction expert, but I imagine they're probably pretty necessary to the integrity of the project...

Skeleton construction phase complete, now on to laying the actual flooring. Dale installed the planking above (pretty nice, eh) and then Eric took over from there.

Look at that, a floor!!

As of right now, our "deck" is a platform, but it's a pretty awesome platform, right?

Next phase of mega-deck involves cutting a hole in the side of our house (eek) and installing a patio door. (We've pretty much become accustomed to just crawling in and out through the kitchen window, but we figure if we ever have any guests, they may appreciate an actual door) Oh, and railings! As much as we enjoy the minimalistic atmosphere (and the constant threat of will I fall 20 feet to my death) of the "platform" we figure railings are probably the way to go to. That and the fact that DFCS probably frowns upon small children running around on a 20' high platform...
Stay tuned to see if the door gets installed or if we end up just using a tarp to cover a gaping hole in the side of our house for the next 5 years....

Baby Adams version 2.0 update.

So we haven't really had any updates on Baby Adams #2, so I thought I'd post a picture of our progress thus far.

Here I am at 30 weeks pregnant.
I'm not really sure why Emily is wearing my shoes or trying to give me a cotton ball, but I'm sure she has her reasons for both.

Here's a solo shot at 30 weeks.

Strawberries, strawberries and more strawberries!

We went to the pick-your-own strawberry farm here in town with Emily's sitter and the other kiddos from daycare. They all got their own buckets and we put them to work...

Emily had fun picking the berries and putting them in the bucket until the bucket was about 1/2 full.

Then she discovered that she could just pick the berries and start eatin'.

They charged by the bucket, so we had to be sure to fill ours up. So while I finished picking strawberries, Emily continued to add strawberries to her belly... and face... and clothes...

Here's E with our strawberry haul. Eric said they were the best strawberries he had ever eaten, and I think Emily agrees.
(Side note: It was really sunny that day and I couldn't get Emily to look up and keep her eyes open for a picture)

Mega-deck update...

Ok, so Dale was up this weekend and there has been more progression with "mega-deck".

(side note: mega-deck has become so colossal that if mega-deck was a storm, there would be interruptions into your regularly scheduled programming to bring you updates regarding "mega-deck 2011")

Eric and Dale setting one of the 6x6x16 posts

Dale showing off their work. Either that, or someone asked "who's the gopher on this project?"

Hard at work

The structure for mega-deck is almost complete. Have we mentioned that mega-deck is pretty high up?

Dale demonstrates his tightrope walking skills.

And just for good measure, here's a picture of little E checking out the happenings of mega-deck.