4th fun!

We had a nice, low-key 4th with friends at Aaron and Mo's pool and house - it was a fabulous day. Not much to report on, just some random shots to enjoy:

Pool time!

Karen and I love to make out on the 4th:
Bennett and I playing "shark":
Fun with the underwater camera:



Those adorable babies (and babes):Kicking it: A sight to behold: Kevin hanging out with the kids. Alone. Fantastic: Hope everybody had a fabulous 4th!

We finally bust out the BBQ...

and it was delicious! Our backyard is still not done - but at least the BBQ is up and running and that gets us through!

Here's the BBQ master (and assistant) at work...

They also sealed the slate so it looks so dark and glossy now, it's gorgeous!




We painted the white fireplace brown, it looks way better!

And one more shot of the fountain:

and a hysterical fountain video, cracked me up!

Nope, not done.

I know this is going to come to a shock, it certainly did (NOT) to us, but our landscaper is not done today. Despite this being the 3rd "end date" he swore to. But don't let the bold fool you. We're not bitter (yes we are).

But, I am happy to report, we have a working fountain! Ain't she purty?

It's so hot today I'm tempted to get in. Standing up and hunching over, but in nonetheless.

Stay tuned for more (mis)adventures of our trusty landscaping. He assures us we're actually fairly close, just need to complete the sprinklers, lighting, seal the tile and slate, build the arbor, build the lattice, plant more trees.... ok, we're not close.

*sigh*

Block partay!

After 9 months of talking about it, we finally had a neighborhood block party last weekend. It was such a blast hanging out and getting to know each other a bit more. It was mostly the "original 8" but some of the newer phase folks joined us as well. I was impressed by our staying power - we started at 4PM and ended up packing it in after midnight...quite a feat! The 3 bottles of Patron probably helped with that, I'm just saying. I'm even more impressed with Rob's staying power, home boy started at 11 that morning at the fair's beer fest, so let's just say he was quite pickled by the end of the evening.

The highlight for sure was getting busted by the po-po....ok, not really. Our neighbor Mike is a cop on the night shift so he had to leave the party around 9. He swung by in his squad car around 11 with lights blazing and we felt so proud. I feel so lucky to have such great neighbors, we had a blast!

Here's us getting ready and putting furniture out in the cul d sac...looks kinda trashy but who cares, it's not like we were going to piss off the neighbors or anything. It was handy that our patio furniture has been in our garage due to landscaping, it was nice having some comfy digs during the party!
The 4 grill masters:
Some random shots of the gang:

The kids in the 'hood are so cute - it'll be so fun to watch them all grow up together.
Even the dogs seemed to have fun:
Galileo was a champ - he stayed until we finally went inside at midnight. He was exhausted and followed us around the whole time like a sleepy old man but clearly the party animal in him hasn't gotten too old. Or, has it?

The laziest post you'll ever see from me:

Well, here it is. We've been so busy since getting home from vacation, I haven't had a free moment to blog about our trip! Instead, I'll just post most of our pics and videos for your viewing pleasure and hopefully I'll have a chance to post separate stories later. Or not.

Enjoy!!!

Kauai 2011 - Warrenski

So, apparently, in order to get your needs met by a landscaper...

(1) you have to pitch a fit and (2) you have to go on a 2 week vacation.

Because we did. Both things. Because NADA had happened in the last several weeks and we're already a few weeks over the estimate. And guess what? We drove up around 10:30 PM after a Loooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggg flight from Hawaii, all super eager to see our little boy and yet nervous beyond belief to see that nothing had happened in our back yard....and IT HAD!!!

I'm going to let that sink in a moment. After weeks of much aggravation and weirdness (to which most of you are privy, but I'll not bore you with the whiny details if you're not), we are finally close to the finish line! Close. Ish. But we'll take it.

Here's the progress:
Fountain is coming along: Ditto on the BBQ - only need to stucco it in red and put the actual BBQ (and fridge) in there!
The seating wall is coming in, there will be a final level and cap but you get the gist:
But the most exciting? We finally have some plants to keep my poor little calla lilly company!


Here's the walkway up the side of the house with our ficus trees, lighting and the start of ground cover and day lillies: In Walter's place (sniff, pour one out for our homie) we now have Cousin Of Walter, a Rusty Leaf Fig that is supposedly going to get huge and cover up the streetlight. Right now, he's kinda got a Napoleon complex going, methinks. Grow big, buddy!
Oh, and an extra bonus? This exact mystery food has been left in a mystery toaster oven all week long. Hmmmm, science experiement anyone?
Stay tuned for vacay pics next week!