my parents came for their second visit to seattle in mid-may and stayed with us for 2 weeks. in preparation, peter and i decided to turn our exercise room into a guest bedroom to ensure my parents would be comfortable (and come visit more often!). of course this decorating project was a bonus for me :-). while they were here we were able to fit in some tourist attractions, a trip to vancouver bc, lots of restaurant dining and almost daily shopping sprees. i'm happy to say mum and dad had a fabulous time! they arrived with two suitcases ....... and left with five ;-P.

mum & lana in the guest bedroom

adventuring in vancouver bc.


view from the capilano suspension bridge


at "goldilocks" (a filipino bakery/restaurant) in vancouver


at the boeing museum of flight


celebrating our wedding anniversaries (parents' 34th, our 7th) at "olive garden" restaurant

when it was time for them to return to sydney, i flew back with them as mum and i were heading to indonesia for my friend, vera's wedding. mum and i were back a mere 2 days in sydney before our flight to jakarta, where we were to stay for 6 days. being the maid of honor, most of the time there was spent preparing for the wedding, dress-fittings, etc., but mum and i did manage to fit in a couple shopping trips ;-P.

at our hotel in indonesia...


dressed for the wedding...
(excuse my sleepy expression - 2 hrs sleep will do that :-P)

after our indo trip, i stayed for four days in sydney, which i spent meeting up with relatives and friends. i didn't have time to see everyone as four days gets used up so quickly ...

with my god-daughters lizette and kaylen

mum and i were initially going to head to the philippines for a couple weeks after indonesia but i felt a month away from pete and lana would be too execessive. although pete and i were video chatting on skype and calling and texting daily while i was away - it was obvious he was really happy that i'd opted to return earlier. you'd think after 13 years together we wouldn't be so sappy anymore haha ...

so now i'm back in seattle and happy to be home. pete, lana and i have been out and about enjoying the wonderful 90 degree weather we've been having lately...

a picnic in bellevue downtown park


lana sitting for a piece of sausage

so what else is in store? well we have a lot of outdoor activities planned in the coming weeks which we're excited about. we'll be trying out fishing, definitely more hiking and camping and possibly some kayaking this weekend. now hopefully the weather holds up eh?!?

Back in April we started working on the backyard. The reason you haven't heard from us is because we've been working really hard on a patio project.

This is what the area used to look like. See how dark it used to be?
I had to cut down 3 small trees and trimmed the large tree. We're staring south and as you can see, moss grows on the north side of the fence. Stumps and roots had to be removed. There was also a lot of top soil and bark mix that had to be removed to prevent the patio sinking in. About 4 cubic yards in all was removed.
	Some time was spent measuring the area and trying out a sample paver to determine how much fill dirt, crushed rocks and sand was needed.
Since the land was about a foot lower on the south end, I had to order about 6 cubic yards of fill dirt. I had to park the car outside for about a week until I was able to move the dirt.
This part of the yard is now a foot higher than it used to be. Compacting the dirt was all done manually.
After digging up the topsoil I realized there was a drain at the corner of the house. There was some dirt and rocks inside but after removing then, the drain appeared to be in working condition. I decided to make a drain pipe leading from the garden tap to the drain.
For the steps leading from the patio down to the new gate, we had to put in a retaining wall. This is my first attempt at cutting bricks with a masonry chisel. I was amazed at how clean the cut was.
	The idea is to have a single step between the patio and the gate level.
I ordered 2 cubic yards of 5/8" crushed rocks and 1 cubic yard of builders sand. The crushed rocks is to prevent the patio sinking in - like one of our neighbors.
The sand forms a level base for the pavers.
	I ordered 3 crates worth of pavers from Home Depot but when the delivery truck came, they delivered less than half a crate. The nice people at Home Depot apparently sold off the crates that I had paid for.
Since their delivery is contracted out, they couldn't do another delivery for several days. I had already called several friends over to help out with the pavers so I couldn't wait. After some time complaining to the store manager I was promised a truck which I could use to pick up the remaining pavers from the store down in Issaquah.
We spent the entire day making about 4 trips. We bought all the pavers from Issaquah Home Depot and there still wasn't enough.
	I called all the Home Depots on the Eastside and they all ran out of that particular paver. The only store that had any left was Woodinville. I talked to the store manager, explained the situation and convinced him to give free deliver on that last crate. He even apologized for the mistakes of Bellevue.
After work each day, I would head out to the backyard to continue the paving.
I had to buy a pressure hose to clean the dirt on the driveway.
It's not finished yet, but it's getting there...