Our Backyard and other rants and ravings

Despite the all rock look we have going on in the front yard and most of the back, we do have some greenery in the fenced in portion of the backyard (along with rocks there too!). Our backyard is large enough to hold all of the kids' toys, and it's large enough it SHOULD hold our patio table...

Our backyard...I'm standing in the doorway of the family room looking outside. Tiger (lower center), Luke, and Madison are all enjoying a few minutes in the hot sun.

View from the other direction

We have a sandbox, but due to advisories by everyone here, we can't use it. Sandboxes sitting on the ground attract scorpions. So, the kids were given a sand/water table for their birthdays from Nana and Pop. To get it up and running, I found some very unique green play sand at the local Wal-Mart. So far, the table is a hit, but Madison keeps asking when we're going to setup the other sandbox.

Madison's fake smile

Luke's enjoying our "huge" swingset and slide...not quite what we had to leave behind in NC.

*************************

The story of the patio table...

There once was a beautiful granite patio table that found a home in North Carolina. After three years, it was picked up by less than competent movers and somehow transported across the country...it didn't survive.

The big holes at 2:00 and 8:00 are where the movers broke the legs off the table, not that the screws came out, but they broke the legs off. If that wasn't bad enough...

These are a couple of pieces of slate that are broken off from the top of the table. They did a TERRIBLE job of moving this table along with several of our other things..don't get me started; I am really ticked they destroyed some of our stuff or lost critical parts (i.e. the bolts, brackets, etc.) to put several things together...that is another post entirely.

So long patio table. We REALLY enjoyed having you. Now, you might say, "Oh, just go and get a new one." Yeah, we've been trying to do that. However, Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath Beyond, etc. are all clearancing out the summer stuff. We spent all last weekend and countless nights on the Internet searching for a patio table and NOTHING. I'm going to be really ticked if I can't get a patio table until next summer because by next summer it will be too hot again to sit outside at the table. I want my table for this winter when it's actually nice here.