Sunday, April 10, 2011

Yard Work

With grass growing and rose bushes out of control, this weekend was finally spent outside working on the yard a little. Tyler once again mowed for us. He even said he liked mowing because of the way it made his hands feel--the vibrations of the push mower made them almost numb! We quickly assigned the mowing to him so HoneyBear could work on bushes and yard waste, and he pushed on.

With the camper in the driveway, my vehicle goes off the driveway in the yard just a little, so I had to move it while he got started. I let Shawn join me, and the dogs hopped in, too. I even let Shawn ride up front, since we were basically just backing the car out of the driveway. He LOVED that privilege! We're keeping him in his booster until he's 8, going by recommendations rather than the strict letter of the law, so not only was he out of his booster but up front! I cheated and drove around the block since he loved it so much. It was a highlight for him he talked about for days (I just hope he didn't talk about it to someone he shouldn't have!)

By the time we got back around, Tyler was sorta finished mowing. He doesn't mow very straight, and tends to swivel the mower so he's going back and forth rather than around in ever-decreasing circles the way I was taught, so he winds up missing a lot. I do mean a LOT. He had to go back over quite a few strips because his back-and-forth missed the grass between passes. By the time he finished the front portion--not the sides--he thought he would drop. He grabbed water and collapsed to the ground. Oh, the drama :).

Meanwhile, HoneyBear worked on trimming back our rose bushes and other out-of-control plants. I brought a chair to the porch to try to be a part of everything without getting in physical trouble. We discovered a friend on the porch, and Shawn especially enjoyed him.
Eventually I put Shawn to work sweeping the sidewalk. 

After watching his attempts, I finally stepped in and took over some of the sweeping, asking the boys to beat out the doormats instead. Apparently this is not something they've done before. Admittedly, they were pretty thick mats, so weren't easy to clean, but they didn't exactly make much progress. Tyler sure had fun, though!



We may not have gotten as much done as was needed, but the front definitely looked better after our day of work. It was a pleasant time to be outside, too. Overall, our day of yard work was a confirmed success.

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