have I told you we are building a GYM?

...in our backyard?  well, technically it is the "neighbors" (*wink*) backyard!!!  Yes, you read right...a GYM plus there will be a little room for the tractor and a riding lawn mower...and I think even a room for the exercise equipment that is currently in the office at the neighbors!

This project involved all the boys...including Aaron who was the earth mover...Jamie and Scott who had to check the level and grading with a transit...and then finally someone came and set up the boards for the foundation...of course Scott does not leave anything to chance...so he is there 100% of the time, checking, rechecking, asking questions making sure everything is RIGHT.  And even then, he is back out there looking things over...checking other people's work...because you know he believes in Murphy's Law...if someone can make a mistake they will...so he needs to be the one to check it!

This day, I get a phone call asking to please come down and help him....

He managed to get himself down in this hole around all the rebar (tying together the rebar) and he was stuck...fortunately he did have his cell and called me...with a little hand holding and maneuvering, he managed to get out and the first thing he said was:  "Pouring our foundation and Getting rid of YOUR Biggest Problem!"  (meaning himself!!  ha ha...he thought he was quite clever with that little bit of prose!...because YES, if you ask any of the workers (or the sons-in-law) HE is the biggest problem of all!!!  LOL!!

After getting out of the hole, (which was actually just a huge space that was getting filled with cement for a footing...super big, to support the building)he is standing on the pad...there is about 8 inches of gravel under this plastic liner...you wouldn't believe all that goes into building this gym!

Then came the day of the pouring of the cement...alarm clock set for 3:30 AM...10 (TEN) cement trucks lined up in our field and on the road at 3:45 and the action started...we ended up using 15 truck loads of cement!!  I popped my head up off the pillow around 4:30 AM (no window covering...but hey, we are out in the country!) and with it being pitch dark outside, it looked like an alien landing station with the headlights of all the cement trucks lined up in a row in the field...

The sun is just coming up, making it a little lighter...the pad is to the left

Here is the last of the cement being poured

And finally, this is the coolest piece of equipment...it can go over the cement and is used to smooth out the cement...in the "olden" days, they had LONG trowels...this is so neat, it gets lifted up on a platform to keep it stable while it pulls the cement and finishes it off...to get this off the pad,  a back hoe had to come and lift it like a crane!

We are now into our third week of curing this cement pad, and weren't we lucky that it has rained so much!!  ha ha...we did put a sprinkler on it (two actually...it is a gym after all!) and have kept it wet...I will keep you posted...July 11th the building is suppose to be delivered and a crew will be here to put it up...they figured two weeks to raise the building!!  So stay tuned for more pictures as this becomes a work in progress!  The kids can hardly wait to start playing in it...it will be big enough for both a volleyball and a basketball court!