Backyard Landscaping

Spring is here, and most people are busy landscaping the yard, planting flowers, digging up dead bushes, throwing down some new rock, etc. Bryan and Cam have a different idea as to what makes a backyard appealing. It should be obvious by now that skateboarding is a serious shared passion. I think Bryan likes to relive his skating days (when he used to skate for Vans) through Cameron but every once in a while does an ollie or kick flip of his own. (I'm slowly catching on to the lingo). This weekend proved to be the icing on the cake. Bryan comes back from Home Depot on Saturday with a truck full wood. Now let me preface this by saying we had "talked" about this, but I honestly never thought it would be done. Duh. You would think I'd know by now. The passion has now carried over into our backyard with the addition of a half pipe. Yes, a half pipe. Please refer to the picture below:

THE half pipe

Now it's ironic (or funny/scary, it depends on how you look at it) because before Bryan got home, I was talking to my girlfriend Heather on the phone, and commented on how well Cameron was doing with his skateboarding. He told me I should take a picture of his battle wounds to show her. So I did:



Nothing major. These I can handle. The strawberry on his leg was actually from the grip tape (the sandpaper-like stuff on the surface of his skateboard) on his board and not from a fall. I thought the timing was pretty good on the phone call and the arrival of Bob Villa. I'm actually okay with it. I did get a mom of the year nomination from Cameron for allowing it to be built. And the biggest freakin' smile I have ever seen on his face was enough for me. It can be torn down - we do have a fire pit - so there is nothing permanent about it. This works for me. Our next door neighbor and one of Cam's skateboarding friends' dad helped Bryan out. If there is such a thing as a "nice" half pipe, well this would certainly be it. I was off school this week, so I spent yesterday sitting my but in a chaise lounge, consuming a few coronas, supervising the project and documenting the various stages of the build. Here they are:

Cameron and his friend Trey out front - trying to "stay out of the way" :)

And so it begins ...


We teased him for a little while ... he didn't get sunburned so I suppose there was a bonus to the strawberry pickin' hat.

Waiting patiently ...

This is out of the way, right?




Helmets are on and they are ready to go!


These next few aren't great - it wasn't until after downloading that I realized I need to clean off the lens a bit. But you get the idea ... Cam and Trey trying it out for the first time!!


Cam "dropping in" ...



Evidence of (3) thirsty carpenters and (1) thirsty photographer.




While it may have been in the high 80's today, you couldn't PAY me to jump in that pool. Apparently skateboarding was tough today, and a dip in the pool was necessary. Cam said it was about 70. If that's what you need to tell yourself to get through it, so be it. However I looked at the thermometer a couple of days ago and it was about 64. Hell no!!!


So that about wraps up our weekend. For those of you interested who come to visit, you are more than welcome to utilize the half pipe, but helmets are required. You can borrow Bryan's.