Without further ado...

What can I say but WOW almost there. It has been a while since I have gone through these old pictures and it makes me realise just how much work we have really done. I know it has been a while since I blogged, but with everything in full swing and a little munchkin hanging about I haven't had much time to update.
The pendiing retaining wall

We have resolved our dispute with our neighbours and we have agreed to keep the retaining wall as is and just extend it down the driveway. I am more than happy to do this anyway because the Oak tree on their property was just looming over a loosely packed ledge of dirt that was supposed to be defining our driveway. And when I say loosely packed, I mean no dirt. The roots for half the tree were just floating in space creating a nifty home for the birds and a nice place for the workers to stick their latte cups out of the way.

My view from the driveway...I am literally standing under the tree.

A tree root serving as a cup holder, I believe that this is one of Brandon's Iced Lattes.

We have finally made our peace with the City of San Rafael with our permits for the interior being approved and signed off. Our retaining wall is approved by the building department and pending the planning department and with any luck will be ready to roll soon. Our pool is the other outstanding permit with the city which is just awaiting a fence....a fence I might add that will block out Rick the Dick from peeping at all of my cute little gay boys swimming in the pool. Most people worry about perves checking out the chickies, but not on Gay Hill you don't.

Here's the view that Rick is fighting to preserve.

Dad has made it through a little worse for wear with achy bones and muscles and a jacked up knee but he did it. Without him none of this would have happened. We have given him a little break to go home and repair and we hope to see him back in October to help us with the wall. Dad also learned a little Spanish while he was here...... unfortunately he sounded less like a Spanish Foreman and more like speedy Gonzales shouting "Andele, andele!" all the time, I really should have bought him a sombrero. Dad also learned how to drive a little better while he was here too, he barely hit anything....unfortunately he chose to hit the neighbours fence with our new Mercedes when he did decide to hit something...hmmmmmm. Oddly enough I found it more amusing than anything else because when I called him out on it he was like a little kid, whistling at the clouds, shuffling his feet in the dirt and nonchalantly pretending I wasn't standing in the parking lot screaming "WTF?". But that is a tiny price to pay for all of his hard work...and I might add that mummy rocked it too getting her hands dirty and putting the fear of god in all of those who crossed her....Dad got a lot of pity from the boys after they saw the wrath of mother.

Back to the pictures, which is why you are here in the first place. I have decided to make this blog less daunting, by just posting room by room up with its various phases from the day we bought it to the current....with some deconstruction/construction pictures in the middle. Sooooo without further ado.....here we are.