about a thousand dollars in rocks

Ta-da! Behold, the glorious concrete paver path that defines the outdoor "zones". It's even better than I imagined in my dreams...

I'll attempt to explain what my men have done since I've been at work making money to pay for the things they're doing back there. After they installed the piping, they laid out border to define the plant areas and to keep the ground cover at bay, and placed weed block over most everything (that's the black stuff you see on the ground). You can dig through that weed block when you plant things and it helps keep the weed problem down and then you put some bark on top of that business to make it look finished and also help with weed problems. The boys did it in the front yard and it worked out great. This is the "lounge area". Along the wall we hope to plant boxwood hedges.

So, originally I had drafted up the backyard floor plan with the floor covering for the different zones as what I learned later was called "decomposed granite". Aesthetically it appealed to me the most but upon reading the instructions and hearing about what a mess that crap makes sticking on your shoes etc., my father in-law aka the greatest grandpa in the world suggested using pebbles as floor covering instead. I looked at my pictures on pinterest and I had already pinned a bunch of things with pebble floor so I said sure, go for it. That's been the biggest change of plan so far.

While I originally thought in between the pavers it would be dirt or moss, my father in-law placed the pebbles and daaang they look terrific.

My wonderful husband loaded up our truck with all the bags it could carry and what you see is one truck load. Yes, starving children in Tijuana and we are dropping money on mexican beach pebbles. Now as penance, for my yuppie-ness I have to donate money to Save a Child's Heart.

Over here by the fence is my chilluns play area. The ground cover here will be rubber playground mulch so it's soft on her sweet sweet feet and in case she takes a tumble she will land on softness. I think I want a sandbox there and I saw this amazing one from Costco that would protect it from potential animals wanting to pee in there as well as provide some shade. And won't that brick wall in the back just be a PERFECT wall for toddler chalkboard masterpieces??

As she grows we'll change with her and maybe get her a cool playhouse and obviously she'll need her own table for when her little friends and cousins are over for tea parties or serious coloring activities. And when she's too big for that, we'll get a ping pong table instead. That'll make big and little kids happy, I've always wanted a ping pong table.

We want to plant some greenery and bushes around the shed and I am at the point where I wanna just pay someone to paint this shed before the party. It would help it look a little more finished.

And here's the "dining zone". Dunno what kinda greenery will be around these parts...

And if you see those pipes by the tree, that's for the "water feature" we've yet to determine. Maybe Eric can build us something. He's crafty, he could do it.

My men are gonna take a break next week but the week after they'll start building the fence to cover the ugly alley stuff.

I think seeing that path in place has really helped me see it all coming together. Does it help you all? Aren't my men amazing?