A "Labor" day of concrete

It's Labor Day weekend. The unofficial end to the summer and while that can create some melancholy, I am reminded of the episode of The Simpsons where Bart Simpson breaks his leg and Homer warns him of the reality of adulthood in the summer.

Bart: "Aw, I'm going to miss the whole summer."
Homer: "Don't worry boy. When you get a job like me you'll miss every summer."

Oh yeah, that isn't exactly comforting. Well, to be fair I am actually looking forward to fall--cooler weather, football season (even though I'm not a fan of any team), Halloween and the closer promise of snow and crackling fires.

The end of the summer causes me to reflect on some of the highlights and accomplishments over the last few months. One in particular being the completion of our front/north driveway to our house. Let me give a visual illustration to the transformation:

Before

After

The start of the project began in early May and concluded in late July. A series of weekends and weeknights kept us busy, with some other fun summer outings scheduled in between.

What began as a husband and wife beautifying and improving the functionality of their home, ended in a group effort involving both sets of parents and one willing neighbor. A deeper look inside this project involves more than the average do-it-yourselfer perspective. 

The paving team we dubbed "Rico" construction.

This back-breaking amount of work--after which we all left that day feeling very tired (but certainly satisfied) is what being a little out-of-the-ordinary will get you.