We're Getting A Pool!!!

Here is some fun new!  We decided to install a pool in the back yard!  It is hot here in Alabama, and the only real way to go outside in the summer is if you are going to be in the pool.  A gentleman in our ward (Bug Eiland) has his own pool building company, and we contacted him to give us a quote.  The pricing was good, and we had some good options as far as shapes and sizes were concerned.  We had the meeting one, took a day to decide (it is alot of money after all) and then confirmed a day later.  In that time frame, our start day changed by almost a month!  Bug is a busy guy!  But we were still able to get the pool installed by Kaitlyn's birthday, so it worked out.

It ended up being a somewhat involved process.  We had some limitations to the back yard because of the storm lines.  We have an easement that runs down the back of our property to allow the neighborhood's storm water access to storm drain.  We had previously installed pipes in order to allow an unencumbered pathway to the storm drain but to regain back the last 15 feet of the property that was formed into just a ditch.  By installing the pipes, we gained back a lot of property without getting in trouble about drainage.  When installing the pool, we had to be careful to work around the pipes.  For the shape and size of pool that we wanted, we could tuck it into the yard, and miss the pipes as well as keep the mandated spacing from the house.  However, it would put us 3 inches over the mandated distance from the side of the property.  What we ended up doing was going to the city council and asking for permission to encroach on that area.  Thankfully it ended up not being a particular problem... but we were concerned.

Here is the before picture.  This is straight out the back door, looking out the back window.

 Bug had given us an approximate start date, but it was up for debate when it would actually start based on weather.  One morning we woke up and found a rather large piece of equipment parked in the yard.  That meant we were getting closer!

 Here it is!  The pool in all its glory...  Sort of :)  

 The blue line is where the pool would actually be, and the red line is the over dig specs so they could install the walls and electricity and piping etc. 

(View from the top of the swing set)

 And this is the view from Kari's bedroom.  If you look at the fence, you can see where the retaining wall steps down and the fence panels also step down to account for the slope of the land.  That was one of the things we had to fix.  The fence/land had to extend further to get the whole pool in before it sloped.

 The official dig started on the 7th of June.  Remember, that day and the next we spent fixing the fence and retaining wall. (View again from Kari's room)

I was so excited to see the work going on!  I sent a video to hubby at work!

Here is where I struggle a bit....  I hate messes.  Especially where there wasn't a previous mess before.  So taking a functioning and nice yard and tearing it all up is a difficult process for me :p

Hubby keeps telling me I have no vision.  I know.  I don't.  I can't see how things are going to end up.

But sometimes, it is exciting enough to at least give it a try :)

And this is where we ended day one.

You can see a vague shape, and a whole heck of a lot of mess :o