After deciding a couple weeks ago that we won't be buying a house this year, we thought we'd beef up our backyard to make it more enjoyable for both the girls and ourselves. Originally we set upon the idea of getting a wooden playset like this one, or ideally one with a "treehouse", but after some deliberation, we didn't think it'd work out. For one thing, almost the entirety of our yard is sloped downwards (towards the back fence) and the one semi-flat spot doesn't give the suggested 6-foot perimeter around the structure. For another, they're not inexpensive and take a goodly amount of time to assemble: Drew loathes the idea of having to eventually disassemble and move it. So our big idea is to add fun by piecemeal, starting with a swing under our deck.
Drew thought they might like a teeter totter, but for their ages, I don't think there'd be enough cooperation between them to make it longlasting fun – I foresee one of them getting it in the face when the other one jumps off – but there's always later when they're older. I rather think a slide would be more important, but we haven't hit upon the perfect solution for that yet, since I'm not keen on those all-plastic affairs; although Drew's voting for a slip-and-slide-esque setup, which would only be pertinent during the summer months.
We added an umbrella to the deck furniture that our landlady left here for us to borrow so we can 1) more comfortably have meals out on the deck of a morning or evening and 2) provide shade to the kiddie pool when that comes out of hibernation. The back side of the house gets full and hot afternoon sun and I'm hoping this umbrella will help make our deck more usable. There's nothing for the utter humid prostration of the unbearable months, but maybe I won't have to be such a slave to my air conditioning. (Who am I kidding?)
This year we're going to dabble in some container gardening – we'll probably use EarthBoxes on the recommendation of my old college roommate – and not just the vanity sort. There'll be tomatoes, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, spring onions, strawberry sticks, chile peppers, and herbs: cilantro, mint, basil; and of course flowers: sweet peas, fragrant cloud, poppies, lemon sunset, and night phlox. The majority of the flowers I bought for their fragrance, for when we're out on the deck. We'll get our necessary supplies soon and hopefully start seedlings within the next couple of weeks: I'm so excited! And when the time's right, I also contemplate getting strawberry and lemon verbena plants from a nursery because most books say they're hard to raise from a seeds, better and easier to buy them ready.
