All the task leading up to this pont has left me feeling like I'd never get there. But this transformation to the stump/play are became the tipping point, and I could see that I was within days of completion. I was really motivated. It only took me two days to build and one to paint with the help of my sister-in-law. I might've done it in two days total but I had to restock parts and tools. It feels amazing to have it ready for use. The final hurdle is wood/rubber tire chips to seal the deal.
The other motivator was Julie's time limit. She invited a bunch of people over for Lulu's birthday celebration. She said she'd like me to get it done before then. Looks like it's going to happen. The best part is now I have a tower by which to have preemptive notification of a neighborly attack. I'm not anticipating any such attack, but just in case the tower is high enough that I can see the yards of three or so of my neighbors back yards.
Pip and Nanners are really excited to have the park in their back yard.
I also got accepted into PSU this week (Portland State University). But I'll have to wait until the Winter quarter to actually start taking classes as enrollment in the major happens in certain semesters. I'll be going for a second Bachelor's in film production. I wanted to work on a masters degree, but this may end up being better. It's more along the lines of what I wanted to study and the companies that I'm looking into, look for people with that kind of background. Anyway, that's exciting.
Julie's hitting the books for her licensing test. Apparently, it was a bit more challenging than she planned on, but I don't fear for her. She's a really good test-taker.
Lulu is finishing up her kindergarten year. We attended a graduation presentation, where the sang songs that showcase what they learned this year. It was cute. We also went to the Zoo with Lulu's school class. we saw a lot of cool animals. By the way Portland's Zoo is awesome. I've been to a few Zoos. This one is by far the best. You see lots of animals and the path through the Zoo allows you to see everything without too much doubling back.
Julie and the kids joined a summer reading program that promised incentives for meeting certain conditions. The kids are super excited to read their books.
We're hoping to try out a U-Pick berry farm. This is apparently normal run-of-the-mill operations for those who live around berry states. My family never did it-at least that I can remember. Julie said her family did it a bunch and it wasn't very fun for her. I'm hoping we'll have a better time, but I'll keep you updated.
We're also trying canning for the first time in the next couple of weeks. I have an inkling that my Mom used to do canning when we were little. I don't remember any specifics about that, but a lot of people are telling me it's addictive. I hope I enjoy it.
