Wow!!! What a great Grandparent you are!!!!! Your Grandkids are so lucky!! It looks beautiful!!

Amazing! What kid wouldn't love that - any age kid!

I know it's been a lot of work but I'm sure a labor of love.

FANTASTIC, INCREDIBLE, BEAUTIFUL.
Lucky grandkids, lucky wife, GREAT GUY.
Congratulations, Big D.

hugs, Karen

It is a beauty and so are the kids. My only hint is garage sales on furniture.I would not try to match everything you have that bight toy have fun with the furniture,They also make fiberglass and plastic wicker-look furniture that will withstand more.
Good for you on the recirc. water. We all need to be more careful.

WOW!!! You must be Darn Proud of yourself!!! That Hug from Oscar makes it all worth it eh?!!! YES!!! Too bad about the neighbors...I just had their redneck cousins move in beside me...I'll not rant and rave about them here...this is Your Moment of Shining Glory!!!! Enjoy!!!

Wow, that is fantastic, I know the hug made it all worthwhile, Oscar is a cutie pie.

Sharon

Big Deck, what an amazing accomplishment. What wonderful fun for Oscar and her cousins. Sorry about the neighbors. I agree with looking for yard sale furniture. You can always spray paint it all the same color to coordinate it.
Wonderful wonderful job!
kathy

Ditto...!!! I hope ya'll enjoy that for many years.

Looks like they had a great time!! That is your swing set & green lawn isn't it? So the water had to travel a long way to get in neighbor's yard. Recycling & saving the water is great idea. Will keep your own yard watered, be sure to keep drums covered so you don't end up with dead critters in it!!They are cute kids & Oscar looks like she is a sweetie,bet she likes coming to your house!! GF has fancy furniture on patio, ends up with cat hair from neighbor's cats on those fancy thick cushions, have to sweep them off with a broom just for that purpose but now she just takes out towels & lays them over the cushions. Disadvantages even when you have the best!!LOL She put some lovely pillows on some iron chairs & looked so cute--for awhile, now the birds tore them open & you see them flying off with the white thick stuffing!! Go with plastic wicker & take cushions in or get ones you can hose down. But if you are in windy area that might not work either. Could build 3-4 benches around the deck using rails for backs & a couple of raised areas for cold drinks! No blowing over! Jan

You gotta show us a bigger/closer pic of the turtle garden...someone here was wondering what one was!!!

Beautiful!!!

What fun for the kiddies! But what else are grandparents for except making life better and more fun for the grands? You did a fabulous job!

You got on the roof, didn't you???

Looks great!!! YAY for you!!

Surprise, surprise,,,,, it's never done. LOL. I saw the swingset off to the left and thought it was yours til I read on. People can be really silly about things. It is a WOW deck. Like your turtle deck. Must have missed that post. My thots now is, will you set up a swing set on the deck for the kids???? You have the room.

Kat

Yes, Marlene honey, I did. Holly had to work so while the satellite guy had a ladder up, I snuck up and crawled to the peak. Now I think I want to put a deck up there - wonderful view if I say so myself. We will have to bring this up when we all get together this weekend. Mrs. No will definitely have something to say about it. What is it with women thinking that we men actually hear them :-) Just KIDDING all you women (wink).

Thank you all for the compliments. It was a labor of love - long and lots of labor - but it gave me something to do!

calamity - just for you - I redid the Turtle Garden page with pictures from this morning. More than your "someone here was wondering what one was!!!" wants to know probably - and NO - I am not interested in a LIVE version.

Here is a link that might be useful: Turtle Garden for calamity!

We are just finishing up our deck for our pool, which is a decent size for a pool deck, so I can relate to your thrill of completion. But yours is fantastic & I don't think my DH would attempt to do something of that magnitude!

It's a good thing you went with the lighting option anyway, eh? We are toying with lighting on ours too...I'd love to see the creative way you end up doing yours - I don't foresee it being anything less than spectacular for this deck!

Wow! That is one Big Deck! Congratulations. My husband and I (mostly him - I'm the helper) are building a pool deck that is tiny compared to yours but it really gives me the perspective and appreciation of all the work that went into yours. As to furniture, hopefully freecycle, free craiglist, and garage sales will come through - if not, soon you may be able to get some good sales at the stores. We went to Giant Eagle grocery store for gift cards to Home Depot, went to Home Depot the next day (you have to wait a day) and bought the wood for our deck. This way we get gas credits. If you buy from Home Depot, try this. Every little bit helps. Great deck and Oscar looks like she loves it, too. Colleen

Great Turtle Garden Pics!!! Cute info! Yup, this is one Spectacular deck!!! Beautiful!!! I have an old deck that I'm just gonna start painting now that you've inspired me!!! If I put enough paint on it, do you think it'll impede the rotting/falling apart?!!!lol! I have a Mr.No...he Does NOT want me painting...of which there is a good reason...I am sooo terrible at it! BUT...that does not stop me!!!lol! If I don't start the paint job...Mr.No will not start it, so it's gotta be this way...I start...he grabs the brush away from me...I also have a lazy approach to it as I just throw the brush away when I'm done...I don't mind going to the dollar store and buying more...but Mr.No says NO!!! to that! I am recently making a 10ft tall bottle tree, and have paint on me...the dog...the ground....but I don't let That stop me!!! I even dug the hole myself to put the pole in...as I am just Tired of Waiting for Mr.No to do it!!! I noticed I can dig like a mad thing when I am mad/fed up!!!lol! Mr. No does like doing yard work...it's just the kicking and screaming part at the beginning that I gotta do to him that's annoying!!!ha!

Whooohoooo! it's done!! Looks great! Big Deck, did you ever go down that slide?!
Vickie

Vickie,

Are you kidding? The water is straight out of the hose and does not recirculate. When I saw how blue the kids lips were I figured I could wait until I get my water collection barrells and sump pump so that I can recirculate and give it a chance to warm up some. Afterall, I am 58 years young next week and I do not need to prove my maleness by going into some sort of shock! That is a joke.

Actually, to be honest, I am having some MAJOR issues with Oscar's parents and I doubt that we are going to see her for awhile. So, Holly and I have already taken the Banzai down and will put it in storage tomorrow evening - only to be taken out if and when I forgive them for what they did. Reinstallation takes less than 5 minutes, so it is not a big deal! Don't ask - just suffice it is significant!

Next step will be a blowup pool that is big enough to lay on and keep cool just for us!

As for lighting, I doubt that we will do anything before next summer. We need to get some furniture up there and decide the best use for it. My FIL still thinks I should put up a second story on the back end and I just look at him like planet did you come from :-)

We did find a patio set at Sam'c Club from LazyBoy and the price has already dropped by $400 since we started thinking about it. If they still have it by the end of the month, then the discount will be higher than it is now (we hope).

Big D, I am truly sorry there is such a serious problem that you may not see little Oscar for a while. I know what that little girl means to you. If you need to "vent", jump over to Conversations side.

Calamity, about painting you said
"I am sooo terrible at it! BUT...that does not stop me!!!lol! I also have a lazy approach to it as I just throw the brush away when I'm done. I have paint on me...the dog...the ground....but I don't let That stop me!!!"
Ahhhh, you are the same kind of painter I am. LOL. I wear more than I paint on something. I hate painting.

hugs, Karen

Gold medal for this project!

I'm speechless. You built that? Oh, you're married already, darn. Got any brothers? Uncles? Nephews?

Anyway. Why would you furnish it? It looks like a fabulous dance floor. Have some square dance parties, line dance parties, ballroom dance parties. I'm available every day until Aug. 24.

I think if we clone him, Robert and Kirkus...we'd have the perfect man!!!lol! JUST KIDDING!!!! maybe.....

Calamity, you just may be on to something!! Add in SusieRose's Hubs too.

Happy Birthday, Big D. Check over on Conversations!
hugs, Karen

October17,

Thanks for the ego boost. You just remember that "the grass is always greener" thingie. I promise you that there are times when Mrs. No would he happy to give me up! Actually, I have changed her name to Mrs. Sometimes.

And all of you - thank you for the recognition. I am really proud of it, just not sure what we will ever use it for. We only have 3 or 4 friends.