Unofficial last weekend of summer

We spent our labor day weekend doing just as the name implies...laboring. Getting some much needed work done around the house isn't exactly the ideal way to spend summer's final weekend, but it actually felt really good. Minus my aching back and thigh muscles.

We washed the cars (inside and out). I actually can't remember the last time they were washed.

We worked some more on clearing out the blackberries and English ivy from the side of our yard by the street. (Gabe's actually been working on this off and on for the last month.) We paid some landscapers to clear it and take all the debris away last month, but Gabe has been wrestling with the ivy ever since. Thankfully, it's pretty much clear now. We just need to haul away all the mess. We even planted a few more trees and will cover everything in mulch, in hopes that will help keep away the undesirable blackberries and ivy. But we'll have to keep on top of it better than the previous homeowners did...

See that bamboo behind Gabe? You couldn't even see it there before, the blackberries were that out of control!
Gabe also replaced some outside light fixtures that weren't to our liking. With the new paint job, we felt new lights would be another good addition to our new curb appeal.

Between all our hard work we did manage to squeeze in:
-lots of back yard pool time
-some delicious BBQ

oh, and this too!

-a walk to the park to play
-a sunrise trip to photograph my favorite flower. (Although Gabe was the only one out of bed at 5am on Sunday morning to do the photographing.)


-a picnic lunch in the backyard
-getting a blackberry pie made. It may not be the prettiest pie ever...but I sure hope it tastes good!

-going to see this with my mom and Becky
-and lots of time just being silly!

Oh, by they way, I am not ready for the summer to be over! Can I please get a one week extension?