As normal people spent a beautiful, hot, and almost wind-free Fourth of July weekend at the lake, Chad and our crew of construction kids, tackled siding the cabin. I could lie and say it was fun - but the whole truth is it wasn't. It was work. Work is satisfying. I am proud of the progress and impressed with the quality results - but it was not fun. Truth be told, I don't actually enjoy the work of construction. I DO enjoy the results. And when your dream is bigger than your budget, hard work often makes up the deficit.
Thursday afternoon when we arrived, there was not one piece of siding on the cabin. Chad's employees do siding work on jobs quite often. Chad has never done it. So, it took us a bit of time to figure out the task and how to best accomplish it.
The first day we worked, we only completed this one small wall. I thought we would be siding for a month of weekends. . .
(Mataya makes me happy. Her chatter and joyful exploration is like a cool breeze.)
The next day went a lot smoother. Chad and I got into a groove. We worked a 14 hour day - but we got three walls completed!
I was COMPLETELY exhausted when we went to bed that night, but I was also proud of all we had accomplished. We promised the kids that we would not work as long the next day. We would break for the afternoon to do something fun.
We started with a nap because we were to tired to have fun without a nap first.
Then we ran into town for some ice cream.
We sided for a hour or two, had supper, and then headed out on the lake with the boat for the very first time. The kids were thrilled. I was honestly too tired to care. I went. I helped get the boat in and out of the water. I smiled and laughed with the kids - but my heart would have preferred an early bedtime.
We got up very early the next morning to resume our task. We knew that it was going to be very HOT, so we wanted to work during the early morning hours.
(Brenna and I from the lift.)
I learned to run the lift. The kids thought it was fun and funny to see mom operating it. They made sure to be in the basket with me whenever possible.
Before the siding goes on, there is special tape that goes around all the windows and on the seams of the insulation board. That is a good job for Brenna and I to do while Chad preps more technical aspects for each wall.
By the time we left the lake, we had 5 of 7 walls done. Chad worked like two men. I worked like one mom and one laborer. (I also logged an 8 mile long run, a 3 mile recovery run, and a 5 mile regular run!) Brenna worked like a part-time laborer. Joshua and Mataya provided comic relief.
There you have it.
Chad and I and the littles are headed back today to plug away at those last two walls. I am really hoping that we will be done with siding this weekend.
Really hoping!
I have been joking with Chad that this is a one time deal. I told him that we have really good insurance, and if we ever get hailed out I will HAPPILY drink sangria while I watch a crew of professional reside my cabin. Such a happy image. . .
Ha!
