One of the many projects we busted our humps on for the next people (bitterness implied) was finishing a patio I started last summer using gravel and cement squares. Most people use sand as a base. But I wanted to make the job difficulter than it already is cuz that’s the way I roll.
My ten-year old helped me carry the 12” and 16” cement squares and lay them out perfectly. We designed it as we went along, based on how many cement squares we had left of various sizes.
Vincent has a good eye for all things spacial. He suggested the path coming out the doorway with a wider amount of gravel on each side.
He can quickly eyeball the gravel and know if it needs more or less underneath before we place a cement square down. The job went much faster than if I were doing it alone and I enjoyed his company.
Mid-job, Vincent said, “You’re talking to me like I’m a professional.”
I said, “That’s because you’re acting like a professional.”
It was refreshing how Vincent problem solved, rather than did something half-assed like the landscapers when they bumped into a glitch. I relayed the story to Vincent, how I had to babysit the landscapers I hired to put down some mulch, trim trees, lay out the rest of the patio tiles that we were fixing, and rake up the prickle balls from the sweet gum tree that we kept kicking out of our way.
“I don’t think they were really landscapers,” I said. “I think they just needed money and said they were landscapers.”
Using sarcasm that has been in the family for generations, Vincent says, “Why didn’t they just open up a lemonade stand?”
The image of five grown men in hoodies, selling lemonade on the corner comes to mind every time I look at this patio.
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Vincent, I’m impressed.
Vincent is your 10-year-old? That’s incredible. I can’t even get my 17-year-old to recognize that those giant stuffed animals under her bed are out-of-control dust bunnies
It’s really gratifying to find out your kid has savvy, isn’t it? Yay, Vincent, and Yay, Amy & Skye for raising a kid with skills
)
That is amazing!! So Vincent is a spatial learner.. A good thing to know really. That is a great patio, maybe you could rent him out to create patios for others!! Just a thought
That is fantastic…. and so you know, our back patio that my dad built was made with sand (considering it was used when building the retaining walls that created the space for a patio), big blocks, and little gravel… so that may run in the family as well.
ROFL!
Tell Vincent they’d probably forget the sugar in the lemonade…
And then I’d tell them to add the sugar but they’d already have added the ice. Sugar doesn’t like to dissolve in ice. But since they didn’t bring a stirrer…. they’d have to go out and buy stirrers and then add that onto the price of the lemonade after I already drank the lemonade, all but the deformed sugar granules at the bottom of the glass.
And they’d be like, “See? You didn’t even need the sugar. You left it on the bottom.”