Video about the digging days.
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Monthly Archives: February 2016
Digging, Day 2.
Sadly, I didn’t have a car today. Chris needed it for work, so I couldn’t get to the construction site before shortly before 6pm.
When we got there, everything was transformed. What used to be mud, dirt and a huge mess, was now straight, clean and pebbles. It looks like it’s all ready for the foundation!
Also, for the first time since we bought the land, we went home with clean shoes 🙂
Then again, the “yard” is still a huge mess, but we’ll get to that 😉
Digging, Day 1.
The excavator was here today.
After waiting for the building permit to show up for a really, really long time, 14 months and 5 days after we signed our contract something finally happened.
And this morning, we didn’t even think it would.
It was a beautiful, warm day yesterday, so when we woke up and everything was full of snow we really couldn’t believe the excavator would even start today.
View from our old apartment.
View from our old apartment.
Land this morning, covered in snow.
But they did show up at around noon and started working!
Here are some pictures:
The kids loved it.
Ryan was pretty amazed.
We put up the construction sign.
Since the excavators are starting tomorrow (24th of February), we put up our construction sign (required by law). It lists who is building what and some other information like who is your site manager, etc. etc.
We also hung up a no smoking sign, since I am trying to keep them from using our land as an ashtray. Well, and there’s also the fact that I am not overly fond of smoke in my house or around me and my children. And since I am paying them a crazy amount of money, I think I can ask them not to smoke on my land. So I did. Not sure if they will actually do it, since I won’t even be around all day every day, but they better do when I am there. And I better don’t find cigarette buds all over our land. I can be feisty 😉
“Grobabsteckung” got done!
Today the first measuring for the actual house itself got done. “Grobabsteckung” roughly means a first measuring that is correct within 4 centimeters. The “fine” one will be done after the excavator was there and that one will then be correct within a couple of millimeters.
I got there this morning to hand the measuring people some paperwork and before I knew it they handed me a post and a hammer and a can of spray paint and told me everyone has to do at least one thing themselves for building their house 🙂 I should probably not mention that while I got it in ok, I didn’t pay attention to the wind and got neon yellow spray paint all over me! 🙂 (Yellow posts are the house, pink is the garage).
We had some stuff printed on the reflective vests :)
Chris and I had some reflective vests printed for everyone to wear the day the house will be put up. Take a look:
Here’s what they say:
(Please notice that everyone picked for themselves what they wanted their vest to say 🙂 )
Anya – “”I’m just here to get a garden/yard”
Lillian –Â “I’m just here to get a bunk bed”
Lavinia –Â “I’m just here to get a trampoline”
Ryan – “I’m just here to see the excavator”
Chris – “I’m just here to pay the bills”
Christl – “”I’m just here because I’m nosy”
We also finally got some dates:
– The excavation is going to happen tomorrow (February 23rd) or Wednesday (24th).
– The foundation will be done Monday, February 29th. LEAP DAY! 😉
– The house will be put up Monday, March 7th and Tuesday March 8th.
Of course the current weather report looks fine BUT for the 29th and 7th, including severe weather warnings and all that fun stuff. Duh. Let’s hope they are wrong as usual 😉
Time capsule for the foundation
On Valentines day we finally had the time to sit down and make our time capsule.
German (or Bavarian anyway) tradition has it that you lay a cornerstone. Since we are building a wood house we obviously won’t have a cornerstone, so we are going to put it in the foundation. A “real” time capsule on amazon was over $60 (!) so instead I just bought a box that looked like a house. It even contained 16 children books so I thought I was much better of that way 😉
Chris and I only had the “typical” ideas for it, a heart for love, a four-leaf clover for good luck, etc. but our kids surprised us by having amazing ideas on what all to put in. So here’s a list of all the stuff that is inside:
- A drawing of our new house and our family made by each kid (Lillian’s idea).
- A family picture with our signatures in back.
- Some coins (dated 2015 since no one had 2016) – so there’s always enough money.
- A heart – so there’s always love.
- A four-leaf clover – so there’s good luck.
- A car – so we never have any accidents may it be in cars, on planes, in trains, etc. (Lavinia’s idea).
- A glowstick – so we always see light even in the deepest darkness and are never scared (Lavinia’s idea).
- A marble – so we never loose our inner child. And so that there’s always enough toys.  (Lavinia’s idea)
- A clown – so we never loose our sense of humor and our smiles.
- A piece sign – so we can live our lives in piece.
- A plate of food and a drink – so we always have food and drinks.
- A house – so we all know you CAN come home again.
- Wool – so we stay warm (and have clothes 😉 )
- Wings – so we all have a guardian angel (Lillian’s idea).
- A cross – so God is always watching over our family.
- A ying-yang sign – so we always have balance in our lives  (Chris’s idea).
- A person – so we always have a loving family and great friends.
- Vitamins – so we stay healthy and don’t get sick.
- A matchbox with lightning and water – so we are protected from fire, storms and floods.
- A Christmas ornament – so we never stop believing in the magic of Christmas.We all love it and are very excited to put it on our foundation.
Lillian’s drawing
Ryan’s drawing (with a little help from Daddy 😉 ).
Lavinia’s drawing.
“Bautafel” (construction project sign) is also here!