Patio – Life of kk

Happy November 2022!

How did we get here? How is it time to stress myself out for 30 straight days again?? Why don’t I write blog posts all year and just post them daily during November?

All great questions!

Each year I like to kick off the month with a little recap of what the last 12 months have looked like over here, just so we’re all starting from the same place.

First, some statistics:

Number of vacations and getaways: 4
Number of decks built on the house: 1
Number of coyotes living in our backyard: 1
Number of poolside cocktails enjoyed: not enough
Number of trips to Target: too many

And now, here’s the 2022 recap:

We kicked off the new year and resolved to get back to living life!

We were putting 2020 and 2021 behind us! We hosted our families, had delicious surf and turn for dinner, played games, and then watched the ball drop in Times Square 17 times so that I could take a video of Little Mister counting down – on the first year he stayed up until midnight!

I tried a Meal Kit for a hot second.

The meal kit I chose had a “healthy eating” theme, so right there my expectations were set relatively low. The kit itself was…fine. I felt it took a long time to create dinner, longer than it would have if I were just making something on my own. Also, the delivery day for my zip code was Fridays. And since all rules for eating go out the window ~~Thursday~~ Friday night until Sunday night, this was not a good option for us. Those are prime ordering take out and eating out days, I would just feel too guilty having “healthy” food in a kit going to waste in my fridge.

I made a cutting board wall in the kitchen!

We remodeled our kitchen 10 years ago before we moved in. And since Mr. KK starts to hyperventilate when I mention something like refreshing the backsplash or getting new bar stools, wall decor felt like a safer option. And voila! Thank you, Hobby Lobby, for the cheap & chic cutting boards that don’t fall off the wall!

We made pizza in our new pizza oven!

We received this amazing ooni pizza oven from family for Christmas. Once it was warm enough outside, we had our first make-our-own-pizza night on the patio!

We used store-bought dough for our first run out of the gate (knowing we’d likely burn half of the pizzas) but we eventually got the hang of it. It was one of my favorite nights this year because we hung out as a family, had some yummy cocktails, got our hands dirty making pizzas, ate way too much pizza, and watched a movie outside. Perfection!

We lost our first tooth!

This was a BIG DEAL. This tooth was loose for so long…I thought we’d have it forever. I know Little Mister was nervous to lose it outside of the house, and as luck would have it, he lost it at camp, eating pizza (at least it was enjoying one of his favorite pastimes). It flew out onto the floor and he was able to put it in a bag and bring it home.

And we had to make sure the tooth fairy visited (who makes a killing these day, I will say!). So not only did we put our tooth out for her, we wrote her a handy note to make sure she knew exactly where the tooth was!

Pro-tip: if you’re going to start the whole tooth fairy scheme, get the tooth pillow that hangs on the door knob and is easily accessible by parents when the child is sleeping. None of this “under the pillow” business.

We went to Disney World!

This will be its own post because I have so much to say about Disney, but what I can say is that 8 was the perfect age for us. We were so excited to go to the Animal Kingdom that we spent TWO WHOLE DAYS there. You read that correctly. TWO DAYS. Hakuna Matata!

I ate my favorite lobster roll in Portland, Maine!

This is the best lobster roll on the planet, and it comes from a little lobster food truck called Bite Into Maine, at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

I eat a lot of lobster rolls during the summer. I like to try them wherever I am. But this one here, will always be my favorite. They also have a hot option if you prefer a Connecticut style, but the cold Maine-style is ah-may-zing.

We went on our annual family vacation!

That’s right, we packed up the parents and hauled them off to Cape Cod! We experienced a 100 degree 100% humidity heatwave the first 4 days of the trip, so thankfully the house had the most amazing pool which is where we spent all of our time.

Mr. KK and I had our annual vacation Cribbage tournament (he won as usual) and the cocktails and beers were plentiful!

That’s a quick wrap. Welcome to November…a post a day for 30 days.

Challenge accepted!

Summer (and fall) of 2019 will forever be known in the KK house as that time we built a patio.

When we purchased our house (where Mr. KK’s grandmother used to live), there was a concrete “deck” off the back of the kitchen that Mr. KK’s grandfather had built. It was not the prettiest thing, but it allowed us to have our grill close to the kitchen, with enough room for our chiminea, table and chairs, and my potted herbs in the summertime.

Unfortunately, it started cracking and wasn’t in the best shape, so we had to take it down. And with it, went our only outdoor space (that had a floor, anyway) where we could eat outside and hang out.

We knew when we took away the old patio that we would eventually build a new patio off of the new family room. We had beautiful french doors that would be the perfect gateway to our outdoor living paradise.

And this past July, in what will be called the “Summer of the Patio”, Mr. KK spent every waking moment working on this creation with his friend. From drawing the plans, to changing the plans, to picking out the stone (this is where I came in!), to clearing the land and digging in, this project took over our lives.

When we started, it was July and it was HOT. Notice the lush green trees, and my lone lounge chair.

The was was the first thing to get dug and built.

I believe this photo was taken during the hottest day of the summer, it was about 100 degrees and 1,000,000% humidity. But these two soldiered on:

And, oh, all the deliveries! Stone, gravel, sand, more stone, more gravel. Our yard was a disaster:

Check out that wall!

From what I could tell, the wall was the “hard part” and it was finally over!

Next up, digging and clearing where the floor was going to go:

It may be hard to see, but it’s the beginning of fall here. You can see the leaves in the grass in the back of the yard. Summer was over, and we were yet to enjoy our first drink on the new patio.

That rush of laying down the first stones!

Fall meant shorter days, but that didn’t stop these two. They worked well into dark, using the floodlights to see.

And…done!

The patio itself is officially finished, but there’s still a ton of work to do. Besides cleaning up the yard and scraps, there are planters to be filled in, walkways to plan and lighting to think about.

All I know is that I’m going to have a celebratory drink on this thing of beauty, even if I have to wear a parka and boots!

Category: Patio

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