Ella's new backyard #4

You can see photos from the first three posts here:

http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2012/01/ellas-new-backyard-1.html

http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2012/01/ellas-new-backyard-2.html 

http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2012/01/ellas-new-backyard-3.html

Moving back inside, the girls started making a Christmas tree cake, and Ella was keen to help out. 

There was an egg casualty shortly after getting the ingredients out.

Scarlett looked on with interest while Emily cleaned up the broken egg.

With everybody else gathered around the bench top, Scarlett wanted to know what she was missing out on, and attempted to stand on Ella's chair.

Ella then picked up and accidentally dropped another egg. With the death toll getting a bit high, Emily got the eggs herself instead.

With the mixture in a bowl, it was a team effort to stir the contents.

Bored of waiting for actual food, Scarlett started gnawing on the bench top instead.

Before...

After.

Coming up next...the first BBQ dinner outside.

Ella's new backyard #3

You can see photos from the first two posts here:  

http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2012/01/ellas-new-backyard-1.html

http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2012/01/ellas-new-backyard-2.html 

A few days after the night photos in Post #2, Sally and I went over to spend some time with the Jakas family. Arriving in the late afternoon after a friend's wedding, we sat outside for a while, with Ella happily running around the new backyard.

A few houses down there's a very cool Christmas light display setup, although it's not quite as effective during daylight, as Ella discovered when peering over the fence.

Both Ella and Scarlett find it amusing to stand in front of the air conditioner fans, letting the air blast them in the face, while talking into it for some funny noises.

Sally then helped her put on some fairy wings, and Ella stood in front of the windows for a while, dancing and admiring her own reflection which was quite funny.

The new trampoline provided some fun and laughs as well. 

Coming up in Post #4; Ella helps Emily and Sally make a cake.

Ella's new backyard #2

You can see photos from the first post here: http://carscameraschronicillness.blogspot.com/2012/01/ellas-new-backyard-1.html

As it began to get dark, we all sat outside in the warm summer air, looking over the yard as the solar-powered lights started to come to life. 

While the backyard looked amazing in daylight, the twinkling lights gave it an almost magical aura, bathing the garden and gazebo in a soft, warm glow.

 

Coming up in Post #3; the first backyard BBQ dinner.

Ella's new backyard #1

A few days after taking the final construction photos in the previous post, the backyard project was no longer a dream...it was reality. 

It was amazing to see the difference to what the yard had looked like less a week earlier, thanks to lots of hard work from lots of people. I dropped round in the late afternoon to get some photos of the completed project.

Ella was wandering around in some fairy wings, checking out all the cool new stuff.

 Scarlett was exploring the new surroundings as well, before sitting down with Ella for some pasta for dinner.

It was soon time for them to go to bed, and as dusk fell I took some photos of how the new yard was looking. With all the little details tidied up, the effect was great; a complete transformation.

Coming up in Post #2; photos of the fairy lights at night.

Ella's Backyard Dreams Project #9: Finishing touches

The day after the backyard makeover, Pete and Lia Healy, along with Daniel, were hard at work finishing off the rest of the unfinished work in the backyard.

Part of this was some full-on grunt work digging trenches for the plumbing pipes to go, which had previously been sticking out of the grass, at times providing some manky looking rainwater on top that Scarlett seemed to like the taste of.

Since it was quite hot, the girls were inside, watching one of Ella's favourite movies; The Lion King. 

Shovelling dirt for the trenches was a fairly physical task, with Daniel and Pete both working up a sweat in the sun. Apparently Pete is not a huge fan of having his photo taken, and I believe he made some threats regarding my camera's well-being at this point...but hey, you can't please everybody. And I think all his hard work deserves to be recorded.

The new trampoline now had the netting around the sides.

I was only able to stay for a few minutes, as I was on the way to Sally's dance performance with her hip-hop class, but it was good to get a few more progress photos in daylight.

Some photos of the completed backyard with fairy lights coming soon....