So, after some quotes and negotiations, we landed on a contractor and a plan. They started work last week, and poured concrete on Monday. Overall, we’re pleased with the progress, but I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve needed to pay very close attention to what they’re doing.

In any case, we’ll have some before and after pictures up soon, and hopefully a good 4th of July party too!

In other news, I made the ‘mistake’ of introducing my two oldest children to pen+paper (“old school”) Dungeons and Dragons, with yours truly as the DM. I suppose I should have seen it coming, but have been amazed at how much they were interested in it: Rebecca has become transfixed with races and classes, and what types of armor and weapons are available. I bought the whole set of 3.5 edition books (4th ed. looks like crap from my reading) and she’s been staying up reading the Player’s Handbook. It’s a very odd feeling seeing my children so taken by this stuff (but admittedly, I was too at that age).