It's been a while and the hillbilly has been busy this summer. The kids and I have basically taken over the entire house and garage so he's really excited to mark his own territory. Here was how it all started.
1st, this slowly happened over a couple years. The corner sank. I was super sad about it and couldn't even see the beauty of the pool through this monstrosity:
We had a guy come out and raise the concrete. SUCCESS!!
Then the fun started. Steel beams were ordered. Funny story about the beams. My husband had ordered all these lengths of steel that needed cut to size. He had a college kid that works for him take them to get cut to length. He told him he needed 6 8foot lengths. The kid accidently had them cut 8 6 foot lengths. OOPS! So, the hillbilly cut the 2 spare lengths and welded 2 foot back on to each 6 foot length. The ol' measure twice cut once could have really came in handy here. Then, the laminate beams were ordered and delivered. Another funny story. A guy rings my door bell and says he has some long LVLs to drop off. I walk outside to see these HUGE LVLs balancing precariously across a tiny fork truck. He parked on the road...which was about 250 yards away and drove them width wise up our super long private drive. Then dumped in them in the yard. Initially a bunch of men family members came out to build this, but no one brought a ladder. Men went back home to get ladders and away they went. You can see our 4 older kids here. The other two were probably in the house setting something on fire. I'm pretty sure my daughter (stage left wearing red shorts) thinks this is a photo shoot!
All the brothers and brothers-in-law came out for several weekends to get Atlantis to this stage.
This is the view from the side:
The guys scrambled to get a roof, lighting and water so we could have a place to party for 4th of July.
My brother brought what we call 'rent-a-bar' so we could at least have a place for food and drinks. I'd love to say that the hillbilly's face is obscured to protect his identity, but it's just my bad picture taking.
I did stake claim to one small area. The bathroom. I didn't really want a bathroom because I already have 4 bathrooms in the house where boys can 'accidentally' pee on the walls. But, I lost the fight and I'm glad I did. My sister is an artist and is mosaic tiling the back wall. I'm letting her loose to make her vision. I open this door often just to see the progress. It makes me smile and instantly puts me in a happy mood. I have six kids, sometimes I need to visit the wall 20 times a day. I should have the hillbilly install a rum dispenser for me. Here is the reason why we call it Atlantis.
After much discussion and consideration, we decided to let her be topless. The neighbor kids suddenly need to get out of the pool and pee more than they used to.
Then the hillbilly had to leave town for a month to round up some more money for his project. He is due back Friday and totally stoked to get back at it. Stay tuned...