It wasn't long and the foundation company was here to put up forms. It was another exciting day. As the kids and I spent the day in and around the pool, we watched the workers use a crane to move the concrete forms from the trailer into place around the perimeter of the house. Then they carried them sheet by sheet and put them in place, hammering them together. It was a noisy day, but I am not sure what was louder, the workers or the kids playing in the pool.
Our days seemed all the same, for the most part. Hubby would get up early and head off to work, then the rest of us in the "camp" would wake up. The girls and I in the fifth-wheel, and the boys and dog in the pop-up camper. We would all come together in the fifth-wheel to have breakfast, then in turn we would use our tent as the changing room and get dressed for the day. We can't forget the line for the outhouse either..that was a daily routine too. For meals other than breakfast, we normally ate outside at the picnic tables. After a few days of getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we decided to invest in a screen tent!!
I think we all enjoyed the laid back lifestyle we had, but there were days when we talked about how much we would appreciate our "normal" life, once this journey came to an end. The heat of the days would have been almost unbearable if we had to stay in the campers. We were constantly reminded by the splash of the pool, of how blessed we were.
On special days, we would have company over. Most times I would have my mom come and bring my niece and nephew with her to swim and picnic. The kids LOVED it, and mom and I enjoyed our time too.
After the forms were set, it was a day or so, and the concrete trucks were here. They pumped the concrete down long chutes and into the forms. After a few minutes, most of the kids got bored watching, and went on, continuing to play and enjoy the freedom that outdoor living allows. I loved calling hubby at work and telling him of all the things I saw, and the progress that was being made. I had really wished he could be poolside with me, watching it all unfold, but alas, as he would jokingly remind me, "someone has to work to afford this lavish lifestyle of ours,like, cold showers, endless meals cooked on the grill, and not to forget the all important outhouse". We all often joked about what we were "going through", but we were very careful to make sure we remembered how truly blessed we were to be experiencing this. Ah, the stories we will be able to tell for year and years to come. There will be generations of people that will hear of the craziness, and wonder, that this family has had the benefit to endure.
Once the forms were filled, all the concrete was poured, everything had to sit for a day or two before the forms could be stripped off. We had prayed for warm dry days, so everything would set nicely. Our prayers went unanswered, as the clouds rolled in and the ground cried out in thirst. It rained, and rained. The workers returned to strip the forms, and slip and slide in the slimy mud. What a job. I watched, as one guy tried to move about, and his boots were just covered in clay. They must have weighed a ton, but he just kept chugging along, as if he had a child clinging onto his leg, swinging it about, as he tried to maneuver in the trenches. After all the forms were stripped, we now had to wait for the concrete to cure. We were told that it would be 7-10 days before the house could be set back down. In the meantime, we needed to have the foundation inspected.
This was our first inspection, and our first "green" sticker!!! We were so excited! For those who aren't familiar with the process, it can be quite intimidating! I mean after all, what happens if they don't approve it, and you get an orange sticker, and then what???? Well, I don't want to find out! We did our little happy dance, and then I took a pic of the green tag with my phone, and sent it to hubby at work so he could share in our joy!
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