Reclaiming our bike path

Reclaiming Our Bike Path

This weekend my sister, Mary, and I started the process of reclaiming the bike path.  Ten years ago, when I first came to Westshire, I help design and build a natural playground with money from a grant that we had written.  The rocks, stumps, and balance beams that are in the playground were part of that project.  In addition to those, we laid a path outside the fenced-in area for the kids to run and bike around. Over the years, the path has been overtaken by weeds and grass.  On Friday, our Buildings and Grounds staff erected a dome tent so that we can spend most of our days outside until the weather gets too cold.  Their work motivated me to reclaim our bike path so that the area can be fully utilized.  After a day of work, the path looks way better, and we've also started creating a fort for the kids to play in.  

On Monday, the kids will help with the landscaping by moving the rest of the grass off the path and continuing to design and build the fort.  Check out the pictures below to see the progress that we've made so far.

If anyone has a connection to a company that would be willing to donate a load of hardpack gravel for our path and ideally, lend a machine to pack it, please let me know.  The hardpack gravel makes it much easier for the kids to bike, and it slows down the encroaching grass.

Check out the progress that we've made so far.

The kids watched from inside on Friday while the tent was erected.

A HUGE THANKS to the Buildings and Grounds guys for putting up the tent.  It wasn't easy.

                 

A quick peak of the inside of the tent partially set up.

The first side of the path - Before...

The first side - After!

The second side - Before...

   

The second side - After!

  

The fort area early on.

We're getting there...

I can't wait to see what the kids do with the area.