Carolynn's Patio Enclosure

David and I spent last week in Galt building a patio enclosure for Carolynn, David's niece. Well, it was actually David and his nephew, Barry who did the construction. Barry's wife, Lee,and I helped with caulking and insulation at the end of the week. We spent the rest of the time shopping, exploring Sacramento and getting ready for Carolynn's surprise birthday. (More on that later in my post!) Carolynn has a great house and a beautiful yard, but wanted a little more space, so she asked Barry and David to convert part of the existing patio into a sun room/office. Here's a couple of BEFORE pictures: (The pictures were taken with cell phone camera's since we ALL forgot our good camera's.)


This is how it looked with walls, windows and door installed. See how busy David and Barry were. They didn't even turn around to pose for a picture.

David shot Barry through the wall with a nail gun on Thursday.

In this picture it looks like Barry's trying to retaliate with a drill.

Here's Carolynn helping with caulking:

Barbara, Barry and Lee are posing in front of the freshly installed insulation:

There was not enough time to complete the project, but it is far enough along that Carolynn can just call in sheet rock and tile crews to get it finished.
SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Wednesday was Carolynn's birthday. She had told several family members that she wanted to ride in a limo before she died, so Barry arranged to surprise her with a limo ride and dinner out to a VERY NICE restaurant for her birthday. All of us were housed at Barbara's in Sacramento, so while Carolynn was teaching school during the days we were shopping and preparing for the big party. On Tuesday we spent 5 hours at the Galt Flea Market. Becky and Larry flew in Tuesday night as a surprise to help Carolynn celebrate. So, Larry joined the construction crew and Becky joined Barbara, Lee and I to explore Old Sacramento. We found some great birthday gifts there and hurried on to finish gathering things for the party. We got See's chocolates, a bouquet of flowers to give her in the limo, balloons, and picked up the cake for after dinner. This is the table, all decorated. Carolynn loves gardening, so we used that theme for her table flowers and balloons:

We thought she would enjoy these Gerber daisies to plant in her yard:

Larry told Carolynn we were taking her out for pizza, so she was quite surprised when the limo pulled up and drove to Lodi to Wine and Roses, a beautiful restaurant by a winery. Sparkling cider was served by the limo driver before leaving and we enjoyed a wonderful pianist while waiting for our table. The waiters and food at the restaurant were the best! We all tried something different, and "shared". David' s calamari salad was a big hit, but everything was excellent. After dinner, we headed home for dessert and good conversation.

David and I got home Friday morning and Lee and Barry made it to Bakersfield in time for dinner and a movie (Indiana Jones) Friday night. On Saturday, the Delgados joined us for breakfast and then the guys went shooting (not nail guns). Afterwards David and Barry went on errands involving The Mustang, power washers, tire fixing, seeing the new Harbor Freight store and other stuff. Barry and Lee headed back to Escondido Saturday afternoon as David went to work. Thanks so much to everyone for a wonderful week!