Construction...A Pineapple Palm Tree

We are getting ready to add on to our house and I am so excited I can hardly wait.  We moved into this small house (but big back yard) almost 3 years ago with intentions of adding on and now we finally get to start the1st phase...a new family room.  I am excited to journal it all and look back to see what we went through.

First thing first, remove a big huge pineapple palm tree.  We listed it on Craigs list: tree for free as long as you dig it up and haul it off.  Pineapple palms are not cheep so we were pretty sure someone would grab it and grab it they did!!  You should have seen this thing that extracted it from the ground; It looked like it was going to dig a hole to China. It consists of 4 huge shovel like things that wrap around the tree, dig deep into the ground, rock the tree back and forth and then pull it up.  Here is a video of the extraction as well as a before and after pic.  (You've seen enough after the first 30 secs)

My dad, the retired architect, has drawn up the plans, we submitted them and received our permits.  I am very excited because Dad and I are going to head up this project since hubby is really busy.  I of course will be passing everything through hubby to get the okay.  I love stuff like this and look forward to all the construction wisdom I will be receiving. Next post will be pouring of the foundation which we have already met with the concrete guy so this should be done in the next couple of weeks YAY!