Now all the trees are down

Our friend Chad (of the eggs from this post) came over today to help Matt take down the last two trees. One was easy - zip zip, notch, and pull it down. The second was the BIG ONE. The BIG ONE that is about 15 feet away from the side of our house and leans slightly over the house. The idea was that they would try it - they'd take it one step at a time, and when they got to the point where they decided the next step was too risky, they'd quit and we'd hire a tree service to finish it up. [NOTE: Chad has worked in the tree industry for a while, so he has some know-how to go with his willingness to work!]

To make the day more interesting, Matt found out after he planned this as the day with Chad that this was the day I had planned on having Leah's birthday tea party with her friends. So, while this was going on outside...

...this was going on inside!

So not only did Leah and her friends enjoy the planned activities, they also got to enjoy some live entertainment!

Branch by branch, that thing came down, with Matt occasionally popping his head in to ask us all to move to the east side of the house just in case, until they had the rope tied way up to the one remaining large trunk...

And, then, with a truck attached to the other end of the rope, down.....it....came! Couldn't have fallen in a better spot, either. This is my first attempt at including video...

Before:

And after:

I think having a birthday party going on while the big tree was coming down was a good distraction for Leah.