What Progress looks like....

Haven't made it by the school lately? Wondering what's getting done? Here you go! Thanks to all of the people who have made it by to help Ms. Holley paint, help clean up, move desks, figure out paint colors, dig the sandbox, etc, etc, etc! Check out the second grade room taking shape- you can really see the future of our space here..... as for the heavy equipment... thank goodness for Cary Hendricks! It's almost magical the way our community seems to manifest what is needed- if you haven't had a chance to help yet, come on out and bring your magic with you!

Photo Recap of the Moving Week

The move is behind us (wild cheering noises!) but in case you were wondering what it looked like, check out these Kodak moments. And if you were there to help, thank you for making this move happen right on schedule, and by the deadline!!

For those of you who like numbers, ESA's school furniture and stuff was transported in two loads in a 16 foot long truck, and one load in a 16 foot long POD. If the truck and the POD were each 8 feet high by 8 wide, how many cubic feet of stuff does ESA have?

Wait, wait, wait! More stuff is in Lynne and Bruce's garage, and it needs to get move this weekend (June 28 & 29) before we can make the total calculation. Let us know if you can help with this "mini" move...call or email Julia (303-546-0287) or Sharon (720-596-4596) ASAP.

Paint, cup of tea, childcare--all in harmony!

Do your kids do this at home too?

Mark Jonjak -vs- The Rug

Childcare during the move

Chris, Shelley and Chase Move the Chairs

Where it's at....

So, the move is completed. The final pieces came over yesterday, with Karina powerlifting the remaining stumps into her truck solo. She has done some fabulous work in the last weeks pulling this together, and we all owe her a great big thanks! Thanks also to everyone of you who took the time to come by and chip in, adding extra hours, squeezing a few more in here and there to help get it done. The pre-game show on the last day of school helped us make some good headway on the remaining packing (which never seemed to end...). The dad's groups helped kick things off by coming in last Saturday and loading the pod, taking down cubbies and blackboards, and giving us a big boost. The manual labor award goes to Chris Hauck and Shelley Nelson who loaded and unloaded 2 U-Haul trucks on Wednesday (with lots of great helpers!), putting in a full day of moving. Thanks also to the cleaning crews who tackled the dirty beast when the movers were done. Every contribution to this effort has our heartfelt appreciation.

Now for the up and coming. Well, we promised schedule changes, and we got them. We have a wedding reception taking place on the school grounds this weekend (a Bridge School teacher), and so Saturday will be a Free Day for our work crews. This Sunday the sandbox is starting, but no helpers yet as Cary Hendricks is bringing in his excavating equipment (what, you don't have earth moving machinery at your house?) and along with Jim Paulson is laying the groundwork- or is that un-laying the groundwork? Chris Hauck, Karina, Brett Piazza and I picked up 40-odd large stumps this morning, and they are now awaiting placement in the sand area. The next sandbox work weekend is scheduled for the second weekend in July.

Assuming adequate volunteers, we hope to have the fence crew kick off this Sunday as well. We need some folks to help with hole drilling (with a power auger). Julia and Sharon will be contacting those of you who volunteered, and of course, new volunteers are welcome.

The weekend of the 28/29th will be setting fence posts, moving stuff out of our garage, and starting on painting! Volunteers will be contacted, or feel free to take the initiative and call/email Julia and Sharon.

Lastly, after much thought and revision, we submitted the application for our building permit yesterday. They are promising us a quick turnaround, and we hope to have this in hand by end of the month! Demo and framing crews, this may push things up to the weekend of July 5th- assuming (and hoping) that enough people are in town. Start warming up your sledgehammer hands now!

Things are well on track at the moment, and we are looking forward to the getting the next pieces in place, as we build our new home!

With Gratitude,

Lynne

Whew! What a week of moving mojo!

Amazing job...many hands do make for a lighter load. Please know that we will be posting our Summer Work Plan and schedule very shortly. Bear with us as we are working out the details for this. Also we will be organizing a get together to meet our "new to ESA Families" soon.

Thank you to all who have pitched in to help with this week's move, and who showed up for the Taste of the Season event at Whole Foods (Sorry Diane and kids, for being so late with the marimbas!!). Join us for cleaning today if you can! Good night and good morning!

A great day, a great start

Well, today's closing ceremony was wonderful, beautiful, and really fun. It was not only a wrap up to the year, but a wrap up to a chapter in the history of the school. It felt very big. It was also really exciting getting the projects for the new school launched. It was great to see people get enthusiastic and really step up to volunteer. After many hours analyzing needs at the new facility, work scope, hours, needed skills, etc, it is really wonderful for Karina and I to feel like we have all of you as our co-collaborators now! Thanks to everyone who volunteered today, and all of you are eagerly awaiting your turn!

Since we didn't have everyone there today, not all the needed volunteer hours are spoken for. The list of projects and where we stand on each one is at the bottom of the page. If you have not volunteered yet, have not used up your 18 hours (per person, not per family), or if you are interested and able to take on additional hours, please contact one of the Volunteer Coordinators:

Julia Hellerman hellermans@yahoo.com
Sharon O'Leary sharonoleary@comcast.com

We will also be contacting folks to talk to you about what's needed and where you can fit in to the summer program. We know summer schedules can be crazy for people, but we can find a spot for you- promise!

A new beginning

Welcome all, to the Blog that built ESA! Here you will find updates on the progress of the work being done this summer to move us in to our new facility. We may or may not entertain you, but we certainly hope to inform you! We have many, many volunteers, and a good sized project list, so there will be plenty to write about. And since most of you won't be spending every day on the property, here is a way you can still follow along!