Looks nice!. Indeed decks suck. My dad built a nice one with an incredible 3-tier gazebo, place for the grill, ect.
Just a thing to have to keep staining, and then the wasps LOVE it, so it becomes pretty unusable. They have another brick patio as well which gets used a lot.
The downside to the deck I am referring to is that the spindles are sandwiched between pairs of top and bottom rails, with a board on top to finish it.... what does that give you?...a bazillion little nooks for wasp nests. woops. Your spindles are simply between a top and bottom piece... smarter.