Sunday, May 17, 2009

The Fort


Here are some pictures of a little fort Rick and the boys have been working on. Our backyard is basically a wooded hillside and it goes up pretty steep. It is bigger than than the pictures make it out to be, but you get a general idea. They're still working on it and I don't know what else they're going to do to it. It's a good climb up the hill. The other day we had 2 bears wandering through the fort, but they didn't do anything to it. Because of that, the boys can only go in it when Rick and I are outside and close by. Chances are, if the boys are outside playing and making noise, we don't usually get the bears coming around. They're more inclined to come around when everyone is inside and the neighborhood is quiet. But it's a cool little fort and the boys have fun playing up there.


There was a treehouse at the house I grew up in. I believe it was there when we moved in, but my brother and sister fixed it up a bit. It was in an eucalyptus tree. There were little wooden pegs hammered into the tree that were used to climb up it. I was too little to go up there for the longest time. I remember climbing up into it once, only to be too afraid to go down again. I think my brother had to come out and help me down. Eventually, I got the hang of it and spent a lot of time playing in that old tree fort. This lower picture of my house was taken from the boy's fort, so you can see how far up it is. Did you ever have a fort or tree fort when you were growing up?


On another note -- we went to town yesterday and I got my Sea-Monkeys. There was only one package left, in my favorite color blue, so I took that as a good sign. We haven't set the little tank up yet, but I'm doing that soon. The water has to purify for 24 hours before you can add the eggs to it. Of course, Rick ranted about buying them, but he had no choice this time. I was talking to the boys last night as we examined the little kit and I mentioned how I always wanted Sea-Monkeys when I was a little girl, but my mom wouldn't let me get them. Nathan goes, "Well, you're an adult now, so you can." Such a clever kid. Anyway, we're going to give them a try and see how well they do. I keep reading how they should be near sunny places, so I might have to move them around the house a bit. I'll try to get some pictures if we have success with them. Wish us luck!

10 comments:

  1. Cute fort, looks like a lot of fun! You live in such a beautiful area, reminds me of Estes.

    Have fun with the sea monkeys, can't wait to see how they do!

    Enjoy your day!

    Nancy

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  2. My dad made a tree fort for my brother and I when I was little, but I was afraid to climb up it (the whole get-up was a bit rickety).

    The neighborhood gang was always trying to put together forts in the forest in our combined backyards. Sometimes we were successful, sometimes we weren't. Great memories, though : )

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  3. Oh, and by the way ...

    http://philosophyofklo.blogspot.com/2009/05/one-lovely-blog-award.html

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  4. Awesome fort! I'm jealous!

    When I was little, I had a treehouse that some boys in the neighborhood had abandoned. I'd spend whole afternoons up there reading.

    And my friend, Cheryl, who lived across the street had an great fort that her dad helped her build. We used to play out there all the time.

    Hope your kids enjoy it! : )

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  5. That looks like a wonderful fort.

    I didn' have a tree fort, but my best friend and I (who was boy) had two rock forts. We're talking ocean coast-line rocks. BIG. The two forts had differnt characters. One was a pirate ship and we always had ocean going adventures there. The other fort took us into a land filled with fairies, elves, gnomes and other magical creatures.

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  6. Love that fort! What great parents you guys are to build such a wonderful place for dreams to grow.

    Plus, Go-Sea-Monkeys!

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  7. Nice fort. Have they thought of digging in front of the fort vertically, to make it seem steeper? Then it would be like a wall of wood & ground. If you're gonna defend, might as well do it right. ;)

    Alas, no, no treehouse or fort for me as a child.

    Gale

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  8. LOL Gale -- I'm not sure what % grade it is, but it's a STEEP walk up there. If anything, they need reinforcements on the back of the fort because if anything's going to "get them" -- it's going to come from back there. As you go up the hillside, it leads to just more and more forest. The only thing up there are animals. LOL! It's a cool little place though and I'm sure they'll have lots of fun up there.

    Thanks for all your replies, everyone. It's cool to see that others had forts and treehouses that they played in too.

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  9. This fort is the coolest! My boys would go crazy over this!

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  10. Sea monkeys - you are a hoot Rena!

    Cool fort too!

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