Tree House Progress

Work has finally begun on the tree house.

It may not be the one I had planned in my head.

To see my original post about the tree house go here.

The kids are excited.
I am excited.

They have all helped in one way or another.

The tree house is bigger than I was going to go with,
but Mr. M. got involved.

He would rather go big than have to cut and waste.
The decks are very sturdy, built to handle a bunch of kids.

The lower deck is 10 x 12.

This is the view of the back yard from the lower deck.
We had to trim some tree branches.

The upper deck is 12 x 12.
Mr. M. was out til 8:00 last night nailing in the last deck board.
As you can see there is plenty of space between each deck.
We wanted to make sure there was plenty of head room.
My 12 year old has surpassed me in height,
there seems no end to his growing. 

This is the view from the upper deck.
You can see into the fields, on the left in that patch of weeds is the kids pond.

You can also see into the trees from the other sides of the deck.
The tree house is tucked into the treetops hidden.

This weekend we will be making the playhouse at the top.
Railings for the sides.



here

I am hoping to incorporate a slide,

two swings,


here

 rope ladder,


here

here

a zip line,

here

 and rock climbing wall.

I found some great inspiration photos on Google.

here

here


Now I just have to find the perfect little tree to decorate for Christmas.
What?
Did you think otherwise?
My daughter put it perfectly, it is just another room!

A Day in the Field

Baseball.

I spent the day watching two of my kids play baseball.

Each of them is amusing to watch in their own way.

This is my youngest caught in the act of dancing in the field.

You may not notice, but his hat is inside out.

In this picture he is doing exactly what his coach told him to.

Get dirty.

 Slide.

Only he was a tad too short on his slide to first base.

BUT, he did listen to his coach!

He enjoys the game and makes you laugh.

My daughter in concentration.

She is fun to watch because she has a passion for the game.

My little girl was recruited to 11U this year.

She makes us all proud.

I caught her in the act of leading off each time the pitcher threw the ball.

She pays attention.

Watching the girls pay softball is much different than the boys.

They celebrate each other and the team.

They celebrate the game.

My oldest was around, here and there, playing with his friends.

He plays on different days.

I enjoy that he is becoming more responsible.

He is growing up.

I did get some pictures of him at bat from this weeks game.

Now that the game has kid pitching, it makes it is harder to hit the ball.

In fact they tend to not even swing in fear of getting out.

I told him to swing anyway.

You would rather get out because you tried, than for just letting the ball go by.

He enjoys the game, but I think it is time with his father he enjoys more.

Whether Mr. M. is coaching his own team or assisting the other kid's coaches.

This guy is always on the field.

This is the most important part. 

Sometimes even he gets to play ball!

So far he has only played once this year.

His time for playing will come again at the end of summer.

After the kids play.

Such a great dad!