We have a walking trail close to our house that is perfect for riding bikes. During one of our bike rides last year, we discovered a tree that some children had converted into a type of tree house. Since then, my kids have begged to visit it quite a few times. During one of the visits, we met the makers of the tree house. These kids said that they had made it about 5 years ago, and that they didn't come back to play in it much anymore.
This year, during our first bike ride of the season, we noticed that some of the boards were coming off of the tree and that it was hard to climb into. Johnny suggested that we fix it, and a light bulb turned on in my head. Maybe this would be a great opportunity for him to spend some time with his dad. So (sorry John) I recruited him to spend an evening with Johnny fixing up the old tree house on the trail.
John loaded up the bike trailer with a hammer, some nails, a battery powered skill saw and some wood, and off they headed down the trail. They made a new ladder and a railing (Johnny's suggestion) to the platform. Johnny was so proud of his work that he couldn't wait to show the rest of us. The next day he lead Hannah, Maddie and I down the trail to see his handy work, we were very impressed.
Then we went a little further down the trail and saw this eagle's nest type tree house that I had never noticed before. Against my better judgement I let them climb up there. They had a blast and nobody broke an arm or a leg or a neck, bonus. I don't know why I wanted them to have this experience so badly. I could be that I loved climbing trees when I was little, and we haven't had any good mature trees to climb since we have had children.
Maddie spent most of her time collecting the little colorful balls that you can find all over the trail and putting them in her bag. I think that they come from air-soft guns, I'm not sure. I snapped a picture of her by her bike and then she snapped a picture of me.
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