Last summer, we had a day where we built a play house for the children. It was an extended family project- meaning that mom, dad, me, Mike, and the children all worked on it. Great fun, it turned out beautifully, and we painted it to match the house.
It looked so cute and quaint and perfect nestled in the hollyhocks in our back yard. I quickly found out that boys don't do quaint and perfect, and the playhouse remained mostly unused. I put some straw inside for the winter, so that at least the dog could use it as a dog house, but even she didn't like it.
So mom and I decided that we were going to do a little renovation. Granted, we had none of the proper tools, just a bunch of scrap lumber left over from when we built the fence. No saw, but we did have a power drill and a box of screws. We spent a good part of two afternoons on the project and finished it up yesterday. We had a great time, and we laughed a LOT. When you're trying to raise a play house up off of the ground and make it more fun, but find out that your level is broken about a third of the way into the first day, you've got to keep your sense of humor handy.
The board lengths don't match, the woods don't match... it's a hodge podge of wood. It was very reminiscent of building a tree house when I was young, and it brought back memories of lugging wood up a tree with my brother and my dad.
So, we no longer have a quaint cottage nestled in the perennial garden. AHOY! We have a pirate ship, and we had to pry the children off of it yesterday afternoon. And as I type this, the dog has discovered her new favorite place to lie down for a nap- in the cool shade underneath, where she can look out the front fence and be on guard for intruders.
Mission accomplished.
The best part of the project was spending two days laughing with my mom, and enjoying her company. Those are memories that I'll treasure.
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