August with Maia and Liam

Pictures from August...
(captions/commentary forthcoming)

The New Play Set/Chocolate Factory/Tardis

When I was young, my dad used to make wooden play sets. I would help him with the easier things, like sorting the wooden shingles, sanding some of the wood, and helping with some of the easier parts of the construction. And then I would get to play on them, to "test them out". I always wanted one for our house. Being that they were costly, we never had one, at least one of the big ones. At some point we got a small, simple one because someone changed their mind about buying it and no one else wanted it. 

Fast forward to life with my own children...I have been wanting to get one built for them for a while. I finally made it happen this year (thanks Dad!!! and Matt!).

My dad works on the plans and the getting the wood while we are at Pennsic. We return from Pennsic while Liam goes to Dawn's house for another week. We work on it while he is away, as a surprise for him.

Main deck up.

Maia got involved in the construction.

The lower deck goes on.

The main deck was too high for the slide we had, so we had to build a lower "balcony" deck.

Monkey bars are going up.

We aren't done yet, but Liam gets home and we need to surprise him. He is very pleased.

He and Maia explore (actually, Maia has already been all over the thing).

The play set quickly becomes Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. And soon after, the Tardis.

The play set is FINALLY finished in it's entirety and the kids try out the slides.

The swings are finally on as well and the children are trying them out.

What play set is complete without some kid-sized furniture?

The view from the upper deck.

Liam and Maia eat lunch in the play set, very satisfied.