The Making of a Treehouse - Finishing Touches

The treehouse is finally complete! After six months of working every available weekend possible, and spending double the original cost - live and learn! - the doors, shutters, railing, solar lights, slide, and rope swing are on and ready for play time. Ryan, the kids and I are so happy that it's done! It was a fun family learning experience/project, and it's been fun watching the kids play down there on something they helped build. We learned lots of new skills, acquired some new tools, and visited Home Depot more times than I can count on all of my fingers and probably every family member's fingers, too.

What should we build for our next family project? Some ideas include:  garden, chicken coop, coffee table (well, that last one was my idea).

It was May 6th when we started working on the treehouse platform. Six months later, and a bit of help from others, we managed to finish...

Ella was a big help with that railing...

And the finished project...

Okay, I guess we still need to work on the landscaping around the treehouse, too, especially the path leading to the treehouse. Crap, I keep thinking of more things I want to do to that area as I'm typing and looking at pictures. Maybe it will never be finished...

The rope swing has been by far their favorite part of the treehouse so far. We set it up in the perfect spot... on the edge of a big hole so you swing right over the hole. After a big rain, the hole fills up with water to make it even more fun. And guess what the kids found in the hole? A foot long toy alligator...

For Christmas, I think we'll get the kids a few more "toys" to play on around the treehouse like a zip line, tight rope'thingy, and a climbing net. I'm praying that a huge snow storm doesn't knock the whole treehouse down or that a tree doesn't fall on top of it.