A few years back we decided to build the children a play fort for the backyard. It was early in 2020 when we were all spending A LOT of time at home. Homeschooling had us fairly used to being home a lot but that was a whole new level. (phew, what a time that was!) Our kids were big enough to play independently outside so we thought a simple play fort would be great.
Well, if you know my husband at all, the word, “simple” doesn’t exist in his vocabulary. 🙂 He got to work and created a really cool play space and down the road a little we even added in a mudpie kitchen too. It was tons of fun for hours and hours on end. The kids LOVED it!
Over time it needed a little sprucing up. The ropes and ladders were worn and well loved. The idea of sprucing it up quickly turned into dreams of a bigger, better than ever tree house to grow with the kids. Joshua and I talked through different ideas and plans. We wanted to keep a reasonable budget and reuse as much of the supplies from the first tree house to build the new one.
The plans we came up with changed and adapted as we talked through different ideas. At first we explored an A-Frame idea, then a treehouse with a climbing wall and ramped entrance, and finally landed on this three level treehouse. The bottom level with a large swing, the middle level with the mudpie kitchen, and the top for a clubhouse. We figured it would be a great place to relax, imagine, and play!
Our supplies were delivered on Friday and we wasted no time getting to work! As soon as Joshua was off work that afternoon we set to work getting the footers set for the big, top level.
Dex, the children, and I had mainly supporting roles in this step as this project was almost entirely in Joshua’s mind. (the man is brilliant!)
We got the main posts in place, poured the concrete mix, and got the top level braced. That was all for the first night. There wasn’t too much we could do before the concrete set (and it was starting to get dark.) We planned to be up bright and early that next morning so we packed up J’s tools and called it a night. Saturday morning, the real work would begin!
Stay tuned, or subscribe to my blog to get the latest updates as I continue sharing our adventures, plans, and process of build the ultimate tree house for our crew!
Carla is a teacher turned SAHM adventuring into homeschool preschool and beyond. Seeing evidence of God's grace each day and inspiring mamas with learn + PLAY fun at home.