The tree fort

This afternoon Aimee, Drew, and Gavin (Drew's friend next door) were playing in the new sandbox, when a highly indignant Aimee burst into the house, exclaiming, "Drew threw sand at me!" I sighed and said I would come out to intervene, at which her attitude shifted slightly and she chose her next words with careful reflection. "Drew is going to say that I threw sand at him first," she explained, "which is not true." I was prepared for this kind of statement, but not for the one that immediately followed - "I dumped it down his shirt," she finished, half sheepishly, half defiantly. I laughed, and when I went out to smooth things over, I called it a draw. My good humor faded somewhat in the next few minutes as I fielded continued arguments about whose corner of the sandbox was whose, how much sand belonged to each party, etc., but the tree fort, with the sandbox and swings, is a hit on the whole. Here are some pictures from yesterday, when everything was finished.

This next one is my favorite - after we put the sand in and the boys started playing in it, our rooster Jack came over to check everything out. After his inspection he flew to the top of the tree fort, crowed a couple times, then flew back down and went back to business. I guess he just wanted to let us know that he was still the king of the yard and that everything met with his approval. :-)