The Fort

One of the things dads are supposed to do is to build stuff.  I have never been very good at building things.  However, I built you and Allison a playground fort and I did it twice!  It was quite a project!  I built it from a set of plans I bought from Better Homes and Gardens.  It was not a kit.  I had these plans which told me what to buy and how to build it.  I did it all by myself.  It had  a baby swing,  a regular swing and a set of rings.  It was over 10 feet tall because I attached a basketball backboard and rim to it. You could climb up a ladder to a platform on top.  I built it twice, because your mom had only one condition for me when we moved to Ohio.  She told me I had to build another fort.  It took about a year to get around to it.  But I built an exact replica from the same set of plans.  Again all by myself.

One interesting fact was that the fort was supported by 4X4 posts.  In Ohio I had to use a fence post digger to get them in the ground.  In Florida it was easier - I just stuck each post in a small hole I had dug,  put a hose in the hole,  the running water pushed the sand out,  and the post sank deeper into the ground!.

These  first three pictures are of you and the fort in our backyard in New Port Richey.

This is the fort in our backyard in Dayton!

I also built Allison a doll house.  So I still owe you a doll house.  If you and Jared are lucky enough to have a daughter,  maybe I can build it for her!