Lakeside Fort: Assembly Required

Will’s school is on a ten-month school year that includes many week-long breaks throughout the year. One of the break was this week, and he spent most of it with Gramma and Granddad. When he arrived in Waco, he and Granddad got busy building a fort near the lake. Will called home at least once every day. If he couldn’t reach the house, he called the cell phones. He excitedly told me all that he and Granddad had been doing.

In Will's words, "First we got the old playhouse that was abandoned. Then we dragged it over to the huge tree. And we put a rope down from the tree. Our helper went up the tree and tied the rope at the top. Then we build the xylophone bridge from the tree to the playhouse -- you can bang on it with a stick and it makes noise.

We had to replace the floorboards with new wood. I cleaned the slide with the hose while Granddad and the helper built a handrail. We added the slide and that's it.The rope swing and the slide into the lake were the best parts. It's hard to catch yourself on the slide so you don't fall in the water."