Artists, Design, Environment, Family, Nature

My husband spent all weekend with our sons building the base of a tree house. Our 11 year old son had been on at us for months to build some kind of structure in one of the Ponderosa Pine trees in our backyard. He was missing the fun he had in his old backyard, climbing trees. He longed to have a secret place again,  for himself – to spy, to draw and keep watch for the owls that nest near the creek below us.

We are fortunate enough to have 14 spectacular trees in our backyard -unfortunately it’s very difficult to climb a Ponderosa Pine without the help of climbing equipment or very thick skin!

Children and Trees were meant to be together

My kids have always climbed trees. It really saddens me to read about kids not being allowed to climb trees. I really believe these activities should be part of childhood. Tree climbing is a wonderful experience for a child, it boosts their self-esteem and appreciation of their relationship to nature not to mention making them more creative.

Obviously it can be dangerous too if the child is too young or goes too high. A parent should be able to choose what kind of tree is suitable for their child to climb.
When my kids were really young I would supervise their climbing but as soon as they were shure footed they were free to climb as high as they dared.

Kids should only be climbing if the trees are safe to climb and in safe environments. Check out this article for tips on climbing: http://www.wordconstructions.com/articles/general/climbtrees.html

Sam was inspired by the design of the tree house from his well read book “The Dangerous Book for Boys” by Hal Iggulden.

With Sam getting hands on experience, hammering, drilling, his teenage sister wanted to get in on the act hammering in some nails. We all couldn’t wait for the tree house to be finished…but we will have to be patient, only so many free hours in day.

Something so satisfying about constructing your own kids play areas rather than buying a pre-made structure.

We used treated wood for the base structure. For the main sides and the flooring we wanted to use reclaimed wood.  We were lucky enough our neighbors were doing renovations on their roof and gifted us their old roof wood – timing couldn’t have been better.

Sunday evening was rather stormy, good test to see if the base structure would hold up and it did.

Monday, we all couldn’t wait to test it out even without any flooring down.

Kids legs dangled through the open floor, this made it even more exciting, they loved every minute.

Then it was my turn, I felt like a kid again, when your up high in the tree, you feel like your part of the tree. It reminded me of summer days high up in the Silver Birch tree in my own back garden. There wasn’t the sweet smell of pine or soaring Vultures or majestic Osprey to watch but the wind would blow through my hair and I would disappear into my own magical world.

Tree Deck with a View

On our tree house deck, you can observe birds landing just inches from you and be mesmerized by the view…..

A spectacular view.

Who said the Tree house was for the kids. I think I’ll be fighting to get time up on the tree deck for myself. …. I’ll be sneaking out when the kids have gone to bed with a cushion, pen and paper….May need extra solar lighting!

Family Fun for everyone

Even our eldest was impressed, he plans to sleep out on the tree deck when his old school friend from Scotland visits next month. I wonder if they’ll be able to withstand the mosquito’s and the bats!

Oh well, still a lot of hammering and sawing to do. Hope to complete the sides this weekend coming. Will post the finished tree deck soon.