Harrison's birthday swing set / fort / apartment

Well, Harrison's swing set arrived on Tuesday last week and when the semi tractor trailer groaned to a halt in front of the house, I knew I had some serious work ahead of me. So I went completely OCD on it. Four giant boxes contained hundreds of pieces of wood and literally thousands of hardware parts. There were like 900 wood screws, not to mention the bolts, washers, and other assorted metal fasteners.

Thanks to EVERYONE that financially contributed to this project! It allowed us to create a magnificent play area for Harrison and his future sibling(s?), plus the cousins and possibly all the neighborhood kids.

Here we are unpacking the boxes.

Here are some of the wood pieces laid out and organized in the backyard.

Nana and Grandpa helping get the project going.

The main base underway. I meant to take pictures of my progress but it didn't happen, except for this one.

I would throw on the headlight and work every night until Danza would come out at about 9:30pm with a scolding voice and tell me to stop because I was keeping the neighbors up with my hammering and power tools.

And here it is, minus the final touches to the sandbox.



IT'S HUGE. I'm sore and completely sick of drilling and wrenching, but it sure came together nicely. All told, it probably took about 40 hours to build. Harrison loves it! It is so satisfying to watch him scramble around on it with a giant smile! He is already a master of the rock wall and the slide is his favorite, but he doesn't care much for the big boy swings and he is a year or two away from the monkey bars. He climbs up in the crow's nest and gazes at the sky through the telescope and says "high!"

Stop by and test it out.

Jesus was on the monkey bars

Danza and Grandpa left at 5:30 this morning to go to the Lawrenceburg flea market. They took the dump truck...I suppose so Team Bargain would have room for the loot on the return trip.

I took the opportunity to feed Harrison a bowl of bacon for breakfast. Then we went to the park to do pull-ups.

When at the park we throw stuff, mostly manly stuff and it was all dirty and awesome.




This next one might knock your knickers off. Slowly back away from your screen while looking at this picture. Don't worry, you'll know when it happens.
DID YOU SEE HIM?? DID YOU SEE JESUS?!?!!!! OF ALL PLACES, HOVERING ABOVE A JUNGLE GYM ON BLOOMINGTON'S NEAR EAST SIDE!



The beloved static effect. They must engineer this phenomenon into the vinyl because it is way to cool to just happen by chance/laws of physics. It is why I go to parks. It is why I look for plastic slides.

PENTWATER

The trip to Pentwater was a huge success. Mom and Dad went way out of their way to make it comfortable and relaxing for us and HUGE FUN for Harrison. I can't describe how much enjoyment we got from watching H play on the beach and eat lots of ice cream during our 9 days up north.

Here are some of our better pictures from the vaycay:

First night on the beach.
Dad and the boys on the front porch
Danza gets credit for the artsy shot of the pretty pastel umbrellas
Harrison's first boat ride EVER. This one happened to be on Pentwater lake...just a block from the house.
My friend Matt Dunn has relocated north to Ludington Michigan as a fly fishing guide. He used to run the JL Waters fly shop in Bloomington. I signed on for two days of guided fishing on the Pere Marquette or "PM" river. The fishing was terrible during the day but we stayed for about 4 hours after dark to do some "mousing". I was throwing giant mouse patterns in the pitch dark when the big brown trout came out to eat.

Old Ironsides, Matt's 20 year old unsinkable drift boat.

Beer break before the night mousing started.

Danza came along on the second day of fishing. She provided a lot of comic relief on the boat. That girl is funny.

That is Matt's grill to the left. He brought it along to cook us hamburgers and brats. Glorious.
Harrison wore this grin all day long at the beach. He loved it!


He would take REALLY LONG walks on the beach. Like half-mile long. We would follow about 20 feet behind him and just laugh as he waved at people and jumped waves and chased sea gulls and picked up drift wood.

The beach is also complete with swings and slides. Everything a almost two year old needs.

Big slide but he wanted to go it alone.


Danza required several posed pregnant shots. She looks great doesn't she!
Watching the waves and boats.


Our vantage point during one of Harrison's solo walks along the shore.
We took him on a tour of a dairy farm but he was a little bit too young to fully enjoy it. He did get to meet a bunch of cows, ride in a wagon pulled by a tractor and eat lots of ice cream.


Late afternoon jog down the beach.


The jog back to our beach camp.
Giving chase after the lake gulls.




Buried alive

Downtown Pentwater. It's a cute little town and our house is one block off the main drag. Mom and Dad could not have picked a better "quadrant" to get a house because they are just a couple blocks from everything, including Lake Michigan, multiple ice cream parlors, restaurants, and the yacht club.


Asparagus and blueberries seem to be the cash crops. Eat some fried asparagus if you get a chance.
Danza on the front porch of 62 S. Dover Street. Mom has done a wonderful job with the house and landscaping. Double snaps to PL.
One of many
Buried, again.

Bike trailer ride for ice cream followed by a quick pedal out to the beach.

Ice cream parlor









There is a super cute cottage right behind ours that sleeps 6 or so and rents for $700 a week. So we should definitely consider getting a larger group up there in the future.