Jason had been asking for a tree house for several years. We have a yard full of pine and oak trees, so it made sense. I kept hoping he'd "grow out of it" and stop asking, but no, he really wanted one. One day he and his sister were scrounging the garage for old boards, hammers, screws (for use with the hammer) and were going to build their own near the driveway so they could throw water balloons at Mom's car. Dad needed to intervene.

Short story: I built an elevated platform in the back yard straddling the garden railroad starting in late September 2008. It's too far to toss water balloons at the car, but I'm sure the kids will find something fun to do in the back yard.

During an early phase of construction in 2008, the kids ate a snack on FORT APPLEGATE while I worked on the decking:




Jason and I cleared some brush, branches and small trees out of the way for a future "zip line" between two trees. So much for 2008. The weather was getting too cold, we (I) called it quits.

2009 was the big year. I finished the walls and added the roof. It's the same sort of material they use for greenhouses. It's light enough to reflect heat so that the tree house is cool enough in the summer, but the roof also lets in light. The trellis on the front is for Mom's honeysuckle garden.



I declared the tree house done, at least for 2009. In 2010 I focused on the garden RR, but for Jason’s 12th birthday I ordered the zip line parts. It took the kids and I a long morning to get it working, then Jason and I worked on a “launch platform” between downpours one August weekend:



I built most of the framework in the garage, then Jason and I hauled it out, pulled it into the tree, and got it bolted into place. I cut the decking, but he did 90% of the hammering. He’s 12 now, is good at watching and learning, so this was a great time for him to see all the work that goes into “simple” projects and experience the amount of effort it takes to build something.



This is a view from the platform. The end of the zip line is the tree just to the right of the shed. It’s about 120’ away, and the track is very fast :) You can see there are some pieces of a tree that had to be cut down to clear the path.



Next, we needed to connect the tree house to the zip line launch platform. This will require three wooden bridges and a rope bridge. This is the view from inside the tree house out to the first set of wooden bridges:




This is the view of the tree house and first three bridges from the start of the zip line: