The Building of a Pirate Ship

So a couple of months ago I called my dad to tell him that Thomas wanted to have a Pirate party. Every year at his parties I've had a photo spot to take a picture of Thomas with each of his friends. Then used these pictures for his memory book and also for thank you letters. I asked my dad if he'd help me make a pirate ship out of cardboard. Well, one thing led to another and pretty soon we had come up with a 12 foot structure for the back yard. We quickly realized this needed to be scaled way back!! And no, this wasn't just for the party!! We had been wanting to expand the boys play area, give them something to climb on and a bigger slide. Plans were cut way down, just a half a ship, no climbing wall, swinging ropes, trap doors, high crows nest. Just climbing levels and a slide. So I had the picture in mind, Dad the plans and Jared, well he just does EVERYTHING!!!

It began with cleaning out the area, moving the swings back (sorry... no before pictures), leveling the area and placing a trench for the water to run through. Buying lots of lumber, a slide, ground cover, a telescope and some paint. We went to town!!!

Dad came over two different weeks, spent the night and got things rolling. Jared came home several nights and got to work. As you can see here, I even got in on the fun!! Its hard work to build a structure that is strong and safe.

Of course, the hard work of building took place on the hot days we had surrounded by cool and rainy days. Dad kept hard at work at this perfect little workbench the ship provided! He and Jared made the rails themselves.

Thomas and I were incharge of the painting. The original plans were for a brown ship, but hey when you find a grey pre-mixed can of the outdoor stuff for $15 and $45, it quickly becomes a gray/blue-ish color. Thomas loved that he could paint where ever he wanted underneath. He'd call out "hows it going up there?" "going great down here!" I wish i would have grabbed some pictures of him after. He managed to get paint on his belly, legs, feet and even his hair!!

Thomas wasn't far from the action for all of this. He loved seeing Daddy and Papa working away.

The final step was adding in shredded tire nugget bark. It was a little more expensive then just regular bark, but we won't have to spend money every year replacing it. Far more importantly, no splinters in the feet. Thomas loves to jump all around in it!
Since the ship has been completed we've been out there everyday (except the rainy ones) enjoying the new structure!! Thomas takes all his guys out there and will play forever underneath and climbing all over it. The old playhouse is down the side yard, just to the left of the picture above. Thomas informed us last week that it's Captain Hook's house (when it's not a home for his pet snails) and that has added so much fun to the playtime.

Thanks Daddy and Papa for all your hard work!!