The house that Chris and Jock built

I won't flatter myself by assuming you've all missed my posts recently, but I have a good excuse nonetheless. This past weekend Jock and I tackled the playhouse project, and won.
Even though I had to place myself on injured reserve after straining both bicep muscles, I consider it a victory.
Total time worked on it: approx 18 hrs. over Sat, Sun, Mon and finally Tuesday after work. The only solid 8-hour day was Sunday. By Sunday evening I was a bit crabby and exhausted..
Tonight we polished it off by installing the monkey bars and topping it off with the play telescope on the top - I gotta say it looks like lots of fun! I even found the best way for adults to get up aside from the monkey bars and rock wall. Now we can get on with the fun of having friends and kids over to play and having a great spot for them in the backyard. I'm most happy that Addie will actually like to play in the backyard as opposed to the front, given her love for running near the road.


Things I learned since Saturday morning.
1. You can actually do damage to muscles by exerting pressure on a drill for hours on end.
2. You can never have enough phillips drill bits.
3. The occasional beer helps smooth things out.
4. This ain't no 1-man job.
5. When all else fails, read the directions.
6. I spent way too much time worrying about the area around this thing before starting.
7. I'm REALLY glad my power drill has 2 batteries (I'm also glad I had a 2nd drill as well)
8. You never realize how much you curse while building something until kids start hanging around.
9. Even for jobs that contain directions and come with nearly all the parts, it's still good to have my father-in-law working shotgun.
10. This playhouse kicks ass.