Reptiles, amphibians and other neighbors around tree house

There is plenty things to do and see when you go on expeditions from the tree house.Every frog,snake,salamander and turtle gets attention and curiosity of our children.After careful analysis of each "neighbor" they are released back to the environment without any harm.In the end we are the ones invading their domain.In these pictures you can see Northern Water Snake, Wooly Bear Caterpillar, Slimy Salamander ,Gray Tree Frog,Eastern Garter Snake, North American Millipede,baby Gray Tree Frog, baby Common Snapping Turtle, Northern Green Frog, Northern Red Salamander and another Northern Green Frog.

April 09' spring cleaning

Summer was near and we were planing a little celebration for our tree house. It would be one year since we started this project and we invited our friends to come and party with us. We finished all the spindles and we also added some planters for flowers and herbs to the handrails.We also build a little wooden bridge under the house to get easy access to tire swing.This vacation season we would have our little place to escape the city and spend some precious time with kids.

February 09' outside

The shingles on the tree house were finally finished.I still had to work on the spindles so that the platform was safe for kids to play on.Kids also got a tire swing ....every tree house needs one. I have few other play things in mind including slide,rope bridge,zip line and fireman's pole.They all need our careful planing ,time and will power lol.I have much more pictures and one day will add them all to the sideshow.

February 09'

This is how our tree house looked like in the middle of February 09'.I added fence to the loft so that we don't roll off in the middle of night.You can also see our new folded table and dog pillow for Ares.Both beds were covered with cedar planks to add some colors and fragrance.The two chairs that you see along with three more were salvaged from a house that was renovated in Queens NY. They are fold able and easy to store when not in use.My wife Jola helped me decorate the place with stuff that we found at home and at TJ Max.

Monkey say ,monkey do...

I think it's appropriate that if we all hang in the tree we could act like monkeys sometimes .It took a few tries before we got everyone to act together, but in the end we succeeded.

New Year cont'd

While mostly resting and enjoying time with my family, i managed to install the two beds:one with fold able leaf on the bottom and loft bed with ladder on top. I also installed a shelf for all our book including collection of Tree House books that I'll discuss some other time.Now all we needed were two mattresses that later we got from IKEA.The inside of the house began to look as good as the outside.This was the time I shot our first tree house video that you could see at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjyrGwC1gnM&feature=channel_page

New Year New Memories

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Well we spent our New Year Eve in Vermont but we come to the tree house the following weekend and we had a blast.For the first time we used our chimney and we had some Polska Kielbasa that taste awesome when cooked over fire. We also brought our snowboards and tested few hills near by.

Christmas 2008

After spending Christmas home we went to our tree house to do some interior work. First I installed pine paneling on walls and ceiling .I dressed it up with some moldings. Next I finished installing the oak floor. While shopping at Home Depot, I found a propane heater that was perfect size and price for our budget.As you can see we also had our first snow fall. Having extra weight of snow on the roof proved that the whole structure was pretty solid.The only problem was that it would be too hot inside and to keep the temperature comfortable and to make sure that we had plenty of oxygen ,we had to leave one window open. Now we could "certify" our little home away from home as a four season tree house.

Insulation gets installed.

It was early December and winter weather has arrived. Our tree house wasn't insulated yet and it was time to make it warmer. We were still sleeping on military beds, which were not that comfortable but kids liked them anyway. Our little house was looking better with every weekend .This only made me want to finish it faster and it put a BIG smile on my face :-)