Part 3.5 of 4 of the Most Jam-Packed Summer Ever: Mom and Katelyn's Arrival

This is part three and a half of my summer, the part where Mom and Katelyn come down to Texas with us. Once we finished the treehouse, they caught a plane and joined us in Texas. The next day, we all went down to the property so they could see our handiwork. We spent the rest of the time in Austin. I included a few pictures of our stay with them.

Katelyn got along really well with the dogs.

On the property, we all took a nice hike as the sun was going down.

As we've done every year, we spent the day at Schlitterbahn. This is a picture dad took of me on the first ride we'd done that day.

Katelyn's testing her luck at the rope!

We all had a great time in our stay down there! Amy's was something that I didn't bother to

include but is certainly noteworthy. I wish Champaign had an Amy's ice cream. Anyways, I'm

never home for too long at a time here. After only a few days of relaxation, it's time for me to

pack my bags (for the fourth time) and get ready for my next summer activity.

- The Blogger

Part 3 of 4 of the Most Jam-Packed Summer Ever: Building a Treehouse

Once upon a time, I visited my grandparents' private property in the middle of nowhere. A few days in, I asked my granddad if it would be possible for us to someday build a treehouse there.

***Time Passes***

One year later when I went back to the property, we got started on building our treehouse! We already decided which tree it would be beforehand, so that was a nice start. The very first day was spent planning out the design and buying the equipment we needed to start.

In all of the time we spent focused on the treehouse, here's how I roughly gauged how we spent it:

30% of the time was spent thinking about our next move

20% of the time was spent on productive building

50% of the time was spent running back to the hardware store

I have a few pictures that I selected that I'd like to share with you.

This was the first time I used a power saw.

And this was the first time I had used a power drill.

The completed project!

The whole thing took . . . let me think . . . was it five days? I think so. The routine for every single one was exactly the same. Wake up at 8:00 in the morning, get out of the house at around 9:00, work nonstop until lunch, take a break at the hottest part of the day, work until 8:30 at night. Go inside, eat dinner, go to bed. That was it. That's how we got so much done. Due to lack of more time, we didn't add a roof, but there was no problem with that at all.

Did I mention I slept in it for a night? Quite a long night, but I had fun.

- The Blogger

The Fourth of July

The family here was split up at the fourth of July. My dad and I rode to Texas in a train so we could get there early to build a treehouse. Mom and Katelyn stayed back home so they could catch a plane once we were done. Sadly, Dad and I didn't get to see fireworks because of the drought in Texas. However, Katelyn and Mom didn't have it much better. They were up all night listening to the insane people in our neighborhood blow off illegal fireworks all night. I wish I was there, but they seemed to hate it.

This is Katelyn showing off her patriotism!

And this is Mom showing off her's!

Dad and I spent our fourth of July on a train to Texas. I thought it was a lot of fun because I'd never been on one before! I'll be doing another blog post tonight, so be aware of that as well!

- The Blogger