Skyfort-Completed Photo

Here is the completed Skyfort.  Really didn't take as long as I anticipated.

And yes, we are moving that little shed behind it, just hadn't gotten that far yet.

Skyfort II-Assembly Day 1 results and Assembly Suggestions.

My Dad came over yesterday to help us begin major assembly on the Skyfort II.  We did a couple small things ahead of time, like the slide, ladder, swing beam, etc, but other than that, we hadn't started anything yet.

My husband started working about 8:45am on his own, and my Dad arrived about 10:30 to start helping.  They took a break for lunch and one for dinner, and gave up around 7:45pm.  And you know what? They almost finished the darn thing .  My husband is going to put together the last few items on his own today. The instructions say that it takes 2 moderately skilled people 24-36 hours.  That being said, my dad is just really handy in general and my husband is an engineer.

Here are my suggestions for anyone building the skyfort. A little prep work goes a long way to ease the process and frustrations.

1.  Coat the wood in water sealer.  It's part of your warranty but it's not exactly in the instruction.  Leave pleanty of time for the wood to dry.  Hopefully you can do this in a garage, or when there isn't rain for a few days.

2. Take the time to prep properly.  Sort the wood into groups of a few steps at a time.  You can find the pieces easier when you do start assembly.

3. Presort the hardware.  we didn't do this, but realized how helpful it would have been halfway through.  Take ziplock baggies and pull the hardward for each step and put it in the bad.  Then you write the step number on the bag, and just grab bags and boards as you go along.

Overall it seems like a very sturdy swing set, and my daughter is already excited about it.  She fell asleep last night right after they finished the swing area and my Dad and husband were a little disappointed they couldn't set her loose on it.

Pictures to follow either today or tomorrow.

Skyfort-preliminary assembly and a problem

While working on some of the pre-assembly bits and pieces, we encountered our first problem. When attaching the metal handles to the ladder, 3 of the 4 lag bolts split the wood on the rails.  I called the number on the instruction booklet the next day.  I only had to hold a few moments before a real human answered, a native english speaker.  He was friendly and quick and knowledgeable.  We got replacement boards sent out with no hassle and at no cost.  He also suggested drilling out the holes for the lag bolts a bit.  They used to mention this in the instructions, but may or may not anymore.  Even though the holes are "predrilled", drill them out anyways to avoid splitting problems.

As far as customer service goes, this ranks far better than most places I deal with, included places I have to pay for things for.  I'm quite surprised and thrilled with the experience.

So far we have the rock wall, bay windows, mini  obs. deck, monkey bars, and the small roof assembled.  The only two things left are the slide and the swing beam extender, then the real assembly begins this Saturday.  I have some help coming over for that, since our two small children will not really allow me to help without some assistance. 

Skyfort II presorting photos

As promised, here are a few photos of the bits and pieces of the Skyfort II.

 This first one is just the screws, bolts, and various fasteners needed for assembly.  This box weighed a ton.

This middle photo is after I sorted the wood pieces into groups of steps.  (Also, I am aware of how dirty the motorcycles and the boat are.  Washing them isn't high on my list right now. 

This last photo is from before sorting.  We laid the wood out behind the house and rolled and sprayed and rolled water sealer on it.  Then is stormed, so we had to rush to get it all back in the big garage before the rain hit.  362 pieces?

The adventures of Skyfort II-early work

Yes, it's true, we actually ordered the Skyfort II from Sam's Club, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.  At least our toddler is not quite old enough to know it's taking us so long to actually get started.  What can I say, we're busy.  We've got a garden that needs attention, and two kids that need even more attention.

We got all of the wood sprayed/rolled, coated with Thompson's Water Sealer.  That took a long time.  It took even longer to dry, but in the long run, it will make the set last longer and look better.  It's worth the effort, I know how they girls will love it.

We were out of town for the weekend, so nothing's been done for a while.  Last night I needed a break from my beautiful, but screaming children, so I volunteered to go out and sort the wood pieces.  They're all numbered with alphanumeric codes, which I checked the manual for and sorted into steps.  It took a little while to make my reference sheet and sort the piles, but I know it will be much less frustrating once we start building.

In addition to the separate assemblies listed at the start of the directions, there are a few additional pieces you can pre-assemble from the general instructions, so I plan on working on those first.

I will update again later when I get time to actually work on it.  You know how I love assembling things, that's why I've got a soft spot for IKEA furniture.

I have photos, I'll share those too when I get them off of my phone.

Stolen Moments

I could talk about a lot of things that have happened since my last post.  To me, my family, my friends, my country, the world.  But I won't.  Today is Earth Day, and I want to preserve a few moments of peace, talking about how much I love being outside.

I have lived and worked in the city, and there are some things to appreciate about being downtown.  It is just simply not my preference.  Although I do make exceptions for the symphony and theater.  The city and country hum in two completely different ways.  I live out in the country now.  I do have neighbors, but they spread out a bit.  To the back and side, I'm surrounded by a horse farm.  They not only have a stable full of horses, but what seems to be an entire pack of dogs.  Some belong to them, some to visitors who board horses.  Some they took in temporarily and just never left.  There are also goats who pretty much run free munching on whatever the bump into. 

I love getting up in the morning with the sun and sneaking outside a few moments before my girls wake up. Right now we're still in the best part of spring.  Everything is growing and smelling fresh.  Our greenhouse is full of baby plants, just getting their roots down and stems up, not yet ready for the garden.  The pear, apple, and almond trees are blooming, and leafing out, getting ready to spend summer growing something delicious.  The landscape is sprining to life with my husband's plants, that I may never learn the names to all of.  "Is this a weed or a plant?"  How many times have I asked that question.

I love being by the lake, in the woods, in grassy fields, up a hill or mountain.  I just love being outside.  Day, or night.  It makes me feel small and peaceful.  It feels clean and happy.  I just hope we can keep it that way for the next generation.  I hope that my girls will love and appreciate it as much as me.

So today, I'm enjoying the outside.  I'm being selfish and pretending for a few stolen moments that nothing is wrong anywhere, that there was no loss, no war, no politics.  Just wind blowing gently, sun shining, horses rolling in the fields, and little girls picking flowers.

A Zombie Invasion Update

The day after that last post I got sick.  I'm not kidding, the very next day, just like I joked.  I'm still sick, as in the rest of our zombie household.  Stop on by to visit, we'll make you zombie's too.  Unforunately parenthood doesn't stop when you get sick.  It keeps going and going and going.  Diapers, feedings, messes, potty training.  But now it also goes with force feeding medicine, 3am couching fits, from you and this children, and the spouse.  We're getting better, but very slowly. 

I had a few hours of misery this morning, laying on the floor, cell phone on my chest.  It happens once every year or two, usually just for a morning, but sometimes all day.  Vertigo.  Bad, bad vertigo.  Can't open my eyes, can't move, can't eat.  It feels like the world is swirling around you.  Then you try to get up and vomit.  Unfortunately my husband had to go into work this morning.  In the almost 4 years we've been married he's NEVER had to work a single moment on the weekend.  The timing was awful.  Luckily my sister is just a few miles from me, and her and my brother-in-law were on standby in case it got to be too much to handle. 

God Bless my dear sweet children for being unusually well behaved this morning.  I can't say that enough times.  Even being sick, they did really well while I layed there on the floor.  My toddler did jump on me once and shout "yehaw!" and try to ride me like a horse.  I gave myself a gold star for not puking on her.

The world stopped swimming this afternoon, I ate, and the baby is napping while the toddler has her way with my kitchen.  Let's hope for a week of no more zombies. 

Zombie Invasion

I think I've maybe been hearing too much about zombies from people lately.  I've started having dreams about them.  Also, a friend of mine, who is a pharmacist, mentioned the other day that she needed 2 more brains and 6 more hands.  And I did what any good friend would do.  I said "I never knew you were a zombie!"  What a nice sympathetic comment to an overworked friend.

My husband was feeling bad over the weekend, and didn't work from sunup to sundown.  I knew he was a zombie then.  He never doesn't do too much.  (did you get that great sentence?)

My poor toddler was sick yesterday.  I assume she still is today, seeing as it's 9:30 and she's still in bed.  It's usually 6:30am springing up and dancing and eating.  She really looked like a zombie.  She barely spoke, barely reacted when you spoke.  She just flopped on the couch or floor literally the entire day.  I think she had one slice of apple, and 3 chips all day.  Lots of fluids though.  Today, I think I'll have two zombies.  My 6.5 month old was up all night and is now napping.  She never naps.  So much like her big sister in that aspect.

I guess I better watch my back, the Zombie invasion is spreading.  Tomorrow we may all be zombies.

Breakthroughs

I consider this weekend a huge breakthrough in my oldest daughter's communication skills.  She will be two years and three months old soon, and as of this weekend, other people can understand and communicate with her.  Namely, my older sister and niece.  Before, when she did manage to try and speak around them, they needed a translator.  I heard a lot of "I don't speak two year old".  I think most of the time I don't either, I'm just a good guesser, spending so much time with her daily.

I feel that in the past two weeks specifically, her vocabulary as exploded.  She's not only using two and three and four word sentences all of the sudden, but she can also repeat (or try to repeat) just about anything you can say.  Sure, there are lots of letter sounds she doesn't do, but it's huge progress, and relieves some big worries.  I guess deep down I always figured she would be fine.  I just kept telling everyone that she's saving her words up for a special occasion. 

She can't say her sister's name, but she can say part of it, so she calls her Ia, pronouces (eee-uh).  She's also named the baby doll her cousin got her Ia.  She sings the songs we sing to her sister, to the doll also. 

I couldn't be happier that those two love each other so much. 

In an astronomy-related note, there is an event I am thinking of taking the baby along to, since she still refuses her bottle. I promise this is a children's, family friendly, event, and not a particle physics lecture, like last time.

That is all.

Astronomy Makes Me Hungry

I was reading an article on the Lobster Nebula, that came up in my news feed recently.  It made me realize just how many astronomical objects make me hungry.  I'm a huge fan of seafood in general, and I don't always get much time to eat, so chances are I'm hungry at any given point during the day. So, here is a list.

Lobster Nebula-pretty obvious, sea food, McCormick & Schmick, Red Lobster, Sushi

Crab Nebula-yep, crab, particularly crab cakes, which remind me of salmon cakes, so those too

Milky Way Galaxy (our galaxy in case you didn't know)- so many yummy chocolate bars

Sombrero Galaxy-Mexican food, particularly chimichangas

Ring Nebula- Donuts, though I don't eat them often

Horsehead Nebula...I'm just joking, seriously, I don't eat horse, it would make my neighbor very cross with me.

You can stop reading now.  And go bring me some candy bars and sushi.

My kid is awesome

Emily just ran up to me shouting "happy apple!"  I thought she was just happy to be eating it until she turned it around and showed me this. 

Hooray for another two word combo!

Holiday Spirit

Yes, I really did this to my poor children.  And I don't even like Valentine's Day. Look how much she adores big sister.

This child of mine

My youngest is 5 months old.  She refuses to use a bottle.  It's like an epic war movie when I try to give her one.  It's not like I'm forcing formula on the child yet.  It's fresh pumped breast milk.  This is my third type of bottle nipple, and it's met a hair's width more success than the others. 

It's not as if I want to abandon her for weeks at a time.  I just want a few moments to myself, have a glass of wine, or actually attend one of the astronomical society meetings or events.  I don't think I've been to anything in a year.  They probably think I died and didn't leave them my telescope.  I'm not sure they even know tiny astronomer #2 is here.

Still no luck teaching my toddler to say Quasar.  She did, however, use three words in a row this week, and I've never been so thrilled.

Contemplating the Crazy

The other day I received a notice via listserv for an upcoming lecture at the astronomical society on particle physics and the Higgs Boson.  I'm a huge fan of particle physics, because it's insane, and nobody really understands any of it.  Any physicist who tells you they do is lying, or too stupid to understand how small and lost we are in the universe.

Anyways, I really wanted to go see the lecture, but I'm still breastfeeding my 5 month old.  Which brings up my question of the month.  Can you bring a baby to a particle physics lecture?  I didn't, I simply wasn't the brave pioneer I wanted to be, knowing I'm one of the minority being there even without the baby.  Female and under 50.  I wish now, that I had gone, and maybe next time I will.

I was thinking this morning about the crazy that is everyday life with these two girls.  I love the little things they do that nobody else might notice.  My toddler insists on having the stem pulled off of the apple before she will eat it. 

I thought I had won the naked battle this morning.  She's been naked for two days.  So, I started turning the house down one degree at a time until she was cold enough to redress.  No fuss, no screaming, no peeing on the floor.  I got cocky and turned the house back up.  Now she's naked on the couch again.  Does that mean I lose?  Or are we 1-1?

Bringing back more happiness

I feel like 2012 was a rough year on my family.  Parents, Siblings, in-laws, their in-laws.  Family stress, lots of expenses, death, two stressful pregnancies and births.  My dearest youngest daughter and her scares (yes, plural) during deliver, and injury recovery afterward.  Those were some awful sentences there, just a thought.

But 2013 looks promising. 

A year of less expenses, I mean we've practically replaced the whole house and half the appliances in the last 3 years.  Since getting married it was a big garage out back, paying off my car, a new roof, new siding, new garage door on the attached garage, a new washer and dryer, and an addition.  Wow.  That noise?  That was the bank accounts crying out in terror.

A year of less sorrow. There were 4 big deaths in the family in recent years, and that's never an easy thing to heal from.  I see happy, healthy people in the family.  I hope it stays that way.  I hope we all have many happy years left to drive each other insane.

A year of getting more done.  Being pregnant for most of last year was rough.  It was harder than the first time, and scarier.  My youngest was definitely a stressful experience.  But it's a new year, she's growing like crazy, and dealing with two little ones isn't as bad as I expected.  I'm getting more done.  I will get more done.  I'm going to try and write more.  I'm already running again, although slowly for now.  I hope to teach my eldest more things, to read and use the potty and grow things in the garden.  I plan to teach my youngest to sit, and eat solids, and use a bottle someday, and walk. 

We're also all very excited to hear of my brother's engagement.  I feel like he's had a lot of down in his life, and I'm hoping for many happy years of up.  Since he's off being busy and important, we don't get to see him much.  I just want to know he's safe and happy.  We're are all already planning and saving up for the wedding coming spring/summer 2014.  It means I have to fly.  On a plane. 

Looks like 2013 will be a year of overcoming phobias.