fort wifey

last week, we had to drive back to our previous home for a memorial service. it was a sad occasion and unfortunately, for a friend of LH's that he had deployed with last year. i'm grateful that we were able to go back for the service to remember LH's friend, talk with everyone and receive some semblance of closure. life is fragile...

while we were in town, we decided to stay in our empty (and still unsold) condo, so that bozeman could come along with us. we had plenty of offers from friends to stay in their guest bedrooms with nice, cozy beds, but we thought that we might wear out our welcome very quickly once said friends realized that we were also bringing along our very friendly and very furry 80 pound golden retriever. instead, we prepared for another adventure in suburban camping.

on friday morning, bozeman and i came back from our walk to discover that LH was still sleeping soundly, but that didn't stop the two of us from being rowdy. while chasing bozeman around the living room and laughing at him for slipping and sliding on the pergo floors, i noticed that LH had pulled my inflatable mattress pad over the top of his head to block out the sunshine and our noise. it looked like the perfect spot to pounce on, but i resisted the temptation as i thought about how his little fortress that he had created to block out our noise reminded me a lot of the forts that my cousins and i used to make at my grandma's house.

at least once a year, my family and i would fly down to florida to visit my grandma and the white, sandy beaches that surrounded her. one of the best parts of those trips was that two of my favorite cousins lived just down the street. the fact that i was a girl didn't stop them from including me in their fun, and we would ride bikes, chase lizards and climb trees until the sun went down. once the sun was down, we went back to my grandmas and upstairs to her guest bedrooms, because that was where the world's best fort making materials resided. in one room, she had two bahama beds with mattresses that could easily be turned on their sides and topped with blankets. once we rolled in a few chairs and sofa cushions, we transformed the room into a serious fort-maze. we would actually take turns creating the forts and then blindfolding one person and timing how long it took them to get from the door to the end of the maze. we had a blast creating dead ends and road blocks to climb, and i think i was a teenager by the time we stopped building the forts (which we built for my younger brother, of course).

after remembering just how much fun i had in those forts, i'm already planning for our next trip out to visit LH's family... we have two nieces out there who are the perfect age for climbing through forts. they also have a ginormous sectional sofa in the family room and a whole other sofa in the living room that we can combine to make one super sweet fort. i'm sure my sister-in-law will thank us for introducing such a fun past time =)