Summer to fall, 2008

Wow. It has been a long time since my last update. Lots happened between June and now! Some highlights:

Back in Maine for 5 weeks (I worked, family had great time off):
Blueberry Mountain, in New England. Great hike with my oldest two, Rachel and Bekah, and a great group from our church in Maine. At the end, was a VERY cold pool that was about 10 feet deep, but crystal clear. Quite refreshing. Here are a few videos of that pool. Got Mike R. on the slide, but missed Bekah doing it. Thanks, Mike, for organizing it. We all had a great day.











Summer project in Maine: One of the things most painfully missed here in HK is the ability to work with my hands. I can't say I miss mowing the lawn too much, and the allergy attacks that go with it (Don does a mean lawn now, in spite of being a moss man previously!), but building/renovating/fixing things is in my blood, whether in relationships, business structure, or around the house.
The kids have been wanting a tree house for a couple of years, but we all know how that goes. Well, no more delay this year. We had a great time putting it up, Don, Richard, Jayson, and myself, using the old standby materials: rough cut lumber, and roofing from Steve's old garage. Price was right, and it is here to stay. For you engineer critics, the 3 tree mounting system has its cleverness. Each joist is fixed on one end, and allowed to float at the other, allowing the trees to sway independently. As well, the area on the tree it is fixed to will not go up; it grows from the top up, not bottom up. Gotta love having a tree expert in the crew.
Coming years will be more things the kids can look forward to: additions like a rope ramp to another tree to get down, enclosure to be able to sleep out there bug free, etc. It was a great memory for the kids to look back on this summer.