Coolest. Clubhouse. EVER.

"Let's get a swingset," I said (two years ago). "I really like the Rainbow playstructures. It would be great to have something like that at home for the boys, since they love playing at the park so much."

"Too expensive," said Tyler. (ha, ha, ha - more on that later).

"Here are some playstructures on Craigslist.... they are only $500 or so for a nice one." I said, because yes, the Rainbow systems were pretty expensive.

"Too much work," said Tyler. "We'd have to go tear them down, haul it home, then put it up. You know some of the wood would be rotten, and who knows if we would even have all the hardware." (again - ha.)

"Let's build our own." Note that this was Tyler's idea.

Of course, with us being us, we couldn't build your regular, every-day, run-of-the-mill playstructure. Oh, no. We built and honest-to-goodness CASTLE in our yard. The result? NOT cheap (though yes, quite a bit less expensive than the Rainbow systems). And definitely NOT easy or quick. But - probably the coolest playstructure I have ever seen. Behold.....

The castle under construction.... extra special thanks to Uncle Jay and Ben for helping put the telephone pole on the top. Did I mention that the whole thing is overkill?

Finished, the castle boasts the following:

10x10 interior room, covered with 4" of cedar chips, and with 4 windows

A real, working drawbridge

A cargo net for climbing to the deck

A ladder, also for climbing up

Two swings and a set of rings

A 12x12 deck on top, with built in bench seats (x2, of course)

A flag pole, with option for pirate or dragon flag

2 incredibly happy pirates (seen on the top deck here, guarding their fortress)

Soon to come is a 70-foot waterslide mounted to the top, propelling the small child most of the way down the hill. Also, I'm gunning hard for a zip line. For the adults, at least for now.

Here are the boys on the deck, playing pirates with some of their birthday loot.

Beware, all who try to enter......