Castle of Doom

Children really are easy to please.  Here are a few sure-fire crowd pleasers:

Making cut out cookies.

Play dough.

Lego's.

Running through the sprinklers.

Marshmallow cereal.

Boxes...

My brothers and I loved when our parents got new appliances because we knew the box would be ours.  I don't know anyone that doesn't share some kind of variation on this memory.  We loved forts of any kind and boxes made them easy to create. 

We didn't get any new appliances this past week, but I did cruise the appliance store in search of some big boxes.  The boys decided that a castle fort would make these cold, dreary, February days a bit better.  We're all suffering a bit of cabin fever and a fort project was just the medicine we needed.

The first pass at the store yielded a range box, which I had to talk a guy out of with my 'it's for the children' speech.  We happily took it home and began our work.  It wasn't long, however, until we realized that our range box just wasn't going to cut it...we needed a tower.  Castles need towers.

On our next pass at the appliance store, we hit the jackpot!  A refrigerator box...the mack daddy of all boxes.  I was ecstatic!  The boys shared my joy and we giggled the whole way home. 

It took a refrigerator box, a range box, a can of spray paint, an entire roll of duct tape and a lot of mommy's patience, but we finally finished our project and the Castle of Doom was completed.  You may be thinking 'Why the ominous title?'  Well, it's the only one the boys would agree on.

The original version.  The bump out on the end is the bathroom...a must have during a long battle.

The inside view of the latrine.  Yes, they know it only for pretend.

The addition!

Spy flaps.

The drawbridge.

A spy hole from the bathroom so the enemy won't catch you with your pants down.

 
The fort is a hit with all the neighborhood boys too...oh, the wars that have been waged!  It's time for some new duct tape.  And I'm already scheming for our next fort.