Monday, February 02, 2009

The Not So Big "Big Dig"


The not so big big dig
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar
Or why I'm really glad we have the woods.

Originally Larry and I planned on a Sunday afternoon family walk on a state park trail not far from the house. But the kids had some big plans. They were going to make a fort in the woods. Not just any old fort, but one that involves digging.

Nate asked of the shovel and headed on out to the wooded portion of our property. The rest of his siblings trailed after along with the dogs. An area was marked out for the fort and Nate proceeded to dig a good size trench. Max and Rebecca were set to clear the area with rakes while Jake gathered sticks and logs.


digging
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar
Even John got in on the fun.

He starting digging his own little pit off to the side of the main are. He thrust his snout in the dirt and industriously scraped away, occasionally pausing to gnaw at any protruding roots. This delighted my little excavators, John's hole would become a command post.

Dell, on the other hand, wasn't particularly interested in the whole digging thing. I guess he didn't want to get his wee little paws all dirty. He came back inside to hang out with the adults.


crater
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar
The end result after a good afternoon of digging was this. A fair sized crater in the woods.

It's not quite on the same scale as Boston's Big Dig, but then again it's pretty good for four kids and a shovel. It will be interesting to see the project shape up over the next few weeks/months. I know they would love an honest to goodness tree fort, but we haven't any suitable trees on our property, so this will have to do.

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