It’s a Fort Day

I often let the boys bring all of their blankets and pillows into the living room to make themselves some “forts.” I use that word pretty loosely, because it usually ends up with them just taking the couch cushions off, replacing those with their actual “sleeping pillows” (as Chuckles likes to call them), and then throwing blankets over themselves. To me it appears to be pretty stuffy in there, but hey… I did something pretty similar as a kid.

Actually, the version of forts that my brothers and I made were even less labor intensive and, if possible, even more weird. We used to make “pluto houses.” Yes, referring to the disgraced former planet, Pluto. I think we had heard some story on the radio about colonizing other planets or something. And thus the Pluto Houses were born.

We would take a blanket and wrap it around ourselves to make an igloo-esq looking “structure.” It was less structure and more lump of cloth. But let me tell you… in our minds, they were mansions. How do I know this? Well, because we would each draw elaborate blueprints and floor plans of what these houses would look like on the inside. I distinctly remember finding good places for vending machines in every one I made. WHY DID I NOT JUST WANT A FRIDGE? There were also slides and pools and every fun thing a kid could want. Placed very carefully onto a floorplan. Do you think that the Google offices started out as Pluto Houses? I hope that I am painting a good picture of how truly nerdy my brothers and I were as kids. (Next time we can discuss how we used to pretend we were the President of the United States and Secretary of State and then would force whatever friend was over to represent the USSR… remember when there was a USSR? Then we would pretend to have diplomatic negotiations between the two nations. There were a lot of threats of nuclear annihilation. NERDS)

Anyway, that’s all besides the point. My kids are not yet nerdy enough to forgo actual fort building in favor of simply designing floorplans. And what’s better on a chilly and rainy day than building forts in the living room?

And of course some reading too. Because I can’t let the next generation skip nerdiness entirely.

Later today I’ve promised to make a roaring fire so that we can roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Not simultaneously, much to Mini-Me’s chagrin. “But that’s why we have two hands!” says he. You’re lucky I let you roast one thing at a time, kid. If you follow me on Instagram (@halfheartedhousewife… not to be confused with @thehhhousewife on Twitter), you’ll see that I love to make fires and it’s one of my few life skills. It’s not entirely useful, outside of camp… but I need to showcase it when I can. And rain + cold = fire time.

Did you guys build forts as kids? It’s pretty universal, right?