rich proves, yet again, that he is the coolest dad ever

rich and i have been married for quite a while and we know each other so well that very little ever surprises us about the other. but i have to admit that yesterday i was totally astounded by him.

he planned, and built, a 10 foot high treehouse for gus in one day.

i have such great expectations of rich, anyway--because that is just who he is--but this came completely out of left field. gus had been telling me for about a week that "dad and i are going to build a treehouse," and i was less than enthusiastic because i didn't really think rich could do it. i mean, this is a man who actually prefers to hire someone, ANYONE, to come and work on the house/yard/cars because he just really dislikes the tasks so much. and the only other thing i have ever seen him build is a center support for our bed, which involved hammering about 8 pieces of pre-cut wood together. i think he made a shelf once, too. i did make gus a flag for this alleged treehouse (although now that i look at it it kinda looks like the former soviet union hammer and sickle motif--where did that come from?), but truthfully i was actually starting to get mad at rich for encouraging gus' hopes of a treehouse.

i also kinda thought gus was making it up to some extent--not that gus was lying, because that isn't like him, but that it was really wishful thinking like when he tells me he is going to be shaquille o'neal when he grows up (i'm not discouraging that or any dream, and gus is quite tall). i just thought it was about as unlikely for him to have a treehouse built by rich as it would be for him to grow into a 7 foot tall african-american superstar with awe-inspiring basketball skills and a sheriff's badge. and i can't help but wonder now what else rich can do that he has been hiding from me all these years--maybe rich built it just to spite me because i didn't think he could? no, he made it for gus. and gus is a very, very lucky little boy, as rich is, undoubtedly, the best dad ever.

rich working hard

gus helped a lot, too

sophie, entranced by a dried leaf, is oblivious to the wonderment of construction going on behind her

gus even caught a lizard while they were working!

(it got away)

what are they doing back there?

gus gets on his treehouse for the first time

this is the entrance (it is definitely kid-sized--rich and i barely fit through this!)

gus, on his platform in the sky

i am MIGHTY!