El Castillo de los Gatos

One of Kaylee's go-to sources for ideas of activities that she can do with the girls is the magazine Family Fun.  Naturally, the girls also enjoy looking at the pictures and pestering Momma to do a project.

Anne was recently flipping through the latest issue and found a castle for kitties, made out of cardboard boxes.  She asked Kaylee if they could make it for Shadow and Snowy and Kaylee told her, "That looks more like Daddy's area of expertise."

Well, why not.  But also, why not do one better and make it out of that 3/16" plywood that I'm not using?

I had to put it off as we started classes here at Etnos, dealt with flooding, and the general craziness of things.  Then we had a break, a two-day legal holiday for Carnaval.  It was the perfect opportunity, and we made the most of it.

While the girls had class with Kaylee in the morning, I cut out the majority of the pieces and then we set to work in the afternoon.  The girls got some good lessons in power tool use and safety and enjoyed the work.

Lydia takes a turn at pre-drilling for screws

Anne used her own compass to mark the access holes for moving between levels

We had a lot of curious passers-by throughout the afternoon as we worked.  After the girls went to bed, I finished cutting out and installing the battlements, which completely the assembly.

I need a workbench :)

 The next day, the cats tried it out.

Of course we couldn't just leave it looking like that, so I painted it white and presented it as a canvas to my little artists, who decorated it as each saw fit.

Even Kaylee added her own touches:

Job done!  And if those weren't enough cute little girl pictures for you, click here to see the whole Picasa album.