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Description
(this takes place before 'back in the field')

It had been raining all day, as the weather had said it would. The kids had expected it, but were still disappointed.

Jamie and his friends had gone to Monty's house after school, and quickly ran out of things to do.

"We could... play cards?" Claude suggested, he was laying on the floor of Monty's living room.

"We just put the deck away" Cupcake replied.

"So? We could play something different" Claude argued, since he couldn't think of anything better to do.

"Man, that's stupid," Caleb cut in, "Can't you think of anything better?" the comment caused the twins to start arguing about what they should do. Though it devolved into random insults, as fights tend to do.

Jamie, Monty and Cupcake stepped in, trying to get them to stop. Pippa, however, was not paying attention. She had a sketchbook out and was drawing something on it.

Eventually the twins fight turned into a giant wrestling match, and they were all piling on top of each other. This lasted for about 10 minutes before they all fell away from one another, laughing and gasping for breath.

As the laughter died away Cupcake finally noticed Pippa hadn't joined in. As the boys continued to throw random insults around she got up and walked over to Pippa.

"What's that?" She asked, trying to get a look at the book Pippa was leaning over.

"Just an idea" Pippa responded, sitting up and handing sliding the drawing to the bigger girl.

At this point, Monty also noticed the two and wondered over. He peaked at the sketch while Cupcake was sliding it back to Pippa.

"That's a cool idea." He said, "It would be really fun"

Pippa took her sketchbook back and continued to work on the drawings. Monty and Cupcake sat down with her, giving their input.

At this point Claude picked up a pillow from the couch and threw it at his brother's face. Caleb tossed it right back and they began another make-shift fight. This time Jamie was content to just watch the two, until a pillow came flying in his direction.

It wasn't long before another pillow went flying, this time right at Pippa's hand. It caused her to mess up the line she had been drawing, and made it go over the rest of her drawing.

"Hey!" The Pippa, Cupcake, and Monty yelled at the same time, causing the fight to stop.

"Who threw that?" Pippa asked, and the boys all looked at one another, they weren't sure and didn't want to get blamed.

"You messed up the plans!" Monty said, immediately the other boys forgot what they had been doing and walked over.

"What plans?" Claude asked, as the boys walked over.

"These" Pippa said, sliding her drawing over, their were now four pages of drawings.

The drawing were rather simple and crude, though the others could tell what it was.

"A tree fort?" Jamie asked, looking at the book. They contained a simple drawing of a house like structure, that rested on a few trees with various supports, and the basic plans for building it. They were starting to get detailed, with dimensions and some calculations, but it was clear that they were mostly an idea at this point.

"Yeah" Pippa answered, "I figure the main reason it's hard to find something to do inside is because it's not our own space. If we had a fort we'd have somewhere to do stuff and not worry about rules."

"Like the fact that you guys will get in trouble if my mom sees that mess" Monty hinted, nodding at the pillows that were scattered around the room.

Jamie and the twins were careful to pretend they hadn't heard Monty, "We should so do this" Jamie said, "But where would we put it?"

"It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, so we could look in the forest" Cupcake said, as the other three had already been discussing it while the others ruff-housed.

Soon the whole group was spouting out ideas, some of them ridiculous, like making it a "three level gigantic mansion" like Jamie suggested at one point. For the most part they were more or less sensible, though.

The group had been sitting around for so long they hadn't noticed the rain outside stop. They also failed to notice Monty's mom come into the room, she had been about to tell them to clean up their mess, but when she saw them so deep in discussion she figured it could wait. After more than an hour of planing Monty's mom came back into the room.

"You guys need to clean up this room and head home now." She said, "Monty, supper is in fifteen minutes." As she left she could hear the groan as they all stood up, and smiled a bit. She remembered being like that as a kid.

As they cleaned one more thing popped into Caleb's head, "Where we gonna get the wood?"

"That ones easy," Cupcake answered, "My dad's a carpenter, I'll ask him. We'll probably have to do something for it, though"

"That's no problem" Monty said.

-------

The next day was Saturday, all the kids had told their parents about their idea. Now the parents had met to discuss it while the group was looking for a 'suitable spot.' The kids had been told to take Sophie along.

"I think that it's a good idea, it'd give them somewhere to play" Sean Silvermen, Pippa's dad, said.

"My mine problem is the legal issues" Kate Sweet, Cupcakes mother, was looking at the forest as she sipped her coffee.

The parents that weren't working that day had decided to meet for coffee and figure out weather their kids plan was actually plausible.

"It really shouldn't be that hard, I'll look it up." Charles Bennett was on his tablet, poking the screen as they spoke.

"The kids will all want to help with the construction, I'm sure" Kristen Row, Monty's mom added, "The materials will be expensive."

"My husband can get a good discount from his company" Kate replied, "If we all pitch in it won't be too much, I don't think"

"I have a question, do the kids even know what they're looking for in there?" Aaron Veder, the father of the twins, asked.

"You'd be amazed how much research my daughter can do in one night" Sean said.

-------

"How 'bout this place?" Jamie asked, looking at a tree in an area he thought was nice.

Pippa, however, shook her head, "We need two or tree strong trees that are fairly close together for what we want to do"

They had been looking through the woods for a while, though it was just recently that they actually started asking about weather something would work.

"How about these two?" Claude asked, having just climbed one of the trees he was asking about.

"Too close together, with to many branches" Pippa replied, "You wouldn't have anywhere to put the house"

Sophie was walking along, holding her brothers hand, and saw Claude in the tree, "Climb?" She asked hopefully.

Jamie laughed a bit as he watched Claude climb down the tree, only to trip as he reached the ground, "When your older."

"Wanna climb!" Sophie whined, pulling her brother towards a tree.

"Soph, mom would kill me!" Jamie said, letting himself be pulled along, "How about I climb and get you a leaf from waaaay up at the top?"

Sophie looked at the big tree she had pulled her brother to, the leaves were quite pretty, she thought, but it wouldn't be the same. "No, wanna climb."

"I could show you how to make a leaf-rubbing... thing when we get home." Jamie said, trying to convince her.

"What that?" She asked, her brow furrowed.

Jamie thought for a moment, "Well" He finally replied, "You take a leaf, put it under some paper and rub the paper with a pencil. If it's done right you have a copy of the leaf to keep forever." after a pause he added, "It's pretty"

After a moments consideration Sophie smiled at her big brother, "Okay, this tree!" Jamie knew that meant she would not accept a leaf from any other tree in the forest.

With that Jamie started climbing the tree, or rather, tried to. The lowest branch was too high for him to reach, so he went to the tree next to it. It was a fair ways away, but Jamie saw a few branches a little ways up he could use to get across.

This tree had a fair number of lower limbs, and it was fairly easy to climb up. It only took him a few seconds to get to where he could cross to the other tree.

It was at this point his friends noticed him, "Jamie, what are you trying to do?" Monty called up, seeing his friend reaching for the branch of the other tree.

"Do you want to break you neck?" Pippa called.

"I'll be fine!" Jamie called down, waving at them as the rushed over to stand next to Sophie, "Sophie wanted a leaf from this tree, so I'm getting her one"

With that Jamie's extended hand caught the branch and he let go of the tree he was on, grabbing the branch with both his hands. He inched along the branches, keeping his feet on the original tree even when he knew it was doing nothing. Eventually he was swinging with no place for his feet.

"He's gonna fall" Caleb said, looking around for something that would soften the fall, Jamie was really high up now and would break something if he fell.

Despite the lack of confidence from his friends, Jamie inched his way along the branch until he finally got another foot hold. Not long after this he was headed back down to his friends with a pocketful of leaves. He immediately gave the leaves to Sophie.

"Jamie, man, your crazy" Claude said.

"Maybe, but I think he may have found the perfect place for a tree fort" Pippa said, she had taken a few steps back as Jamie had climbed down.

The trees in this area were not too close together, and not too far apart. They were old and strong, with a fair amount of space around them. The kids marked the trees with a blue cloth around the lowest branch and started back, marking trees with white cloth as they went so they could find their way back.

Description
(this takes place before 'back in the field')

It had been raining all day, as the weather had said it would. The kids had expected it, but were still disappointed.

Jamie and his friends had gone to Monty's house after school, and quickly ran out of things to do.

"We could... play cards?" Claude suggested, he was laying on the floor of Monty's living room.

"We just put the deck away" Cupcake replied.

"So? We could play something different" Claude argued, since he couldn't think of anything better to do.

"Man, that's stupid," Caleb cut in, "Can't you think of anything better?" the comment caused the twins to start arguing about what they should do. Though it devolved into random insults, as fights tend to do.

Jamie, Monty and Cupcake stepped in, trying to get them to stop. Pippa, however, was not paying attention. She had a sketchbook out and was drawing something on it.

Eventually the twins fight turned into a giant wrestling match, and they were all piling on top of each other. This lasted for about 10 minutes before they all fell away from one another, laughing and gasping for breath.

As the laughter died away Cupcake finally noticed Pippa hadn't joined in. As the boys continued to throw random insults around she got up and walked over to Pippa.

"What's that?" She asked, trying to get a look at the book Pippa was leaning over.

"Just an idea" Pippa responded, sitting up and handing sliding the drawing to the bigger girl.

At this point, Monty also noticed the two and wondered over. He peaked at the sketch while Cupcake was sliding it back to Pippa.

"That's a cool idea." He said, "It would be really fun"

Pippa took her sketchbook back and continued to work on the drawings. Monty and Cupcake sat down with her, giving their input.

At this point Claude picked up a pillow from the couch and threw it at his brother's face. Caleb tossed it right back and they began another make-shift fight. This time Jamie was content to just watch the two, until a pillow came flying in his direction.

It wasn't long before another pillow went flying, this time right at Pippa's hand. It caused her to mess up the line she had been drawing, and made it go over the rest of her drawing.

"Hey!" The Pippa, Cupcake, and Monty yelled at the same time, causing the fight to stop.

"Who threw that?" Pippa asked, and the boys all looked at one another, they weren't sure and didn't want to get blamed.

"You messed up the plans!" Monty said, immediately the other boys forgot what they had been doing and walked over.

"What plans?" Claude asked, as the boys walked over.

"These" Pippa said, sliding her drawing over, their were now four pages of drawings.

The drawing were rather simple and crude, though the others could tell what it was.

"A tree fort?" Jamie asked, looking at the book. They contained a simple drawing of a house like structure, that rested on a few trees with various supports, and the basic plans for building it. They were starting to get detailed, with dimensions and some calculations, but it was clear that they were mostly an idea at this point.

"Yeah" Pippa answered, "I figure the main reason it's hard to find something to do inside is because it's not our own space. If we had a fort we'd have somewhere to do stuff and not worry about rules."

"Like the fact that you guys will get in trouble if my mom sees that mess" Monty hinted, nodding at the pillows that were scattered around the room.

Jamie and the twins were careful to pretend they hadn't heard Monty, "We should so do this" Jamie said, "But where would we put it?"

"It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, so we could look in the forest" Cupcake said, as the other three had already been discussing it while the others ruff-housed.

Soon the whole group was spouting out ideas, some of them ridiculous, like making it a "three level gigantic mansion" like Jamie suggested at one point. For the most part they were more or less sensible, though.

The group had been sitting around for so long they hadn't noticed the rain outside stop. They also failed to notice Monty's mom come into the room, she had been about to tell them to clean up their mess, but when she saw them so deep in discussion she figured it could wait. After more than an hour of planing Monty's mom came back into the room.

"You guys need to clean up this room and head home now." She said, "Monty, supper is in fifteen minutes." As she left she could hear the groan as they all stood up, and smiled a bit. She remembered being like that as a kid.

As they cleaned one more thing popped into Caleb's head, "Where we gonna get the wood?"

"That ones easy," Cupcake answered, "My dad's a carpenter, I'll ask him. We'll probably have to do something for it, though"

"That's no problem" Monty said.

-------

The next day was Saturday, all the kids had told their parents about their idea. Now the parents had met to discuss it while the group was looking for a 'suitable spot.' The kids had been told to take Sophie along.

"I think that it's a good idea, it'd give them somewhere to play" Sean Silvermen, Pippa's dad, said.

"My mine problem is the legal issues" Kate Sweet, Cupcakes mother, was looking at the forest as she sipped her coffee.

The parents that weren't working that day had decided to meet for coffee and figure out weather their kids plan was actually plausible.

"It really shouldn't be that hard, I'll look it up." Charles Bennett was on his tablet, poking the screen as they spoke.

"The kids will all want to help with the construction, I'm sure" Kristen Row, Monty's mom added, "The materials will be expensive."

"My husband can get a good discount from his company" Kate replied, "If we all pitch in it won't be too much, I don't think"

"I have a question, do the kids even know what they're looking for in there?" Aaron Veder, the father of the twins, asked.

"You'd be amazed how much research my daughter can do in one night" Sean said.

-------

"How 'bout this place?" Jamie asked, looking at a tree in an area he thought was nice.

Pippa, however, shook her head, "We need two or tree strong trees that are fairly close together for what we want to do"

They had been looking through the woods for a while, though it was just recently that they actually started asking about weather something would work.

"How about these two?" Claude asked, having just climbed one of the trees he was asking about.

"Too close together, with to many branches" Pippa replied, "You wouldn't have anywhere to put the house"

Sophie was walking along, holding her brothers hand, and saw Claude in the tree, "Climb?" She asked hopefully.

Jamie laughed a bit as he watched Claude climb down the tree, only to trip as he reached the ground, "When your older."

"Wanna climb!" Sophie whined, pulling her brother towards a tree.

"Soph, mom would kill me!" Jamie said, letting himself be pulled along, "How about I climb and get you a leaf from waaaay up at the top?"

Sophie looked at the big tree she had pulled her brother to, the leaves were quite pretty, she thought, but it wouldn't be the same. "No, wanna climb."

"I could show you how to make a leaf-rubbing... thing when we get home." Jamie said, trying to convince her.

"What that?" She asked, her brow furrowed.

Jamie thought for a moment, "Well" He finally replied, "You take a leaf, put it under some paper and rub the paper with a pencil. If it's done right you have a copy of the leaf to keep forever." after a pause he added, "It's pretty"

After a moments consideration Sophie smiled at her big brother, "Okay, this tree!" Jamie knew that meant she would not accept a leaf from any other tree in the forest.

With that Jamie started climbing the tree, or rather, tried to. The lowest branch was too high for him to reach, so he went to the tree next to it. It was a fair ways away, but Jamie saw a few branches a little ways up he could use to get across.

This tree had a fair number of lower limbs, and it was fairly easy to climb up. It only took him a few seconds to get to where he could cross to the other tree.

It was at this point his friends noticed him, "Jamie, what are you trying to do?" Monty called up, seeing his friend reaching for the branch of the other tree.

"Do you want to break you neck?" Pippa called.

"I'll be fine!" Jamie called down, waving at them as the rushed over to stand next to Sophie, "Sophie wanted a leaf from this tree, so I'm getting her one"

With that Jamie's extended hand caught the branch and he let go of the tree he was on, grabbing the branch with both his hands. He inched along the branches, keeping his feet on the original tree even when he knew it was doing nothing. Eventually he was swinging with no place for his feet.

"He's gonna fall" Caleb said, looking around for something that would soften the fall, Jamie was really high up now and would break something if he fell.

Despite the lack of confidence from his friends, Jamie inched his way along the branch until he finally got another foot hold. Not long after this he was headed back down to his friends with a pocketful of leaves. He immediately gave the leaves to Sophie.

"Jamie, man, your crazy" Claude said.

"Maybe, but I think he may have found the perfect place for a tree fort" Pippa said, she had taken a few steps back as Jamie had climbed down.

The trees in this area were not too close together, and not too far apart. They were old and strong, with a fair amount of space around them. The kids marked the trees with a blue cloth around the lowest branch and started back, marking trees with white cloth as they went so they could find their way back.