When I was a little girl, I would have the best time outside. I wouldn’t be alone though. I would be with my cousins, and my younger brother. It was the absolute best! 

My oldest cousin and I would spend all day outside, all day, every day. We would be in our grandparents' cow pasture building forts. Luckily, the pasture didn’t have cows in it at the time. 

Our first step of building the fort was to gather up all of the materials that we needed. Then we would find a spot that is very big and around trees. The only reason we had to find a spot around trees was because it would be easier for the building. 

Once we found a spot and had all of the materials, we would start the building process. We would first start by stacking the sticks together to make a strong siding for the fort. But, sometimes it would fail and we would have to start all over. We never gave up though until our fort was built and secure. 

Anyways, moving on, when we finished getting our sticks secured, we would start hanging up decorations that we brought. We would put old blankets over the stacked sticks. Then, we would have old, pretend dishes in a bin. We would also hang up lights and make sure everything looked how we wanted. We would truly go all out! 

As we would finish securing everything and finish decorating, we would have to head back home because it was getting dark outside.

But, when the next day arrived, we would be right back out in the cow pasture. It was quite surprising that everything was how we left it. We were so excited to be back! We sat there for a while, trying to figure out what to do next. Then, all of a sudden, it hit us, let’s play ‘house’ my older cousin and I thought. Of course, I got stuck playing the boring person…the toddler. During this time in my life, I was 11, and my cousin was 12, so of course she won in the argument since she was older. Only by 1 year though! We played ‘house’ for a while, and were just having a blast.

Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, my younger brother and my other cousin showed up. My older cousin and I were shocked, but also very excited. Well, until the two of them wanted to take over the fort we built. We couldn’t stand knowing that is what they wanted to do. We fought and fought with them until we came to an agreement. The agreement was that we would take turns with the fort. But, when we were all there together, we would play together in the fort. Luckily, the boys agreed to that and were very respectful with the decision.