Kelley, Owen, and Bunk Beds

Kelley and Owen were our first overnight guests in San Mateo.  They were vacationing in California and spent their last day with us.

That last day was no vacation for Kelley.

She had built Owen's loft bed in NYC, so we declared her an expert and pressed her into service building bunks for Silas and Rosemary.

Meredith was hoping the bunk beds would take an hour to build.  Kelley was hoping for three hours.

Unfortunately, the manufacturer included some incorrectly-sized half-moon nuts (which hold the bolts that hold the whole thing together).

After a couple of hardware stores, we settled on cross-dowels as a replacement -- though they didn't always quite fit.

Kel and I jerry-rigged a series of great solutions and, at nine p.m., finished the bunk beds.

Looks beautiful!  It should hold up, at least until the first earthquake.

Meredith was on child-care duty that whole time.  She took this great photo of all the kids -- still playing with boxes.

Here's Owen early this morning, trying not to drop Tess.  He was successful.

Message to other New York friends (and other states, of course):  Come visit us!

We probably won't make you build anything.