Climbing trees

My children would love to have a good climbing tree in our yard, but we don't have one. The trees that would otherwise be good to climb have such a high canopy that their branches are truly unreachable. Loblolly pines, for example, easily surpass 100 feet in height and their branches usually crowd up near the top of the tree, leaving most of the trunk bare.

Trees grow upwards from their top, which means that their branches should stay wherever they first sprouted (and in fact they do), but they're often dropped as the tree gets taller. And in the case of the loblolly pines I've seen this is definitely true. All the branches are way up there. So you really can't climb them very easily. 

Tulip poplars are another tree that—at least around these parts—grow impressively tall and seem to shed their lower branches. 

Honestly, all the trees—maple, oak, whatever. They are all tall, tall tall. 

Finding good climbing trees can be hard around here! When I was young, I don't remember it being so difficult. Perhaps trees just grow...shorter...where it's cold and snowy a good portion of the year.

Nancy (center) with Kelline (right) and...either David or Abra (left (there's an ongoing family disagreement about whom))

Anyway, all this is to say that Zoë saw the tree in Naanii and Bumpa's front yard while we were out in Utah this June and thought it would make the perfect climbing tree!

Here's Phoebe sitting on a branch:

I guess I should have stuck a third kid up in there to make a comparable picture. Oh, well!