Building a Bunk Bed

I've been staring at the Thomas Tables at people's homes and at ToysRUs for a year now, wishing that I could get one for Alex. However, we have limited space in our apartment so there was no way we were going to be able to get one. Then I had an epiphany one afternoon that I could give him a train table if I made him a bunk bed. He could sleep on the top and the table would be the bottom. I bought a saw and I had a drill and sander already. I made my plans and then got nervous. I had no idea how to build a bunk bed. I ended up waiting for my mom to come visit and she help me build Alex his very own bed. We cut the pieces, sanded them all down, and screwed all the pieces together. It was so fun to chat and learn with my mom. We didn't screw it up too many times, and we even solved some dilemmas about making the ladder. It was great to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and both of us got to laugh at the other person (a few times) when we were about to make very obvious goofs.
Six trips to Home Depot later, we got his bed put together. It's made completely from 2x4s and a 2x10. I still need to paint his train table and fill in the screws with wood putty, but other then that, it's good to go.
On the last trip to Home Depot I was looking at the paint trying to find a cheap brand to get the green grass color for his train table. The cheapest paint I could find was about $8 which is lots more then I was willing to pay. My brilliant mother suggested I find the "oops paint." They had a quart of paint that apparently wasn't the right shade of off-white. They were able to mix it to the color green I wanted and it only cost me a dollar! I'll have to remember that for future projects.
Alex seems to like his bed though you could tell he was a little nervous about sleeping "way way way high." His bed is actually only four feet up, but to a three year old that would be high. In the end he laid in his new bed for 2 minutes before he started snoring.
I'm so glad that this project is done. It's been floating around my brain for over a month now and it's great to see it and know I can move on to my next project. And, I couldn't have done it without my mom.