Childhood Memory: building things

I was stuck today for what to write, so I got this prompt from 5-Minute Daily Writing Prompts (a book): Write about your childhood experience with experimenting or building. Did you play with LEGO blocks, mix crazy concoctions in your kitchen, make bottle rockets, grow crystals from a kit, or build elaborate forts?

Well, there were no LEGOs when I was a kid. I did have science kits, which I enjoyed. I don't think I actually learned anything from doing the experiments. My sister and I would sometimes mix various liquids, all safe to drink but tasting horrible mixed together. But building things...

One year I made a castle for my little brother, out of cardboard boxes and oatmeal containers, the round ones. It had a drawbridge and the round towers. I don't remember much else about it except my brother loved it. We must have played with it quite a lot. Years later when our mother was doing triage (which she did regularly) she wanted to throw the old castle out. My brother protested and kept it. 

I don't know how long that castle lasted. Certainly when my parents sold the house in Connecticut and moved into a condo in Minnesota, the castle did not move with them. 

I asked my brother if he remembers the castle. If he responds, I'll add on to this post.