The Swingset - Day 1

Well, it was probably only a matter of time until I gave in. Carrie, having spent this many years with me probably planned this from the get-go. Whatever the case, we purchased an obscenely large and ostentatious swingset for the boys. My hesitations were more than likely aimed at the fact that things like this didn't exist when I was kid, outside of large, publicly funded schoolyards.

First off, if you haven't guessed yet, it's freakin' HUGE. With a capital HUGE. We purchased the Windsor model from the Create-N-Adventure line by Backyard Leisure. I won't be too surprised if this mammoth is considered rental property and is taxed by the town next year:



The product quality is very good, the instructions are extremely accurate and useful and apparently, judging from the picture, we get socio-economic and cultural diversity automatically included with the purchase price. If only someone could convince Republican administrations that nation-building were this simple and immediate...uh...er...wait a second...uh...never mind....

So I mentioned the instruction manual...it's 60+ pages long. I feel that I should use it to shingle the roof of the new structure as so many trees went into its creation. It took me three hours last weekend just to inventory and lay-out the parts for the "construction weekend" so I wouldn't be a total mess, looking for part # 90wc5-lc-ss6.1f (that just so happens to look exactly the same as part # 90wc5-lc-ss6.1e) and thinking that 0900 was a perfectly acceptable time to have a beer or six.

Whatever the case, planning actually paid off and the first day of construction went well. The day was mostly spent assembling the "appendages" to the forbidden city in our back yard...the ladders, slide, climbing wall, etc. Here's the fun pix of the first day:

What a lovely, organized collection of parts and things. No children around yet.

I really don't know what to say here.

You can take the monkey out of the jungle and you can take a person out of a bar but you can't take Colin away off of the monkey bars.

Two monkeys inspecting the monkey bars.

My first round of quality control. If it doesn't pass Liam it doesn't pass at all!

"Daddy, why is the new thing here with our old stuff? Do you think Clara (the dog) can climb it?"

Colin attesting to my organizational skills. Or he may just be swatting at the black flies.

"OK, I've got the climbing wall figured out...how about a REAL challenge???"

"What's daddy been doing all day and why does Liam have the camera?"

Little Mr. Fixer-Helper

Liam getting his socket and ratchet groove going.

Power tools by DeWalt, refreshments by Berkshire Brewing Company.

OK, this is the point where it starts getting a bit tough for an individual to do it all. Need additional bodies for Day 2.

Liam learning to use a ratchet. He learned it as "push, pull, push, pull...."

Colin checking our work. Glad everything passed the inspector's approval process.

Heh. It's getting large and it's not even close to complete. This is the completed extension for the swings.

Colin not feeling too good about daddy's interpretation of a slide.

Looks fine to me.

Liam trusts it!!!