The kids got a play set for Christmas! It was a combined gift from their Gramma, Grambot and Pawpaw, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, Grand Aunt Margie and Grand Uncle Daryl, and their parents. We'd been interested in purchasing one since last year, but wanted to wait until Cora was old enough that we didn't have to worry about her hurting herself (well, worry less anyway, since she's such a daredevil that we'll always have to worry about her - case in point, she managed to scrape up her head during play set construction by playing on the slide before it was attached, just running back and forth on it and tripping off the end into the gravel - she has her mama's independence AND grace...). It took us a long time to decide on a set (brand, activities and accessories included, platform height, price range, etc.), and we finally settled on a Gorilla. We didn't keep it a secret. We asked the kids ahead of time if they wanted a playground in their backyard (YES!) and involved them in unloading and construction prep as soon as it arrived. Needless to say, they are extremely happy with their new toy and we foresee many, many afternoons and weekends spent hanging out in the backyard. Which will be awesome, since mama and daddy have a lot of backlogged yardwork that needs to get completed!
 |
| Unloading the boards (after "helping" us carry the giant boxes down to the carport from the top of the driveway - we drove them down in the back of the minivan) on Thursday. |
 |
| Fire ring relocation #1 (moved prior to starting the fire, of course). And hot chocolate. (Temps were in the low 30's during day one of construction on Saturday.) We spent about an hour leveling ground, measuring, and deciding on placement of the play set. |
 |
| You gotta start with the base... |
 |
| Jay and I worked together for all 14 hours it took us to complete construction, but I'm the one that took the progress photos, so you won't see me in any. |
 |
| The peanut gallery was super excited to see the sides go up! |
 |
| Measuring angles... Jay had to cut the top of the ladder to make it lay flush against the fort, so just know that even all-inclusive sets with great instructions sometimes have small issues that need to be fixed as you go. |
 |
| Ladder and platform complete! |
 |
| Lunch break! Note that the fire ring has been moved again. It actually moved 3 times total because it just seemed too close to the bottom of the slide. And nobody wants kids to slide into a fire pit... |
 |
| Getting close and letting the kids test out the swings (so we knew how high to hang them). Eventually we'll buy a truck load of gravel to recover this entire area, but on Sunday we bought just enough to cover the old fire pit (which had been in place for who knows how many years, since it came with the house). |
 |
| Getting the slide and roof attached while the kids went in with Grambot to start dinner. |
 |
| Daddy attaches the rock wall foot holds while Cora tries out the trapeze rings. |
 |
| Helping daddy finish the rock wall after dinner. |
 |
| Finishing touches (Captain's wheel, flags, and telescope, plus the stakes to secure the entire thing to the ground) were completed at 10:15pm last night. We figured that since the directions said it would take 8 hours to put it together, that it would actually take 16. We finished in around 12-13 hours, so we're happy. Biggest puzzle we've done yet, and we actually had a great time doing a project together! |
 |
| And, of course, it was all worth it for the smiles on THEIR faces this morning! |
