For at least a year I have been telling Greg that we should get the girls a swing set. Last year we decided against it and since then we had been scouring the classifieds for a used one with no luck. Well after a trip to the park one weekend that left the girls utterly exhausted we brought the idea back up and decided it was time. So the next day we piled into the car and headed to Costco. Now when we got to Costco we saw what we wanted because it was all set up inside the store. Every time we go there the girls have said how much they wanted it so they were pretty excited to hear that they were actually getting it! At first Morgan didn't understand that there were going to be two swings (one for her and one for Elizabeth) so she actually wanted us to buy two swing sets because she didn't want to share. We quickly put an end to that idea!
We scoped it out to see how we were going to get this thing home and then later that day Greg went back with his friend to pick it up. This swing set came in 6 boxes and so while I made dinner Greg began the process of unpacking six boxes worth of wood, screws and bolts. First he laid out the directions and the numerous packages of hardware.
Then he and Morgan laid out all the wood pieces and matched them up based on their size. This part was hard for Morgan- she didn't really understand that Greg was trying to organize everything. She just wanted it out of the box!
Then Greg made the smart decision to read the instructions before we started anything. And I think it is funny that the instructions begin with a giant Stop sign. We joked that it should really say "Stop! Hire someone to do this for you!"
The directions said that it would take approximately 10-12 hours to put the entire thing together. It was a little intimidating at first but after the girls were in bed we decided to go ahead and start the construction. We worked for two hours or so and got the rock wall, wooden ladder and picnic table put together. We were pretty excited with our progress, but the next morning Morgan was a little disappointed with the amount of work we got done. It seems that we were working for a slave driver!
Later that week Greg's friend came over to help put the bulk of the structure together. By the time I got home a big part of the swing set was up- but wasn't ready for playing yet. Finally after a few more days our garage looked like this....
but the girls had a place to play! By Thursday (and remember we bought this thing on a Sunday) the structure was up, the ladder and rock wall were attached and the picnic table was out. The girls couldn't wait anymore so we let them climb on it. We quickly realized that the next priority was to attach the slide because they could climb up but they couldn't get down!
So by Friday after work pretty much everything was ready to go. And the girls immediately started swinging.
And then they decided to swing some more....
And then they decided that they would let Mommy and Daddy play on their swing set.
So far the girls have used the swing set almost every day. In the beginning Morgan would even sneak out in the morning to swing before we went to school! By far their favorite thing to do is swing. The only catch is that Mommy or Daddy has to push them. Looking back this will be a great investment!
Even Belle likes it because it means she can be outside a whole lot more!
0 comments:
Post a Comment