The Present

So, Noel and I decided that we would like to have a swingset in our backyard for the kiddos to play on so the older one isn't confined to the house during the younger one's nap time and vice versa. We really approached this in a very scientific matter... we listed our needs:

1) we need 2 swings - to avoid the drama
2) we need a fully enclosed loft area... if provided - minimizes the trips to the ER, hopefully
3) we need a slide

Fairly simple, right? So we were off on a mission.

We started at Sams... Great set there. Priced as expected. Roof looks a bit cheesy, but could be replaced and the set as whole looked really cool to play on. OK Check. Remember that.

Next was Costco... they had a set made by Rainbow, who everyone knows makes a really great playset. But they also love their playsets... ($$$) . Costco had one for the same price as sams... really cool. But the problem with this one was that we would have to order it and that would cost an additional $500 for shipping... (800 pounds of lumber... of course it costs that much)

Next we thought... Hey, we will build our own from scratch.... went to Lowes and Home Depot. Cute plans for the sets... but it dawned on us there... we would have to cut all of the lumber then stain it....ummm..... maybe not.

So, after about 2 weeks of research, we decided on the Sam's set. Unfortunately, the weekend we decided that we would build it (we had made arrangements for our 3 year old to be at her Mimi's house) was about a week too late for the set at Sams. they were sold out and wouldn't have more until after Christmas. Bummer. back to the drawing board.

Anyway - long story short... (like it is really going to get shorter...) Noel found out that Rainbow sells a kit that sells for about the same as the Sams package. So we went out there and bought it. We were chatting with the salesman about the construction... Noel and I figured it would take about 8 hours or so to construct... the salesman says... "Three hours.." GREAT! that is fabulous...we will have it done by the time our daughter gets home that night.

Three hours... HA! The bag for the screws was larger than my pillowcase...

Three hours....

That night (about 12:30am.... after the time change) we had the fort built. That is all... No monkey bars, no rockwall,....

then things got interesting... we wanted to keep this as a suprise for our daughter, so we had to hide all the construction items (lumber, screws, the BIG YELLOW SLIDE) and had to hide Daddy all day Sunday so he could finish.

Sunday came and went.

After the kids went to bed Sunday night, I went back out to help with setting the monkey bars and all...

We decided that after all was said and done, it took us about 16 hours to do a "Three hour" project.

We are still recovering. Fortunately, we are still happily married, didn't pull any muscles and shed only a little bit of blood.

Monday morning, the set was complete and we suprised our daughter with it. She LOVED IT and still refers to it as her "present".

I really hope Christmas assembly is much faster.