When I was a kid my brothers and I spent lots of time in the backyard playing with.....whatever we could find. ( pic is not of us but I loved the fact that it was so barren except for the box) It is funny because I don't remember having a swing set or other play equipment for most of my childhood after we left Kansas City. We did build a tire swing once and spent more time crashing each other into the tree than actually swinging on it. We had parks and playgrounds that we went to on an almost daily basis but that was back in the "olden times" when children didn't disappear so often that parents freak out when they can't find their kids in a port-o-let sized convenience store (happened to me).
Max, being an only child, doesn't have those enslaved playmates we call siblings so he has to make due on his own sometimes. "Our yard smells like rotten crabs and boogers!" This is how Max describes our yard when he can't find anything fun to do on his own. This started happening a lot this summer, we had lots of work to do in the yard and on the house and poor Max was forced to take care of himself more than usual. I dreamed about getting one of those wooden playsets that I see everywhere, but those are really pretty expensive, even if you build it yourself. Now I was on a quest, a quest to find a way to build a wooden playset, at the lowest price possible, that wouldn't accidentally kill anyone due to shoddy construction. Weeks of online research yielded nothing more than a low price of $1500 for a kit that you build yourself. "Ahhhh! I hate money!" That is what I say when I can't make something workout in my favor. I, of course, love money and wish on a daily basis that I had more of it. So, in my "I hate money" daze, I decided that I would call a manufacturer of one of these fine pieces of playsettery and see if I could appeal to his love of children and maybe his need to do something nice for someone, just because he can. Hey! The hail Mary pass actually got me a playset kit at cost AND he shipped it for free!!! Max saw the box when it arrived and there was no containing his enthusiasm. "A STEERING WHEEL!!! AND A TELESCOPE!!!" We put the box in the basement so as to not further frustrate our dear son. Yea, Right!! "When are you gonna build my playset mom?" "Mom, I wish I had my playset." "This is a good day to play on a playset." He never lost that idea of that playset. He told me that he had dreams about playing on it and having play dates with his best friends where they could play on it. This was all torturous for me and I needed to get this thing built. My husband is a genius when it comes to music and being musical, he can keep up with some of the legends when he plays the blues.....but he is not very handy...he was gonna have to work it hard to keep up with this. Who else could we recruit to raise our chances of getting this done and not losing any body parts or creating long hospitalizations? "OK, so my brother Mike will come over on Sunday and we will cut. My Dad on Monday and Tuesday and we will build it." I ended up taking 3 days off just to make sure that this monster got built and was usable in as few days as possible. We were gonna go for it and see what happened. The planning worked out pretty well I would say. We did have to change the design of the swing portion but my father helped me work out the idea and I think we can call it a success. Paul, did a superior job on this and is now gun slinging the drill with the best of them! Special Thanks to all of our help and support: Mom & Dad, Mike, and Moo Max is happy as a pig in Sh*@ and, after we put the sand in the sand box, he spent 3-4 hours a day playing and making a sandy mess! I was in heaven! Enjoying being a pig, wallowing in the gooey stink of satisfaction and a little more freedom. 'sniff' 'sniff'...Life is good!
Max, being an only child, doesn't have those enslaved playmates we call siblings so he has to make due on his own sometimes. "Our yard smells like rotten crabs and boogers!" This is how Max describes our yard when he can't find anything fun to do on his own. This started happening a lot this summer, we had lots of work to do in the yard and on the house and poor Max was forced to take care of himself more than usual. I dreamed about getting one of those wooden playsets that I see everywhere, but those are really pretty expensive, even if you build it yourself. Now I was on a quest, a quest to find a way to build a wooden playset, at the lowest price possible, that wouldn't accidentally kill anyone due to shoddy construction. Weeks of online research yielded nothing more than a low price of $1500 for a kit that you build yourself. "Ahhhh! I hate money!" That is what I say when I can't make something workout in my favor. I, of course, love money and wish on a daily basis that I had more of it. So, in my "I hate money" daze, I decided that I would call a manufacturer of one of these fine pieces of playsettery and see if I could appeal to his love of children and maybe his need to do something nice for someone, just because he can. Hey! The hail Mary pass actually got me a playset kit at cost AND he shipped it for free!!! Max saw the box when it arrived and there was no containing his enthusiasm. "A STEERING WHEEL!!! AND A TELESCOPE!!!" We put the box in the basement so as to not further frustrate our dear son. Yea, Right!! "When are you gonna build my playset mom?" "Mom, I wish I had my playset." "This is a good day to play on a playset." He never lost that idea of that playset. He told me that he had dreams about playing on it and having play dates with his best friends where they could play on it. This was all torturous for me and I needed to get this thing built. My husband is a genius when it comes to music and being musical, he can keep up with some of the legends when he plays the blues.....but he is not very handy...he was gonna have to work it hard to keep up with this. Who else could we recruit to raise our chances of getting this done and not losing any body parts or creating long hospitalizations? "OK, so my brother Mike will come over on Sunday and we will cut. My Dad on Monday and Tuesday and we will build it." I ended up taking 3 days off just to make sure that this monster got built and was usable in as few days as possible. We were gonna go for it and see what happened. The planning worked out pretty well I would say. We did have to change the design of the swing portion but my father helped me work out the idea and I think we can call it a success. Paul, did a superior job on this and is now gun slinging the drill with the best of them! Special Thanks to all of our help and support: Mom & Dad, Mike, and Moo Max is happy as a pig in Sh*@ and, after we put the sand in the sand box, he spent 3-4 hours a day playing and making a sandy mess! I was in heaven! Enjoying being a pig, wallowing in the gooey stink of satisfaction and a little more freedom. 'sniff' 'sniff'...Life is good!
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