We Bought a Farm: THE Swingset

I have spoken on my Blog in the past about why we have chosen, at least for at time, to stop doing birthday parties with our kiddos. (You can read that post here.)

We have instead started allowing our kids to pick (with guidance from us) an "experience." We've done Dollywood and a fossil museum and the aquarium and things like that.

Last July, Abigail turned six. The little lass loves to swing. She taught herself last May as I showed in this video. And then when her birthday came up in July she asked for swings instead of an outing. We agreed that this was proper use of the non-birthday party idea. 

So we got right on it. I was pretty adamant that I didn't want a little kiddie swing set. Our boys were already nine. I wanted something kids could be on for years. And I wanted something grown-ups could get on too. But buying one of those kinds of swing sets is expensive. So we enlisted, after much looking, a local welder.

Who never did the job.

This welder sat on it for months and months, and after my father-in-law went in repeatedly to see where we were in line, he finally said, "I don't know if I'll ever get to it." Unbelievable! 

We found another welder who was too busy. All the while, Abigail's birthday is getting farther and farther in the past. John finally gave up trying to find someone local to make the swing set and got online and bought one. It was more money than we wanted to pay, but we decided it was worth it for the years of fun and exercise it would bring to us here. 

It's a monstrosity! (I mean it came with paperwork to do monthly "maintenance checks" for crying out loud.) But it's awesome, and the kids will be able to swing on it for years to come. 

JB and Grampa and the kids did all the set-up a few days ago which included letting the concrete dry. Today, while JB was at work, Grama helped them get the final pieces together. And then, when Daddy got home from work at 7:30pm, Abigail jumped on for her first swing!!!

Needless to say, our hearts were soaring right along with her!!

Daddy and Gramps were discussing whether they were a little crooked. They want to do a little tweaking, but for now, we are good to go!