Swingset

We've been wanting to do something for the kids in the backyard to try and encourage them to play outside more. We wanted to re-create our sandbox that Marc built in Cincinnati:But then we started looking at used swingsets on Craigslist and wondered if we could get a swingset and a sandbox for the amount of money we were going to spend making a huge sandbox. I spent hours on Craigslist constantly on the lookout for new postings. I think if you didn't act in the first 10-15 minutes of the listing, you were out of luck. I was feeling pretty disheartened about it because I wasn't having any success at all and the boy's birthday was quickly approaching.

But then, I found a listing and acted immediately and finally got the seller to respond. She said they were showing the swingset during certain times the following day and it was first come, first serve. That wasn't a good enough answer for me, so I was quite persistent and aggressive about saying, "I want your swingset! I will buy your swingset! But I am not driving out to Boise, and wasting my time and gas in my car to walk away empty handed." She called me later and told me I could stop by earlier and look at it. So I loaded up the kids as fast as I could, dropped them off at my mom's real quick (didn't want to get their hopes up if it didn't work out) and went over to look at the swingset. It was exactly what we wanted. I gave them the cash and told them we'd be over the next day to take it away.

Somewhere between me purchasing the swingset, going over with Marc the next day to take it all apart, he talked with a co-worker about his plans to take it apart and she said "you should have bought mine!" After we had spent all morning taking the swingset apart (not the easiest task with all the nuts and screws and bolts and heavy lifting) and got it all loaded up to take away, she sent us a picture of her swingset, and it was the exact same thing we had just taken apart. She was offering it to us for a little less than what we just paid......If were up to me, I would have just said, thanks, but no thanks, we've already put this much work into it. But my husband said, let's try to sell this one, I'll take care of the other one and we'll still have it up in time for the kids party......ugh! We made a phone call to my cousin who has also been in the market for swingsets and drove it by their house (in all the pieces) for them to take a look at and see if it was something they wanted and I think they thought it was a good deal to have one delivered to their backyard, so they purchased it from us.

Our friends, the Sorenson's (my running buddy) offered to have family home evening with us. They brought over dinner, their truck and trailer, and as soon as we had dinner and a short lesson, Brian and Marc went over to take apart the other swingset. It was a lot faster this time, and despite the terrible weather, they had it down and to our house in time for the kids to go to bed. I'm so grateful for their help! We definitely got the better end of the deal there! Marc worked on setting it up all week.I wanted to help, but was pretty useless with the heavy lifting. We had to have a friend come over and he helped Marc lift the middle piece up, and then later the roof.
And here's our finished product!
There's a sandbox under the club house, along with a picnic table. The kids are eager for the sand to go in. We're trying to hold off for a little bit until some of the novelty wears off and they have something else to be excited about. I have no problem trying to get them to go outside and play now!