A Swingset is Born

After months of patiently waiting, the kids finally have their swingset!

My parents came down to help build that bad boy - and boy did we need it.  First we started by 'raising' the basketball net.  After one horrific drop (yet strangely we managed to do no damage to the net or concrete), all four of us managed to set that sucker in its spot through a combination of balancing it on our heads, swearing, and brute force.  Here it is in all its majesty:

And that, that monstrosity behind it - that would be "the" swingset.  We started sorting the pieces on Sunday night, and it took us another hour on Monday morning before we had everything sorted properly:

Seriously - take a look at all that wood.  It hurts my head just to think about it.  So we worked, and worked, and worked some more on that sucker.  12 hours on Monday, and another 12 on Tuesday.  And it was long, and hot, and arduous.  This would be Chris and my Dad slaving away at about 9:45p.m:

But in the end, we put that sucker together, and boy what a playset it is.  For those who are wondering, it's the Centennial II by Big Backyard.  We still have to attach the monkey bars, and put the finishing touches on it, but for the most part it is DONE!!!

And I'm not sure, but I'm fairly certain that the kids freaking LOVE IT!  Yesterday the boys discovered that the slide is only of a medium velocity.  However, if you run in the sprinkler, then go down the slide you can achieve break-neck velocity in no time flat.  I anticipate that many, many, many hours of fun will be had on the swing set and with the basketball net.

I'll post more 'action' shots later, but for now I'm so tired I have to hit the sack.   A HUGE, HUGE thank you to my parents, for once again saving the day and helping out well above and beyond the call of duty.