Free Gift

A couple of months ago, Nick and I were looking to buy a swing set for the kids to enjoy in our backyard. I asked around to see if my friends had any recommendations, and my friend Michelle certainly had one. And it was free!

Let me explain. Two years ago, Michelle & her husband bought this nice, wooden swing set from Home Depot and assembled it in their backyard. Eight months later, Michelle's husband decided that he wanted a swimming pool in their backyard instead, so they gave the swing set to some friends/neighbors. These neighbors are now moving to Minnesota and decided not to take the swing set with them. So Michelle told me that if we wanted it, we were free to take it. We just had to get it out of their backyard before they moved. Well, time went by and we kept putting it off, and then this past week, I found out that they had sold their house and were closing in two days... which meant we had one day to get the set out of their backyard. After some fumbling around and finding a couple of awesome friends and a brother-in-law that were able to help at the last minute, the set was able to be broken down and transported to our backyard. But not without a whole lot of grunting, cursing and male bonding, as I'm told. Apparently, screws can rust and fall apart while being removed from wood. Who knew?

Here's a shot of how to transport a disassembled play set:

And getting it into your backyard? Just take down a section of the fence!

Two days later after the guys got it into our backyard, JaJa came over to help us put it back together. Because he's smart. And has tools. And because he loves his grandkids. And really, just because he's really awesome at building stuff. What can I say, it's his M.O.

I didn't get any "before" photos, because Nick and Dave worked so quickly and whipped that thing into shape before I could document the pile of wood and rubble it was just before assembly. But here she is in all her glory only moments after being declared complete.


What are those white bags on the ground, you ask? Here, I'll show you:


Even though Lowe's suggested 16 bags of play sand, I'm here to tell you that it only takes 10 bags to turn a 4' x 4' x 6" square into one slammin sandbox. Nick quickly busted them open and transformed the bottom of the fort into a new hiding place for our son.

And we couldn't leave Olivia out. We ran up to Tar-jay and purchased her very own swing. She's only been in it once so far, but she loved it so much it (almost) put her to sleep, so I'd say it's a keeper.

We look forward to many years of fun and even though this free gift cost us about $300*, the fun times right out our back door will prove to be well worth it.


*Story for another time. But let's just say that my husband may or may not have bought himself a new drill at Lowe's while he was there to buy wood screws and sand. Not really sure how something like that may or may not have happened, but I'm sure as heck not going to take any more grief when I come home over budget from Target or Walmart with a new shirt or new decoration for the house.

**(Not that he ever really does give me grief, I'm just saying. This one's going in my bag of tricks for later. "Remember that time you went to Lowe's buy screws & sand...")