3-Day Weekends, Mr. Right's Way ...

Now that we have a yard ... and now that I am gaining weight faster than a sumo wrestler and slowing down a bit, the need for some little boy energy expelling equipment is becoming very apparent. We started looking for swing sets a few weeks ago. For Mother's Day, we piled into the car and drove out to the suburbs to look at a swing set warehouse (Yes! Those things exist in the suburbs!) where there were a bunch of different configurations and options you could see and feel and most importantly let the boys test drive. I got so excited I was adding all of these options to the basic model and Mr. Right continued to remind me, "that's what the playground down the street is for." And he was right ... we didn't really need swings, and a rock wall, and monkey bars, and a climbing tower. But the place was great, the kids loved everything, there couldn't possibly be a wrong choice AND it comes with installation. Imagine that? Pregnant wife ... big truck drops it off and people that put these things together all the time, put it together for you in a few hours ... IN ONE DAY!! I say Sold!

But not so fast. No purchase is made that way in this household. All things must be carefully researched for days to make sure we are making the very best possible decision. Remember that "includes installation" thing? How could there be any other decision? I'll tell you how ... there is another company that makes swing sets that actually allows you design your own. You can get on the Internet and play around for hours ... days ... weeks. You can see 3-D drawings and a 360 degree animation of your creations. Damn you, Internet.

So you know where this is going right? It's obvious. Mr. Right spends the next 2 weeks building the swing set of his dreams online. "If I were 5 again ... what would I need?" Then he gets #1 in on the fun ... he shows him how to add a Jolly Roger pirate flag to the drawing, a fireman's pole. Oh the fun you can have on a computer!

Fast forward a few weeks and you've got Friday morning of Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day weekend for most families includes some sort of family gathering, interesting getaway or stay-cation plans, perhaps a BBQ. Not here. For Mr. Right, before we had children, Memorial Day weekend for many years was all about a boys weekend on the sailboat. I don't know the details and don't want to know them. But I hear it was a great time, if you like self inflicted punishment and pain for 4 days. Then we had children and logistics got a little harder, then the sailboat got sold and I am now blamed for the fact that we never do anything fun. Really? Never do anything fun? We don't go sailing, we don't go camping ... wah, wah, wah. I digress. Friday morning of Memorial Day weekend I watched a very smelly man unload 30 boxes of individual planks of cedar ... none weighing more than 75 pounds ... and drop them in a nice, neat pile on my porch. Our family outing this year was yelling loud and clear, "I gotta man!" Because nothing says "I gotta man!" louder than duct tape ... and your very own, personally designed and installed-by-himself swing set.

The boxes were unloaded by 11AM. #1 got home from school at 12PM and sat patiently like this for the afternoon, while waiting for his father to get off of the phone (legit work stuff ... but he was "taking the day off"). #2 got home from school at 3:30PM and the boys got their tools to help.

The end of Day One ... unpacked, organized and with a plan.

Day Two ... 85 degrees, nice and humid, music playing, tools ready!

Day Three ... 93 degrees, thick humidity, music playing, damn my body is stiff (not mine ... his. I did nothing.) Mr. Right works away.

The boys gave up and played in the sprinkler.

While stretching that evening before bed, Mr. Right suggests we invite friends over for a BBQ the next day. "It's Memorial Day, we should be grilling out!" Right ... yes we should ... WHEN WE ARE NOT UP TO OUR ASS IN SWING SET.

Day Four ... 95 degrees, uncomfortably steamy, may as well build a swing set in your shower. One side was complete, the other rapidly closing in. The kids splashed in our little blow up pool from CVS while there was more hammering and drilling and hammering and drilling. By 4PM we had a swing set - with swings. Apparently I was too excited to take a picture, because I have none from that day. I think I was concentrating on the fact that I felt like I just might deliver #3 because it was so freaking hot. Not a chance I survive the month of August.

Days ... Five, Six, ... I stopped counting. But after another weekend things are just about complete. The only things left to assemble are safety features (gates, helping handles, etc.) and why put those up? And it is a freaking awesome swing set. I give full credit to the master designer/installer himself. The boys love it and we've met some new neighbors because their kids came over to check it out. Did I mention that the boys REALLY love it? Because they do! They go out first thing in the morning ... as soon as they get home from school ... as soon as dinner is over. I realize that some of this novelty will wear off, but it has lots of options and they seem to be enjoying them. How could they not, really?

So, I'm shouting it loud. I bitched and was super disappointed that we did not go with an "assembly included" version. But damn, I gotta man! ... and a swing set ... and some happy minis. But also for the record, absolutely no use for the playground down the street.