We picked one up while we were in the Big City earlier this week. I guess "picked one up" is kind of an understatement.
We drove both our Dodge Grand Caravan AND our Jeep Cherokee up to the City (a four hour drive, one way). We knew we couldn't fit all five of the swing set boxes AND the boys in their car seats in the van. The van, with all rear seats stowed, has a capacity 8 feet long. Thank goodness the people at the swing set company took this into consideration: the longest box was exactly 8 feet long.
We put the boys' car seats in the jeep. We had two Costco guys helping us. After the boxes were in the van (but not the slide, which is quite a bit longer than 8 feet!) the Costco guys left. And of course, their loading job was unacceptable for a four-hour drive home. I bet we were in the parking lot for an hour, moving those HEAVY boxes around.
We debated lashing the slide to the top of the jeep. Then we decided on removing the front middle console from our van (we love you, Dodge!) so the slide would fit in between the seats. Here is what our van looked like when it was all loaded and ready to go:
(the blue thing is the slide, and it does extend its entire wavy length to the front of the van, where it is wedged in between the front seats where the middle console used to be! incidentally, you can see the gray middle console on top of box 4 of 6!)
We got home after an uneventful trip, and Number One took on the daunting challenge of assembling this monstrosity. Below, you can see the parts and hardware list. I don't have a picture of the instruction booklet, but it includes 60 pages detailing 35 "steps." Each step requires various parts, only some of which are numbered/labeled and only some of which are partially pre-drilled. Nice. And each step? Each step is a task in itself: "build the picnic table," etc. Number is currently on the step which has you "build the roof" and includes several steps within that step!
Below is what the swing set looked like near the end of Day Two. The boys ate lunch on their new little picnic table (which is underneath the platform, right in front of Number One)
Here you can see some of the parts/boxes. Not including the slide, there were five huge boxes of parts.
It is now Day Three of Swing Set Assembly. Today, Number One has the help of Uncle Fred.
And here is what it currently looks like, just an hour or so into the day. Number One is currently assembling the roof. I will let you know when it is all finished.
*Sawed Off is talking up a storm. He and H-Bomb were just getting ready to go out to supervise the building process, and Sawed Off was putting on his own cowboy boots, repeating over and over: "Ba-Bow Booft. Ba-Bow Booft." If I must translate for you, he was saying "Cowboy Boots." =)
2 comments:
Oh my what a swingset! How long did it take to put it together? I am sure they will enjoy that for many years to come.
Three days! It's 5:30pm on the third day, and it's finally complete! Number One is cleaning up all the tools, packaging, etc. He had help from Uncle Fred and RH all day long, and I helped too. We got it done! And H-Bomb and Sawed Off have already mastered the climbing wall...sweet!
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