Accomplishment of the Week

(First, let me get a little pouting out of the way. We're supposed to be at the lake with our friends for our annual trip (there ended up being FOUR more babies since last year), but Katy woke up with a fever and a sore throat, so we couldn't go. After being home-bound with David's fever this week and because I was really looking forward to this, I am feeling super bummed about not going. I'm also wondering if she might have strep again, based on her symptoms. If she does, we'll be referred to an ENT. But ANYWAY.)

For quite some time, several months at least, we've been trying to land a playset on criagslist. It's not as easy as you might think. We had several criteria which we were looking to meet, not the least of which was a pretty small budget (did you know that you can spend thousands - plural - of dollars on a USED playset? I did not.) In addition, apparently the market for used playsets is tight in our area, because on multiple occasions, Brian contacted someone within 24 hours of the ad being posted and the set was gone. One day during his paternity leave, he made it his mission to hit "refresh" every time he walked past the laptop in order to catch a playset before it was gone. Still to no avail.

Finally this week, the stars aligned. Found one in the budget, met the criteria, located close to our house, and we were able to get a quick truck and several helping hands to hurry up and claim the thing before someone else did. Results:

We're going to mulch around it, but you can use your imagination for that part.

I also didn't anticipate the number of hours it would take for Brian (and friends) to go over to the old place, disassemble it, bring the parts to our place, reassemble it, level it, ground it, and attach the parts. But finally, it's ready.

The kids are SO excited about it and have already spent hours out there. David calls it The Park. ("Can we go to The Park, Mommy?") And I love how it draws excitement in the neighborhood kids: one stopped on his bike and shouted to Brian, "Are you building a TREEHOUSE?!?"

So come on over!