Our "little" playset

I realized I keep getting these great shots of the kids on the swing set, but some people don't know the story behind our "little" play set...

Last year, Joel's sister Katje (yes spelled with a J) gifted us a very generous Home Depot gift card. The intent was for it to be spent on a play set for the kids. Joel had designed one in his head, and he drew up some plans for it. He explained to me it would be a castle theme, and it would be the coolest on the block! I asked if he thought there would be any money left over on the card when he was done...thinking I might repaint a "big kid theme" in the boys' room if there was. He estimated there might be a hundred bucks give or take. So Bryce, Joel and Paul started construction over Memorial Day weekend. Silly me, I asked if they thought it would be done before the weekend was over. Keep in mind, these guys and my two brothers built, sided, and basically finished our entire garage in less than one weekend, so how hard could a simple swing set be? Oh, how naive I was! Construction was basically completed by labor day weekend, and the staining is still in progress. Of course, this is no ordinary swing set. It has; a wave slide, a twisty slide, a rock wall, a bridge, two castle towers, three swings, a glider, and is finished off with a trap door and a dungeon complete with a fully operating dumbwaiter self closing door. The craftsmanship on this thing is meticulous. Each piece of deck board used for the walls was individually hand grooved to look like brick work, every corner has a finished edge, every opening for a slide or ladder has edging, do I need to go on? I think you get the picture! No matter the length of time it took to build, it is the best swing set I have ever seen (in a back yard) and our kids love it, and so do all their friends! I'm sure there will be many more memories made on it, and we can't wait. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the "big kid theme" repainting.....not even close to happening! Also, if you look closely, you'll see it is taller than my garage!