Jared, the Builder?

Two months ago Tara and I bought the kids a new playset.  Our old swingset has worked great, but we could tell that Kennedy had outgrown it.  To use the swings she would shorten the chains by looping them over the top bar.  So, when Toys R Us had their spring sale on the large wood playsets, our fate was sealed.

The problem is that the playsets are complicated to assemble and I knew it would take more time than I could invest.  The boxes sat on our back porch ever since.  Every week I would hear about it as the kids inquired as to when I would finally build the new playset.  I put it off cause I knew I wouldn't have time until the first draft of my book was turned into the publisher.  Since I shipped the draft off a week ago, there were no more excuses and the holiday weekend became a perfect time for a new project.

I am not a handyman.  I am comfortable using tools, but I am prone to making mistakes and not following the directions very well.  The result embodies the adage - "There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over."  I can't tell you how many times I had to take out the bolt and reassemble part of the tower.  Either the boards were on backwards or I stripped one of the screws.  Eventually, everything came together and the project was finished.  It only took four days, two people, and a few deposits in the Swear Jar.

The results speak for themselves as our 4th of July BBQ was the perfect opportunity for the crew to break in the new playset.