"Playground"!

For months now, all Rhyan has said she wants is a "playground". Every day, she goes on our back porch and asks to play on the playground that she sees and every day i had to tell her "Thats not our playground, baby. Thats katies" and she'd reply with "it ok i play on it!". Our neighbors did say she could come over anytime but thats a little awkward :-)

So Jeff and I decided to start looking into getting one for the back yard. Lets face it, with the housing market being what it is, we'll be here till our kids are old :-) So we may as well get a good playset to last!

We looked at the boxed sets at costco/sams/walmart and even playnation (like Rainbow but cheaper) and we came to one conclusion: while Jeff is quite handy, he is way short on time and theres no way the thing would get put together in time for summer, much less her birthday! (our goal)

After looking into a bunch of brand names and visiting a play nation dealer, we decided on Play Nation's "Kingdom with Monkeybars". It was on sale. And the sale included installation. We were "sold". OH, and the monkeybars were included (usually an extra charge). They happen to be reallllly tall and she'd have to be a grown adult to play on them (by which time i assume she'll have lost interest) but hey, they were FREE!

We purchased from Custom Wood Creations in hamilton mill and Rick, the owner, is fantastic! They installed when they said they would and did so in a timely fashion. The slide was WAY steep for her and so we asked if they would consider switching it for a "wave" slide and to my surprise, the next day it was DONE. They never even called to say they would or wouldnt. They just came and switched it! Great customer service, I'd say!

They installed it about 3 weeks before Rhyan's bday. Made the bday seem a little anti-climatic for her, I'm sure, but you go w/ when they can put it up, youknow?!

This was her reaction when she FIRST saw it!

On the day they installed, they didnt have the correct tarp for the "roof" and again, the slide was the super scoop slide which was WAY fast and scary, even for me! HA! She ran right to it!! (um, pay no attention to how horrible our yard looks. it has since gotten a major overhaul... post to come on that)

She LOVES the swing!

And so does mack!

My mom came by that evening to see how she liked it and she thought she'd take a whirl at the super scary scoop slide... i told her it wasnt a good idea but she said "how bad can it be"..

um, yeah... THAT bad. My mom and Rhyan both went flying off the end and busted my mom's tail! HA! She said her butt bone hurt for a week! TOLD YOU!

We were nervous for Rhyan to try the rock wall alone so we helped her for the first few times, but she was such a pro! She loves to climb!

This is after Rick and his guys came back out and 1. Changed the slide and 2. Added the "roof"

There is a tire swing under the fort platform area! She loves it! (for moments at a time, not for long!)

And check out how HIGH those monkey bars are. Its b/c our back yard has a slight slope to it. Oh well.

She was still scared of the new slide the first time she went down it. Here's her freak out face :-)

Anyone else singing barney to themselves here? Or is it just me?

"I can do it, theres nothing to it, i can do it by myself"!

And of course what better thing is there to do in a fort than to eat chocolate and drink milk?!

Loving the new slide after she figured out its not so scary after all!

She and mack both love the swingset. Its definitely something they can grow into and not out of quickly. Rhyan can already climb the rope ladder and ring the dinner bell and do most all of the activities solo (minus the monkeybars which are off limits for now). Mack loves the infant swing we got to put on it and I love not having to drive to the park anytime the kids want to play! Thank you to Gran and Grandad for contributing for the kids birthdays. I think its a gift that will keep on giving for years to come!!

I would also like to give myself props for choosing to have 3 river birch trees planted in that area 6 years ago with the idea in mind that we would eventually put a play set in the spot where this now sits. It is WELL shaded and a perfect area for them to play in! Yay for one good idea from me (even though jeff REFUSES to say that it was good thinking on my part! LOL)