A year ago, one of DH's co-workers offered us a jungle gym for free if we'd remove it from his back yard. DH was not inclined, but thinking of Daniel and his needs for gross motor skills, I was able to talk him in to going and getting it. He and number one son Elijah went one day with tools in our very old decrepit truck and collected the thing. They unloaded it in by the back fence where it has lain lo these last 13 months.
I have prodded and begged, off and on, over the past year for them to put it together. To DH, it was a completely overwhelming project. To him, it looked like a pile of dis-articulated bones out there and he had no idea how to go about it. My son was willing to haul it to the dump (!). DH had once had a picture of the thing all put together, but it got wiped out when his hard drive crashed at work. So there it lay.
Last week I got a bee in my bonnet about this thing, so Zeke and I hauled the pieces out of the weeds to a relatively flat spot in our side yard. About our yard... it is large and it is slopey. Our whole farm is slopey, so flat land is very rare. Which was another discouraging aspect of the whole project for DH.
Then I set about finding someone to put this thing together. I had called Kentucky Barns, run by some Beachys about 45 min. south of here. They build that sort of thing, so why not come put ours together? He said that he only knows how to put his own together, and without a picture would not know what to do. Sigh. After Zeke and I had pulled the bones up into the yard and laid them out, I found a label screwed to the main beam from the company that had originally installed it in the city. So I called them up and asked what their set up fee would be... FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE dollars. I about swallowed my teeth. So on to Google to see if I could get a picture of one, since I now knew the manufacturer's name. Bingo! I found it and with picture in hand, I proceeded to pump up the idea to DH. I love puzzles and can put anything together with a picture, so I would be the foreman (smile).
My husband is so nice. He trepedaciously started putting it together with son's help and my direction. We had a false start, but then got going real good. It took three evenings.
What made it all worthwhile is how much Daniel loves this thing. He wants to play on it all the time. Even while we were putting it together.
I needed a couple more clips so we could install Daniel's bee swing, so I went to a place that sells these things and happened to pick up a price list. The summer sale price for a new one of our version of jungle gym by this manufacturer? $4,167.23
And just think... we got it for "free."
Last year Anna Joy and Mercy Grace went to Nurse Camp at PCC. This year, Anna Joy decided to do Pre-Med Camp so she could do some dissecting. She had a great time doing doctor & lab stuff and making new friends!
Joy is back row, last on the right. At the company family picnic at Lake Shelby.
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