Darren's, Heather's, and Gavin's adventures: SWING SLIDE SWEET!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgh" - Chewbacca

"The battle station is heavily shielded and carries a firepower greater than half the star fleet. It's defenses are designed around a direct, large-scale assault. A small one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defense." -General Dodonna
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Well, are you ready for this? Gavin now has a slide/swing/monkey bars play area. It looks pretty cool. It's made out of wood instead of the ugly metal I had when I was growing up. It should be simple to put together, right? (If you thought that then you're smoking something!) Let's just say it's easier and quicker to destroy two Death Stars than it is putting up a kid's play thing.

Let's start Monday afternoon. I took off work early and started the process of putting everything together. We spent probably a good portion making sure we had all the parts. First, I put the ladder together. Then, I put the rock wall part in place (keep an eye on this one. You'll see it again.). We then connected the club house platform, and then attached the slide. Gavin wanted it next. Everything seemed to be going smooth. We had to stop because I had to go to school. Bummer. These first pictures were actually taken on Tuesday night. Not much changed in how it looked after Day 2 was finished. It looked like the end of Day 1.

Gavin's taking it all in. There's no top, no swing. There's just a slide and a happy boy.

Yeah, I know. He's spoiled.

Day 2, Tuesday evening:
This evening started off pretty good. I put together the top of the club house section. Gavin was excited and playing all over the place. And then it happened. "Something don't look quite right." Well, it didn't. The ladder rungs and the rock climbing rungs were not at the same height where the top connects. Instead of the top being straight, it had a major angel that would cause problems to those climbing. Ok, no problem. I just loosen the bolts and adjust the braces. That worked, but it left the slide platform uneven. Hummmm. Well if all else fails, go to the book and figure out what went wrong. I went back to step number 1, and that' where I found the error. There was a small note that said "be sure to have the rock climbing rails pointed in the right direction or this will cause the assembly to not go together." (see Chewbacca's quote at the top) Well, you know what? I was PO'd. I had to take what I did the day before and completely tear in down and redo it again. I wasn't happy. Gavin was livid! Here was his new slide and daddy was taking it apart! The rest of day two was spent rebuilding what I did on Day 1. Talk about your set backs.

Day 2 was a bust. Let's move on to Day 3. I believe Heather told me that Gavi's first statement when he woke up on Day 3 was "Dad not take apart?" I think he had a dream about me taking apart his slide. Poor kid.

Anyway, Day 3:

Thankfully, Day 3 went by without too many problems. Yes, I had problems getting a bolt through a hole. I did have to unscrew the monkey bars' rungs. I had problems cutting the plastic protection on the chains. Other than that Day 3 was not a problem. Gavin had his swings!

Lesson learned from this experience is always read the smallest print. It would save you quite some time. I think when it was all done 12 hours were spent putting this simple play structure together. Here are the rest of the pics from Day

Gavin just loves his new swing.