Swing Set

Jock’s been working hard on the swing set! Our old one was made out of 1x4s, so it was VERY unstable, especially when we got three kids, 140 lbs-worth, on it. We knew last summer we were going to have to do something before this summer, as it just wasn’t safe anymore! Jock took it apart about the first nice weekend, so nobody would be tempted to play on it and then get hurt.

Then we figured our budget and started pricing swing sets and swing set kits, and what we could get for our budget wasn’t much better or sturdier than the one we were replacing. So Jock set to work designing one himself!

I was a little nervous when it started going up. A couple of the neighbors made comments about how big it was. (My favorite was, “Is that your new guest house?”) Yah, it’s huge! The fort part is about 8’x8’, and the floor is about 5 feet off the ground. The base of the roof will be about 5 feet tall, so total height from ground to point will be about 12 feet! The beam for the 2 swings, glider, and trapeze swing is about 16 feet long. We still need to get some chain extensions so the kids can get on the swings/glider a little more easily by themselves, but we’re enjoying it already!Next up in assembly will be a slide and monkey bars – at a 90 degree angle from the swing beam. There’ll be steps coming up to the fort, as well as a rock wall. Then he’ll have to get the roof put on the fort.

I think we went over budget a bit with the accessories, but we were close. Still much less than buying a swing set or a swing set kit of this size and sturdiness. And it’s sturdy enough for mom and dad to swing on too! :)