The Swing Set

We bought Dean his first Swing Set this weekend. I didn't even know they still made this style of Swing Set anymore - it's almost exactly like the Swing Set I had when I was Dean's age, way back in 1979, although the colors of mine were WAAAAY cooler than this one! See for yourself:
KMart had these things for super cheap (at least compared to the play structure monstrosities that are available on Maui for exactly 3.5 hours for approximately $1200 each Spring at CostCo before they're sold out until the following year). This one was only about $120. Granted, it did take Joel about 8 hours to assemble on Saturday and I was worried the neighbors might call the police to report a domestic disturbance due to all the loud swearing that was going on in the backyard (not to worry, I decided NOT to supervise this project, so the swearing was aimed at the author of the instruction booklet, the engineer who designed the swing set and various other people involved in the manufacturing of steel, plastic, and small tools rather than me - this time). But I'm willing to say that we've already got our money's worth out of that little $120 investment. Dean wore himself OUT Saturday night and all day Sunday playing on that thing!! The kid does love to swing and he is an EXPERT at pumping his legs (which is good for us - no pushing!). Just look at the height this 3-yr-old can get with the leg-pump:
(and yes, in case you were wondering - he IS playing in his pajama shirt and underwear). (and yes - he DOES have a worse farmer's tan than his father). So anyway, Dean's pretty happy with the swing set. His favorite part is the swing. He likes the slide OK, although I'm pretty sure he thinks it's kind of lame and too small. But it didn't take him long to figure out he could slide other things down, like every single truck or car he owns. And last night he asked me if Nani (one of the cats) could go down the slide. {sigh}. Oh, and it also didn't take long for him to discover that the underwear is probably a good idea - naked sliding isn't so fun. Joel tried to warn him, but there are some things I guess a boy just has to discover on his own.

But anyway, here are the rest of the pics. We put the swing set on the side of the yard where we can see it from 2 of the large living room windows and from the kitchen window, so hopefully we don't have to constantly be out there with him when he's playing on it. And since we have our windows open most of the time, we can usually hear him the whole time as well. Just look how much fun he's having: