Swingless in Celebration…

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Which is a nice way of saying: “Swingset is still not up yet.”

I have to say, Nate & Zeke have been pretty patient during this 3 month “swingset” construction. It certainly helps when the yard is transformed into a giant sand box for a few weeks and  then magically changed into a huge mud-pit when it rained. Fun for them…not so much for me.

Sometimes I forget that Nate is only 4. (and he’s a boy)

“Nate, you can go outside and watch the construction, but please don’t get dirty. Nate? Nate?”  “Yes, Mommy?” “Did you hear me?” I asked. “Yes, Mommy.” he nods. “What did I just tell you?” “I don’t know.” he shrugs. {sigh} “Nate…look at me please…” I say, trying to do cleansing breaths. “I AM looking at you.” “With your eyes, Nate. You can’t just turn your face to me and still look at the tractor with your eyes!”  “OK, OK, OK…I’m looking at you, Mommy”. “Listen very carefully…please don’t get dirty. That means, don’t TOUCH the mud. Don’t go NEAR the mud. Don’t even THINK about the mud. Understand?” He looks up at me with this smirk on his face and says, “I’m thinking about the mud!” I was trying to be serious but how can you not laugh at that?

4 1/2 minutes later, I hear a knock on the back door. I go to the door and there stands Nate, stripped down to his underwear, covered in mud. “Nate! I told you not to touch the mud!” “I didn’t touch the mud, Mommy…I fell and the mud touched me.” {sigh} I took another deep breath and counted to  10. “Mommy! You counted all the way to 10…good job!” he praised. {sigh} “Thank you Nate. Nate? Where are your clothes?” “I took them off and hid them so you wouldn’t see all the mud on them.” he said, proudly.

At least the patio is in now. That means the only mud left is in the planter beds.

When a piece of wood has gone through the “Mark assembly line” and the 2 coats of sealer has dried for the manufacturer’s recommended time of 24 hours, then it’s ceremoniously screwed into the swingset. This is what we’ve got so far:

I don’t want to say that the boys are starting to get anxious but a picture is worth a thousand words:

I couldn’t stand to see him just sitting there waiting so I made Mark temporarily bolt the slide to the platform. Now I have to lift both boys up over my head so they can go down the slide.

{sigh} To be continued….