Come Play!

 The kids and I were in Eden for a few days last week to play with cousins and visit our favorite dentist, and when we finally decided to come home we found this in our driveway.

 Best. Dad. Ever.

It was for sale just down the street for a smidgen of a bit of money, so he snagged a friend from work and they went and disassembled it, loaded it up, inched back to our house because it only very barely fit under power lines, and dropped it here to be painted.

 Yay!

I picked up a few gallons of deck stain from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for only $8 a gallon (ok, yes) and we went to work. 

I don't have any idea how old this playground is, but I don't think it had ever been restained before. The wood was so thirsty!

 But it certainly cleaned up nicely. And the deck stain cuts down on the risk of slivers! Love that.

And then, thankfully, Claire graced us with herself.

 And we were so glad she did. JoJo gave her these non-prescription glasses, and she has worn them every day since.

Then it got even better.
"Wanna see my new trick?"

 I like this kid so much.

A few days later the playground was mostly painted and ready for its new home.

 Papa did the "woah. Left. Keep comin..... right... left a bit.... you're there" job.

Muscles come in handy at times like this.

 Plop! Welcome home.

We finished painting the last bits, and let it dry. For three days. Did you know that Oil Based Deck Stain takes 24 hours to dry when it's 75 degrees outside? Guess how long it takes when it's only 50 degrees? Three days. The kids almost died.

But three days finally passed. Let's put this thing together, impending storm or no impending storm!

Amelia was in charge of the tools. I don't know what we would have done without her.

The storm decided to only look ominous, and blew itself out after an hour or so. Fall is so lovely in the mountains!

And considering that our yard looked like this last week, 50 degrees with a little breeze was lovely! 

 And what is the one thing that could possibly make a new playground even better? Friends and cousins to share it with!

 When we moved from Pete's house into our new place, his advice was "Your first home improvement project should be a play ground."

Well, we're a few months late on that one, but it's done now!

Come on over!