The Swing Set

For years Kevin’s parents have had a swing set in their backyard. It was metal. Well, with a metal swing set time and many lawn watering sessions finally took their toll and the legs rusted through. Even though the kids are all grown there is another generation of little Duchow’s that visit and benefit from spending time outside so it was decided that a new swing set was needed.

A new, wooden, swing set was selected and purchased. Since all the kids (and grandkids) would be in town Memorial Day weekend Kevin’s folks asked if we all wouldn’t mind helping assemble it. The instruction manual looked like a college textbook and there was even a “watch before assembling” DVD to view.

Saturday morning at 8:30am we were ready to go. Between us we had 3 engineers, a diesel mechanic, and a range con (well, we can all be handymen can we?). Grandpa, the voice of experience, stepped in to help several times. Even the neighbor, Paul, helped with some of lifting. It was a group effort for sure.

First things, first we drug all five boxes out onto the lawn.

 

 

 

Next we laid out hardware and laid out the parts sheet where all could find it. Jen somehow became the keeper of instructions. She’s was great at ‘directing traffic’ and keeping us all flowing. While Erin and Cory got started with assembly Kevin and I sorted pieces and grouped them together for each subsequent step. Then we did a few little jobs (like screwing windows onto walls) to help speed along the overall assembly process.

Though the instruction manual claimed the swing set could be built by 2 to 3 people there were several times when 4, or more, came in handy. (even if it was just standing there and holding things steady.)

I think we are all very fortunate that this family works so well together. From what I have observed not many families can claim that, especially when you are combining extended family. Thankfully, this group is really good at being patient, listening, and working together because there were a few times (can we say slide assembly) where things could have easily gone south.

We even had our very own group of spectators!

We finished around 7:00 pm Saturday night. The instructions claim two adults can build this swing set in 12 to 24 hours. It took 6 of us about 10.5 hours…with lunch and ice cream breaks. Not to bad!

Since children of all ages and sizes seem to enjoy it, we dubbed construction a success! However, I can’t speak for the rest of them, but I’m not sure I’m ready to build any more swing sets anytime soon!