Swing!

This weekend's main activity was assembling and installing a swingset for the kids. Jeffrey is just getting old enough to control a real swing on his own, and Meredith will be ready for a baby swing by late summer to fall. Gwen researched it and found a Kettler model we both liked. Kettler is a German company. We have a tricycle from them and we like it a lot. I'm partial to it because its a German export of a product they sell in Germany as well, and so it meets the German safety standards, which I'm sure are stricter than ours. Plus, it's bright red!

Gwen helped me with the first bit of the assembly, which required some lifting and holding by her while I put in bolts. A challenge, but not too bad. Next, dig some holes for the supports. Only required 45cm deep (German product here folks, metric!) but sweaty work; it was really humid and hot here Saturday afternoon when I was digging.

From June 2010

After digging, it was time to install the support feet on the bottom, which were basically 20cm steel legs on a pivot. I messed with these until the set was as close to level as reasonably achievable.

From June 2010

After dinner, it was time to mix up the quickcrete .. 2 80lb bags. No pictures. Man, that stuff is heavy! I basically piled the concrete into the holes, surrounding the supports with a pyramid of concrete, and the let it dry overnight. The next morning, Jeffrey "helped" me fill in the rest of the hole with dirt and cover it with sod. Here he is with his chair and dump trucks, 'helping'.

From June 2010

Once that was done, Jeffrey 'helped' me screw in the two regular swings. Once the first one was safe, he got right on! Here is the video (2:53 .. too lazy to edit..)



Of course, Jeffrey then wanted to actually WATCH the video:

From June 2010

Finally, I installed the baby swing for Meredith. She is too little right now for it, but the way she is growing, it will be soon. In the short video of Jeffrey (0:09) you can see the baby swing (as well as the fact the Jeffrey has lost his boot!).



Here are Mommy and Meredith looking on:

From June 2010