The Structure Surprise

Today was a great day in the history of the Forseters at 8 Old Village Road as today was the day that we surprised Finley with something amazing.  I hit the freecycle jackpot earlier in the week and for those of you unaware of the wonders of freecycle, google it and join in.  After several emails, picture transfers, and a drive by - we secured a barely used, 2009, totally awesome play structure for the backyard.  Free.  So Dan organized some manpower (Thank you, Tufts Emen) and another local Jumbo saved us from having to rent a truck since he drives a huge pick up and happened to have a flatbed trailer at home this weekend.  G-max, you rock!  In the end, all we paid for this structure was the lunch we bought for the 5 hungry college frisbee players.  The boys came over and we all had lunch together, keeping the reason for their visit top secret since Finley was dining with us and we wanted the swing set totally put together and secure before letting him see it.

After lunch, the guys took off for their secret mission and I put Dagny and Finley down for their naps in the hope that everything would be done in the backyard by the time everyone woke up.  Dan called to say they were headed home and I rushed outside to take a before picture and of the truck loaded up.

Then, it was time to unload and it was all pretty quick with so many guys on hand.

And soon, it was taking shape!

Teamwork!

Not bad for free, right?

I brought out some popsicles for the guys and they helped Dan finish things up before they headed back to campus.  We promised to email them the video that we planned to take once Finley set his eyes on the new play structure! He will surely be forever in their debt for a long time to come.

While the kids continued to snooze away, Dan dug a seriously deep hole so we could attach the final piece of the structure--the monkey bars.

Dagny woke up just as we finished and then we eagerly waited for Finley to wake up so we could knock his socks off.  When he finally began to stir, Dan raced upstairs and I grabbed the camera and popped Dagny into the front pack.  We convinced him to go with us out the front door and I raced around back to catch his reaction on film. See for yourself...he was psyched!

More first time fun...

Funny how amidst all his excitement, he had to point out that we forgot to cover the sandbox earlier in the afternoon.  He is truly my son.  He enjoyed a snack at his table underneath before trying out the swings and trapeze for the first time.

Dagny's a bit too small to enjoy the climber for now, but we do plan to order her a baby swing attachment this week.  She did enjoy riding around in the push car, though, so we hope she didn't feel too slighted.

Here is the king in our new castle.

Anyone want to come over for a playdate?