Backyard Adventures Classic Series Wooden Playsets

It's that point of yr again: playset season. Enough time when millions of parents get ready to shell out thousands of dollars for small-scale yard jungle gyms because of their beloved children.For years I'd managed to successfully avert this requirement of suburban family life. And, 1 day something happened.I cracked.I can't even blame my kids. They never badgered me or complained. I'm not even sure they desired a playset. No. I wanted one.If we were outside the house in the garden my kids wandered around aimlessly, invariably going back inside to the sofa. I needed to shoo them back again outside and shout, "Go play!" But using what? We didn't have a pool or swings or even a paved driveway to sketch on. I chosen for my very own sanity and their success we needed a playset.Visions of summer season days and nights whiled away on the swingset or in the fastened fort with children's laughter floating by over a balmy breeze, danced in my own head. But I needed a very important factor to be properly clear. EASILY would take out a second mortgage to finance a playset, my kids were going to have to go on it--literally.The playset we eyed-up had a house-like enclosure and a picnic table and was practically as large as my house. It had been certainly the right dwelling for just two smallish people. They could come inside for the wintertime but not until then. And when we ran some electric wiring and plumbing related to the fort, I would never have to see them again.But as with most fantasies, once recognized, the facts on the ground don't quite match the perspective, therefore it was with the playset.My research on playsets commenced well before springtime because I thought if we bought in the off-season, we might be capable of geting an acceptable price. I had been mistaken. There are no sensible prices as it pertains to playsets. I have no idea if the hardware is stable gold or if the structure is made of rare, endangered solid wood, but bargains are not to be enjoyed. THEREFORE I considered a choice a friend advised: used playsets. One could get a whole playset for half the purchase price. That got my name written all over it.Unfortunately, it didn't have my husband's name written on it. He was against the whole playset idea from the beginning--it would harm his lawn. If, however, I would insist he recognize he has children and they require gadgets, then he determined he would need a deluxe model worthy of being put atop his pristine yard.Still, I sustained in my seek out pre-owned models, convinced I could gratify us both. And I was successful in finding a used playset in relatively good condition large enough for two school-age kids. It even experienced a rock wall structure. But the best part was it only cost about a thousand bucks. Triumph was mine.Then my hubby pointed out the playset was somewhere outside the tri-state area, and we didn't have a car large enough to move it even if we did want to take the half-day drive to visit get it. I nodded silently. I grasped. And with a heavy heart, I gave up on my used playset search.For those who have never had the experience of shopping for a playset, it's a significant daunting task. There are plenty of makes and models and levels and configurations to choose from, and everything the real playthings are extra. Perhaps you could buy a reasonably cheap wooden framework, but your children can do is stare at it wistfully since it would be only an oversized sawhorse.I continued to shop around online for weeks before day finally came when I discovered my dream golf swing set. It got everything I'd dreamed. The only real problem was I couldn't manage it. Over the course of the following weeks, I visited the playset several times, hoping to happen upon a sales. Then, mid-summer, it finally happened. The company experienced what constituted a storewide deal in playset circles: free gangplank weekend. I used to be sold.Free gangplank weekend was an enormous coup for me, and I breathed a sigh of pain relief that the hunting and agonizing and planning was over. Then your sales guy hit me with the charge. Just under $2,000. And it was FREE gangplank weekend!The playset has been bought and paid for, delivered and erected inside our yard for almost per annum, but it hasn't been used much. Or maybe I should say it hasn't been played with around $2,000 would warrant. We haven't made our money back on it yet, but a few items have been worthy of their price. The swings and trapeze pub. That's really all you have to. Take it from someone whose been burned.The kids still wander aimlessly about the yard, ignoring the main one component, the most expensive one, that they lobbied so vehemently, the fort. It rests empty aside from the wild birds and the squirrels. But maybe if we installed a Tv set in there...