Our $600 slide

So we wanted to buy a swing set for Vivian. We looked at Wal-Mart, but didn't like those. We loved the Rainbow playground sets but didn't want to spend $3,000. We stumbled across an add in the paper for a used Rainbow playground and went and looked at it and it was perfect. It has a fort, a slide, 2 regular swings, a toddler swing, a tire swing, a rope ladder and a sandbox, all for the bargain price of $450.00.

Of course the next obstacle was getting it home. As I am "challenged" when it comes to cooking, Rick is "challenged" when it comes to tools, so there was no way in hell he was going to be able to disassemble, transport and re-assemble this massive wooden structure. So we offered the guy we bought it from $150 to deliver it to our house and set it up. We're now up to $600 for our swingset, but still a bargain.

So the guy brings the new swingset on a huge flat bed trailer. He, with Rick's help, gets it off the trailer and assembles the fort and the slide. Next comes the swing. As they are putting up the main beam that holds up the swings, it falls to the ground and splits into. It is unusable, so no swing.

I spent the next several days trying to find a 13 foot 3 x 5 piece of redwood to replace this beam. Not to be found. I finally contacted Rainbow and they would be happy to replace my beam, pre-drilled to hang the swings, for $195.00. Rick says absolutely not. We finally found a 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece of wood for $28.00 that we hope will work. The guy we bought the swingset from is supposed to earn the remainder of the $150.00 that we have already paid him and come out this weekend to drill holes and help us finish putting it up. In the meantime, Vivian just loves her $600 slide...


slide