New Playset

Tara has grown tired of our $100 Kmart swingset. (More to the point, she has grown tired of hearing 4 girls fight over 2 swings...) She is considering the Costco Playset, that Emma wants to save up her money to pay for.

The thing would certainly give more choices for play. Ruth would spend all day every day climbing the ladder and sliding down the slide. (Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It's 6 feet off the ground where the top of the slide is...)

Some assembly is required. The thing includes shipping charges. It seems like it would fit well in the yard, and it would also mean that sometime this year or next, I would have to dig up the yard around it putting in some sort of base like wood chips, to provide a softer landing spot for heads. It would mean I would have to rethink my backyard watering plan. It would mean the new default statement would be "Go outside and play."

Tara has to really decide if she wants to get it. (I mean she has to decide if she really wants to get it.) It's $1200, so it's not like it's a drop in the bucket, but then again, it's not like it's the same price as a new car. We hear that the trip to Buffalo in the late summer may be now optional, and getting this might replace a trip out East this year. (And it would mean the subtrip to Cooperstown is out.)

We think Ruth might still be a little small for the thing, meaning someone would have to be out there watching her when she is playing on it, but at the same time, those other children who refuse to take naps in the afternoon can be playing out on it for the 3 hours of the day that Ruth is sleeping.

Any opinions? In the color picture, if you look very carefully, the little kid on the tire swing looks worried. If we do get it, do we make the girls pony up some money for it? Kate, Mary, and Emma all have $150 in savings, Ruth has $60. I wouldn't really want to stop giving them allowances for a while, the allowance really is only there so that they can have some experience playing tithing....