Day 25 ~ Memories...

When I got home this evening, I was trying to think of what I wanted to take a picture of for my "Project 365".  One of my goals for this project is to get a really great picture of at least one sunset and that's what I was looking for when I took Roxy out in the back yard.  Sadly, today is not the day for that sunset.  But, my subject was staring me right in the face....

Our play set is almost 13 years old.  Will was a little over 2 years old and Erin was almost 5 years old when we had it built. It has seen it's fair share of climbing, swinging, imagining, and pretend play!  But now, it just looks lonely and depressed! (and just a bit run down...)  Sometimes I can look out there on a sunny day and relive in my mind Will's 9th birthday party when we had an Easter egg hunt and his whole baseball team plus more boys were hanging off this thing while they waited for their turn at bat in their backyard baseball game.  Or, Erin and the Mollica girls from down the street swinging as high as they could while they sing to the top of their lungs the current hit from Britney Spears or Kelly Clarkson or something they made up themselves. We haven't torn it down yet because for years, we were hoping someone would be able to take it apart and re-build it at their house and let their kids enjoy it like our kids and their friends did but now, it isn't safe.  

It was a Backyard Adventures original...

It is now covered with moss and lichen.  

This is what the carpenter bees have done to it over the years.

This is the rock climbing wall which was one of the highest selling points for the kids at the time of purchase.

I think that maybe, just maybe, we haven't torn it down because we don't want to look out there and not see it anymore.

Now, here she is in all her glory!!  This is the day in May of 1999 when the builders arrived from Backyard Adventures...

WOW, we had lots more grass back then!  I don't think grass will ever grow again where the swings were.

The finished product and the first swing!!  The kids were so little!!  =(

 

We had to buy a bucket swing for Will!  He is wearing what he called his "honking boots" instead of "hiking boots" in this picture.

This is how we passed the time while waiting on the workers to finish.  Will's first word was "ball".  NO LIE!!  Should have known then that we would be spending our springs, summers, and falls at baseball parks around the state!