St.Patrick's Day.

March 17th was way too eventful a day for my taste, this year.

I dressed the kids in green.  I purchased Cohen a shirt that said: "Good Luck Charm".  Ironic (more on this later).

Digression: in December 2011, a wind storm destroyed our wood swing set.  We used the money from the insurance coverage to buy a trampoline.

At the time, the kids said it was what they wanted.  But shortly after we acquired it, they started telling me they wanted another swingset.

I managed to put them off for quite a while.

But it didn't last.

Off and on, I had been doing research on what kind of swingset to get?

Nick made it clear that he didn't want another wood swingset, on account of the fact that they take FOREVER to assemble.

I didn't really want to get a cheap-o swingset from walmart.  They are so small.  I doubted that Reagan would be able to play on it.

Lifetime-brand swingsets are great, but not within my budget.

There was one type of swingset that fit the bill.  Kettler.  It's out of Germany.  Their reviews were all fantastic.  The swingsets were a good size, and they were powder-coated steel, so they'd last too.

Amazon was selling the Kettler swingset that I wanted.  For $600.

I had decided I'd use my birthday money to purchase a swingset.

On St. Patrick's Day I was going to bite the bullet, and order the swingset.  Right before I went to the amazon website, I figured I'd check out KSL classifieds.  I figured it'd be a fruitless search.  So, I nearly fell out of my seat when I saw a dismantled Kettler swingset (just the one I wanted too!), listed for $50!

I immediately texted the seller, and made plans to pick it up from him later that that night.

In the meantime, I called my Mom to see if she and my Dad wanted to meet up for dinner that night?  She said yes.  So, we had dinner @ Chili's with them, and then we went to Trader Joe's to get some groceries. 

My kids were misbehaving in the store, so Nick took them out to the truck.  I paid for our stuff, and started walking to the car.  As I was getting closer to the vehicle I heard Cohen scream.

When I arrived on the scene I discovered Nick holding a bloody, crying Cohen.  Nick had been shutting the truck door, and Cohen stuck his hand out.  He had his little hand shut in the big truck door.

It looked bad.

Fortunately, my parents were still nearby.  My Mom looked at Cohen's hand and told us to head to an instacare.  She and my Dad loaded Elsa and Reagan in the car with them, and took them back to their house.

I ended up texting the guy we were supposed to buy the swingset from.  I told him what happened, and said that I'd give him an extra $10 if he'd "hold" the swingset for me.

He agreed.  Thank goodness!

Nick and I hauled Cohen to the Bountiful Kids Care.

They cleaned him up.

Two of his fingers had deep lacerations, right on the knuckles.  He also had massive bruising, and swelling in multiple spots on his hand.
They did X-Rays.
In the end, they decided to glue his fingers, rather than giving him stitches; and they put him in a splint.

He was not a happy camper.  He hated having his dominant hand taped up.
The doctor called me the next morning and said that the radiologist had looked at the XRay, and thought there was a tiny break on Cohen's middle finger.
Her instructions were to keep Cohen in the splint for a week.  When I took it off, if it was still tender- bring him back in for more XRay's and a cast.
It's a good thing kids are so resilient!  Cohen's little break healed in a week.  Phew!

As for the swingset.
We went back in to SLC the following night.
I wanted to do backflips when I got my first glimpse of the swingset, and saw the words "Kettler" printed all over it.
I was thrilled that the seller's backyard was small and couldn't fit a swingset.
I got a $600 swingset for $60!
Sure, it was used.  But the seller still had all of the parts/hardware.  And I found an instruction manual online.  It was 100% in German.  Which was awesome!
But there were pictures too.  And that turned out to be enough.

Nick and Nate had that swingset set-up in no time flat!

The posts on the swingset still had concrete on them, from the previous owner.  It hindered the assembly a little bit.  But in the end, the swingset was up, and cemented in to the ground too.

It has two swings, a climbing rope, monkey bars, and a slide!

Seriously, I was so pleased with this purchase.

The kids love it too.