Monday, February 4, 2008

Fun at PaPa's Playground

For those of you with children, have you noticed your parents being a little more, shall we say, cool, with your kids? For example, my dad built a swing area, sandbox and seesaw for my kids. He had to use sand from the sandbox once while he was mixing cement. We came down the following weekend and Maddy asked him where all her sand went. He told her he had to use it to build a wall, and then he loaded her in the truck and they went and bought some more. I'm thinking, you know, when I was a kid, not only did I not have a sandbox, he dang sure wouldn't have just gone and bought me some more sand. He would have told me to play in the rocks. Okay, maybe not, but you get my point.

We went to my dad's (fondly known as PaPa to the grandkids) this weekend to celebrate his birthday. The weather was lovely, compared to the 8 inches of snow we had on Friday. Saturday was sunny and about 55. Maddy took advantage of the nice weather to play on the swings and seesaw. (The sandbox was wet). She was swinging along, and I was taking some pictures. All of a sudden, she's on the ground with a "what the blue hell just happened?" look on her face. The swing seat had broken in half, and she hit the ground with enough forward momentum to make her slide about two feet. After making sure she was okay, I laughed so hard. Poor child. She was more embarassed than hurt. Maddy has requested that the swings be rebuilt, perhaps with steel seats. She has also requested some padding be installed underneath.

I didn't get pictures of the buttslide, but here are a few shots of her in PaPa's playground. Don't you wish you were 9 again?



The seesaw is about 20 feet long, and one heavy mamajama


Balance is key


Before the break


After the break

6 comments:

GERBEN said...

Yeah, what's up with grandparents? I remember when I was a kid my mom would carry a bar of soap in her car and use it if she had to. Now my girls can do just about anything and Meme is Okay with it. Whats up with that?

Great pics by the way. Glad to hear she didn't get hurt.

Lynn said...

No doubt! You should see the cereal grandma buys for my kids when we visit. Certainly not the non-sugared kind I was limited to. Maybe since we're such cool mom's we'll be cranky grandmas? :) I hope not!

I'm sure Bart will have redesigned the swings, too, by the next time Maddie visits!!

Unknown said...

Too funny. BTW, I love her hair!

Unknown said...

That is so great and is exactly what I do! I grow mine out, enjoy the length for a while, and then lop it off and donate it. I've done it twice since 2001. Maddy's looks a lot thicker than mine, three of mine probably equals just one ponytail of hers! :)

MP said...

Man she has beautiful hair! My parents really aren't grandparents so I don't see it there..but I remember my mom being a little jealous :-) over my relationship w/ my Nana..she was awesome!!

Michelle said...

My parents 'nana & Pa' have a total of 9 grandkids; 12 to 2 yrs old. They have done the same thing, basically gone crazy to keep their home kid friendly and fun.
Growing up, we did not get the same kind of stuff. It has been nice (& weird) to be a part of the transformation from my parents to 'grandparents'.
Later.