Tree Swing

One of my "wishlist items" while house hunting was an established tree that would hold the weight of a tree swing. My sister and I had tire swings growing up; we'd twist up the ropes and then spin ourselves dizzy. Surely my kiddos would enjoy the same experience! 

One thing I didn't like about the tire swings was how uncomfortable they were. The backs of my legs would hurt from the tire edges. Which is why we went with a wooden swing. 

My middle son helped, er..."helped," with the construction. He helped find the board in the stash, measure out the length, and then drill holes for the rope. I managed the jigsaw solo because the thought of his nine-year-old fingers anywhere near that saw freaked me out. 

And then winter came before we hung it up which turned out for the best. We were in the path of the Bomb Cyclone that closed school for three days, shut down the highway for almost two days, and knocked branches off the trees left and right.

Early on in the storm my kids and dog went outside to play in the wind. This was before the snow literally began piling up. 

Just glad that the swing wasn't up to get twisted in the wind and snow. 

Mother Nature wasn't done yet, and a few weeks later a wet spring snow nearly destroyed our tree. Thankfully the swing wasn't up then either. If any of those branches had twisted up in the ropes the combined weight could have snapped the main branch. 

Look at all those branches on the ground! 

At least the boys and the dog, once again, had a blast playing in the aftermath. 

 

We had an arborist evaluate the tree before we hung anything up. He wasn't too concerned about the tree swing so we moved forward with our plans. And this is where following directions would have made this process easier. Prior I had read a couple blog posts about how they made their tree swings and made a few mental notes. Then.....I completely forgot them because they weren't written down or saved to any of my Pinterest boards for easy reference. 

So we made it up on the fly. And watched the ropes spread apart over the next couple weeks. Shoulda taken the time to find those blog posts. 

Left side photos BEFORE rereading directions.....Right side photos AFTER consulting directions. 

And watched the swing hang kittywampus. 

Then a couple weeks later we had to re-hang the swing which brought adventures of its own. While trying to re-wrap the rope we accidentally tossed it too high, twice. Took a ladder and a broom to get it down. Fun stuff. 

Finally got the swing hanging like it's supposed to and its Spiderman approved! 

The kids and neighbor kids enjoy twisting each other up and spinning themselves dizzy. The swing is wide enough for two kids to sit on, too. Its sweet to see them sitting next to each other lazily swinging and chatting. 

Here's to a summer full of fun childhood memories!