Doing Our Part

We wouldn't want to be accused of not doing our part to stimulate the economy. We were out on the town last Saturday night and we decided to stop by Toys R Us and let Jacob play in their play area. When we got to the store, there was a sign outside that said the play area is no longer available for public use :( Darn! We went inside anyway. We've been thinking of getting Jacob a ride-on toy for awhile now. Well, Brad talked us into getting one and we headed out of the store with a mini 4-wheeler.

Unfortunately, the wheels stuck out too far and Jacob wasn't able to push it. Darn again! It was such a cute little toy, but back to the store it went. Instead, Brad went to good 'ol Wal-Mart and bought a John Deer tractor.

Cheese!

He really likes this tractor. It has 4 animals that came with it and are stored under the seat: a cow, horse, sheep, and pig. He knows the noises each of them makes and he likes to take them out and push the tractor around. This is one he can actually push around while he's riding on it, so it was a definite hit!

The other exciting thing this weekend was purchased off of Craigslist. I just want to take a moment to thank Craig for making his list (short pause)... We have been looking for a swing set for Jacob. Our yard isn't very big and I didn't want to spend a lot of money. Brad wanted to build one, but the slide alone would have cost $100. So, to Craigslist I turned and with good luck, I was able to hit the Jackpot!

As you can see, there are two swings, a slide, and a little play area under the slide platform. Jacob loves to swing. I still need to buy a baby swing, but for now these ones are working. Jacob is a bit of a daredevil with the swing. He will lean back, holding onto the ropes, and look up into the sky. It freaks me out because I'm afraid he's going to fall on his head, but he just laughs and grins as he does it.

We also want to get a large rubber mat to put over the concrete so if he happens to fall, he won't fall onto the concrete. The hardest part about the swing set was finding a place in our yard for it. There was no "perfect" solution since our yard is small, but this was the best we could do and I think it'll work for now.

Jacob also really likes the play area under the slide. He loves to be able to open and shut the door himself. We put his chair under there today and he was just chillin'!

Funny side story about the swing set...the Craigslist people we bought it from ended up being members of the church in our stake! We had a friend of ours haul the swing set for us and he knew them. What a small world!

So this is our contribution to stimulating the economy. Hopefully Pres. Bush appreciates our contribution :)