Skyfort - Updated Photo

This is the update skyfort photo, just snapped it from the yard.

Vacancy

I haven't bothered to take time to write anything in a depressingly long time.  I let life take over and forgot how much it helped me anchor my sanity. I think I'm starting to forget how to speak English.  I can now speak fluent toddler in a way that amazes people, but does me very little actual good. 

True story.  They could bottle my youngest daughter's scream and end war for good.  People would pay for world peace just to not listen to the supersonic masterpiece that she emits from her tiny mouth.  I'm sure many mom's agree.

This week I'm suffering a good bit of guild over the 800 e-mails I've gotten in the past month from my astronomical society about events.  Including a survey about why I don't love them enough to come do anything.

Here are some reasons I didn't admit to on the survey.

1) I feel really fat since I had two kids.
2) I'd rather drink a glass of wine and pretend I'll get 8 hours of sleep.
3) It's over an hour to get there.  An hour.  Do you know what that is in "mommy time?"
4) If I can see the stars, it's because someone who still poops their pants is awake and having a party in my livingroom while I go outside to breathe and remember I'm still sane.

Actually, I do feel a bit better now.

Skyfort-Completed Photo

Here is the completed Skyfort.  Really didn't take as long as I anticipated.

And yes, we are moving that little shed behind it, just hadn't gotten that far yet.

Skyfort II-Assembly Day 1 results and Assembly Suggestions.

My Dad came over yesterday to help us begin major assembly on the Skyfort II.  We did a couple small things ahead of time, like the slide, ladder, swing beam, etc, but other than that, we hadn't started anything yet.

My husband started working about 8:45am on his own, and my Dad arrived about 10:30 to start helping.  They took a break for lunch and one for dinner, and gave up around 7:45pm.  And you know what? They almost finished the darn thing .  My husband is going to put together the last few items on his own today. The instructions say that it takes 2 moderately skilled people 24-36 hours.  That being said, my dad is just really handy in general and my husband is an engineer.

Here are my suggestions for anyone building the skyfort. A little prep work goes a long way to ease the process and frustrations.

1.  Coat the wood in water sealer.  It's part of your warranty but it's not exactly in the instruction.  Leave pleanty of time for the wood to dry.  Hopefully you can do this in a garage, or when there isn't rain for a few days.

2. Take the time to prep properly.  Sort the wood into groups of a few steps at a time.  You can find the pieces easier when you do start assembly.

3. Presort the hardware.  we didn't do this, but realized how helpful it would have been halfway through.  Take ziplock baggies and pull the hardward for each step and put it in the bad.  Then you write the step number on the bag, and just grab bags and boards as you go along.

Overall it seems like a very sturdy swing set, and my daughter is already excited about it.  She fell asleep last night right after they finished the swing area and my Dad and husband were a little disappointed they couldn't set her loose on it.

Pictures to follow either today or tomorrow.

Skyfort-preliminary assembly and a problem

While working on some of the pre-assembly bits and pieces, we encountered our first problem. When attaching the metal handles to the ladder, 3 of the 4 lag bolts split the wood on the rails.  I called the number on the instruction booklet the next day.  I only had to hold a few moments before a real human answered, a native english speaker.  He was friendly and quick and knowledgeable.  We got replacement boards sent out with no hassle and at no cost.  He also suggested drilling out the holes for the lag bolts a bit.  They used to mention this in the instructions, but may or may not anymore.  Even though the holes are "predrilled", drill them out anyways to avoid splitting problems.

As far as customer service goes, this ranks far better than most places I deal with, included places I have to pay for things for.  I'm quite surprised and thrilled with the experience.

So far we have the rock wall, bay windows, mini  obs. deck, monkey bars, and the small roof assembled.  The only two things left are the slide and the swing beam extender, then the real assembly begins this Saturday.  I have some help coming over for that, since our two small children will not really allow me to help without some assistance. 

Skyfort II presorting photos

As promised, here are a few photos of the bits and pieces of the Skyfort II.

 This first one is just the screws, bolts, and various fasteners needed for assembly.  This box weighed a ton.

This middle photo is after I sorted the wood pieces into groups of steps.  (Also, I am aware of how dirty the motorcycles and the boat are.  Washing them isn't high on my list right now. 

This last photo is from before sorting.  We laid the wood out behind the house and rolled and sprayed and rolled water sealer on it.  Then is stormed, so we had to rush to get it all back in the big garage before the rain hit.  362 pieces?

The adventures of Skyfort II-early work

Yes, it's true, we actually ordered the Skyfort II from Sam's Club, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.  At least our toddler is not quite old enough to know it's taking us so long to actually get started.  What can I say, we're busy.  We've got a garden that needs attention, and two kids that need even more attention.

We got all of the wood sprayed/rolled, coated with Thompson's Water Sealer.  That took a long time.  It took even longer to dry, but in the long run, it will make the set last longer and look better.  It's worth the effort, I know how they girls will love it.

We were out of town for the weekend, so nothing's been done for a while.  Last night I needed a break from my beautiful, but screaming children, so I volunteered to go out and sort the wood pieces.  They're all numbered with alphanumeric codes, which I checked the manual for and sorted into steps.  It took a little while to make my reference sheet and sort the piles, but I know it will be much less frustrating once we start building.

In addition to the separate assemblies listed at the start of the directions, there are a few additional pieces you can pre-assemble from the general instructions, so I plan on working on those first.

I will update again later when I get time to actually work on it.  You know how I love assembling things, that's why I've got a soft spot for IKEA furniture.

I have photos, I'll share those too when I get them off of my phone.