Rainbow Swing Set

In January we decided it was time to get a bigger play-set for our kids. The one that we had was a Step 2 set that we bought for our first child when she was 18 months. It had two swings and was great for her at the time, but when our new babies were born we decided we needed to get a new one because the Step 2 was now too small for our family.

We decided to go check out the Rainbow swing sets. Apparently they have closeout sales, so we got a great deal. We wanted it installed before Easter but we had to wait until temperatures were above 40°  for them to come out and install it. We also had a lot of other things that needed to be done before this new swing set arrived. We had to call someone out to cut down two trees from our backyard, as well as remove a limb from our neighbors huge cottonwood tree. We had two days of warm weather, so the first day we had our trees cut down, and the next day the swing set was installed. The kids were so excited to play on it so we let them play for a few minutes before it got dark and told them that they would probably be able to go out and play on it again the next day. Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to shake winter and it was a while before they were able to actually enjoy it.

While I was waiting for the weather to warm up, I spent hours online researching what was the proper type of material to use under a swing set for safety. I looked at pea gravel, rubber mulch, wood mulch, and wood chips. In the end we decided to go with wood mulch. There were pros and cons to each of the different materials, for example, the rubber mulch seemed great because it was a very nice landing pad from any sort of high place,  but I was concerned about any odor that it would emit over time, I was concerned about chemicals leaching  into the soil, and I was concerned about how hot it would get on a typical summer day, not to mention it was the most expensive choice.  My next choice was pea gravel. I thought this was a great idea because not only was it a safe landing zone, but my kids could  play in it sort of like sand without being a giant litter box for any neighborhood cats. I nixed this idea when I realized I needed about 9 inches of pea gravel which worked out to be something like 20 tons. I don't remember exactly how many tons, so 20 may be a bit much but it was definitely more than 10. My husband and I would have to lay all of it down wheelbarrow load  by wheelbarrow load, which didn't sound fun for anyone.  Also, if we ever move from this house we probably would have to remove it for the next owner which is not something we want to deal with. Our last two choices were woodchips or wood mulch. We decided to go with mulch because it seems to be a little more pleasant to land on if someone falls.

So now the weather is nice, the swing set is up, the mulch is laid down, and the edging is finally finished. But now we have a new problem...ants!