Grand opening of the Maison Tarian Playground

On July 11th 2003 the playground at Maison Tarian was officially opened for business. Many honored guests were able to attend the festivities. Reaction of the kids was overwhelming joy, appreciation and gratitude.

The swing set was a generous gift of all the grandparents to the Verheij Climbing Clan. Assembly of this 8 by 22 foot monster was courtesy of Opa Ad, with a little help and misdirection by Arjan.

Finding level land to put this thing on proved to be a difficult issue; most of our property is pretty steep, and being able to monitor the little buggars from the kitchen and the back deck was a must. A shady spot highly preferred. After some technical evaluation and trial-digging by Uncle David we settled on a spot right in between our house and Neighbor Nick & Lauren. Although relatively flat it still had a slope of 3 vertical feet in the 16 ft depth that had to be cleared. Digging that out over the 22 feet width was a bit of a hassle. No job too big for Opa Ad, though! With his quadruple bypass hard at work he had that land flat in no-time.

Another brilliant Ad addition to the design was the addition of the rail-road tie foundation. Instead of just resting on the dirt the swing set is now firmly attached through at least 69 million brackets to the rail-road ties, which each weigh a ton, so that thing won't move, ever. 

Here is Ad checking the work under stress testing with Skye Allaman going all out and Vincent and Julia trying out the duo-glider. Buggar #3 is also in the picture

Here goes Neighbor Allison (or Clair, who knows) down the slide.

And here you can see another Opa Ad addition: the Moms Corner where tired mothers can get some swing time for themselves.