A Flash of Genius

Like many people, I have a lot of ideas.  Some better than others.  Some of my worst ideas - "After we move, let's buy a house!" or "Don't worry about directions.  I remember how to get there." 

Today I had a good one!  We had a little adventure yesterday visiting a waterfall (see pics below) and stopped at a local store selling yard art.  We saw these beautiful but uncomfortable swings that Matt mentioned would be cool hanging from the big oak tree in our yard.

 Look at that smile!  Those curls over her ears!  (She's about to get her top two front teeth too!)

Suddenly this morning, I had a flash of genius.  Why not hang the old porch swing languishing in the grass behind the garage from the tree?  We've been trying to make use of this swing for awhile, ever since we lived in the house next door to this one (when this one was empty - before the remodeling began) and we snuck over and stole it.  We tried it on the porch at the last house and I was always too nervous to sit on it.  We thought about putting it on the porch here once we moved, but to have room to actually swing, we wouldn't be able to have anything else on the porch. 

All that said, it works great hanging from the tree.  Matt found some S hooks somewhere and just hooked up the swing chains over a large and sturdy tree branch.   This is terribly exciting.  The big oak means the swing will always be shaded, and there's a nice view of the mountains and the rest of the yard, particularly "play park" where all the girls' play equipment is. 

I can picture us swinging here A LOT while the girls play.  And, swinging here A LOT with the girls.