New Train Station and Playground

New Train Station

Ben's boss, Brian (the CEO), gave us his now 10 year old son's train station.  We got this so long ago, maybe around the time Jack was 6 months old.  It had been sitting in Jack's closet since then.  Around April, Jack started to be more interested in trains and putting things together so we thought this would be the perfect time to get the train station out.  We had also remembered that Ben's nephew Grant had a Thomas the Train play table and asked if they still had that.  They did!

One Saturday, Ben went to get the train table, came back and put it together and put some of the train tracks out.  When Jack woke up from his nap we showed him the train.  At first he wasn't that interested in playing with it the "correct" way.  He just wanted to take apart the train tracks and try to put them back together but was unsuccessful.  

After Ben had assembled the train station a little better so that Jack could reach all of the things he wanted, Jack enjoyed it so much more.  The picture below shows Jack playing with the ambulance.  He would push the button on the ambulance but it would only make a noise every so often.  He then would say "need batteries" over and over.  Finally after about 2 weeks we got some batteries to put in it.

This must have been after a nap because he looks a little frazzled.  Playing with the firetruck.  Another of the trains that makes noise.

He loves to put the firetruck in the fire station.  Then you turn the black knob on the side and it opens the fire station doors and pops out the firetruck as a siren is going off.  

New Playground

For over a year now Ben's boss Brian had been talking about this large play-set that his kids had outgrown and the possibility of giving it to us.  This was exciting for us.  We had a smaller version of a play-set but was excited at the opportunity to get a larger one seeing that we were going to have 2 boys in the family now. 

Then back in July 2011, Ben's boss had a horrible tennis accident.  He ran head first into a pole full speed and had serious injuries because of it.  He had to go to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for a few months where they specialize in spinal cord rehabilitation.  He was confined to a wheel chair but began regaining feeling and motion in his arms and legs.  After spending some time there, Brian came back to Texas to be able to be close to his family and do up to 6 hours a day of physical therapy.  Brian would come into the office once or twice a week for a couple of hours. 

One day this spring Brian came in and began discussing the play-set again with Ben.  I think he mentioned that his 10 year old son was hoping to put in an area to practice golf where the play-set currently was and they were ready to get it off there hands.  All we had to do was get it moved.  So after looking into this set and what it would cost to buy it new (thousands of dollars) we thought it was a great opportunity.  So Ben went out to see it himself and take some measurements.  By now we were sure there was no way we could disassemble it, move it and reassemble it ourselves/with help.  So we contacted a moving company specifically catering to moving large play-sets.  The price we paid to move the set and have it reassembled was a bargain.  We were also lucky to have found a home for our previous play-set. 

These pictures are from the first night it was assembled.  The two men who moved it all started at 9am and finished by 7:30pm that night.  Here is Jack telling us what the colors were on the climbing wall.

Jack crawling up the ramp.  We need to replace the rope that creates a hand rail.

Swinging on the swingset

Climbing the ladder to go down the slide.

"Look Daddy"  showing the third story of the play-set.  He has yet to go up there but he has plenty of years to explore everything.

Here is a comparison picture...The left is Jack's 1st Birthday party in 2011 and the right is his 2nd birthday party 2012.

*Update - June 1, 2012

This is a very sad update to include but I thought it was important.  On Memorial day, Ben, Jack and I were in San Antonio just beginning our 2nd half of our family vacation.  (I'll post on this vacation soon)  We had just arrived at our hotel resort and spent the afternoon swimming with Jack.  

We were driving to dinner when Ben got a call from his boss Dickie (the CFO).  Dickie called to tell Ben that Brian, Ben's other boss had just passed away.  This was horrible news and deeply affected Ben.  I had told a few people that I had never seen him this upset.  I think a big part was how sudden this was.  Ben later mentioned it was one of the first people he knew and was close to, that had passed away at an early age with so much life left to spend and "young" children being left behind.  

Another reason is there was so much hope in the office and I'm sure Brian's family the week prior to this tragic event.  Brian was just two days away from going down to Houston to complete a Physical Therapy program at the TIRR Center.  This was a very exclusive program where you only get picked to participate if they feel like you would be successful.  I know Brian and others were hoping at the end of this he would be walking.  So needless to say this was very sudden and so tragic.  Here is a copy of Brian's Obituary if you are interested in knowing what a great businessman, dad, and all around guy he was.