It’s not often that residents of the Pacific Northwest need to add water to make an outdoor activity even more enjoyable. But, Beverly van Buuren of Seattle, WA shared with us how her son found a way to do just that.

“I am not the type of person who would email companies,” Beverly wrote in her email, “but the kids were having such a blast and so happy that I thought you guys might appreciate seeing your great products in real-life action. This was my son’s idea (the boy in the close-up), with the helmets and some ground rules being mom’s requirement. It was nice to have an activity for them in this heat that was fun, safe, outside, and at home! The day was a record-breaker for Seattle – 104 F.”

Thanks for sharing, Beverly. And, if the kids ever get too hot (or too cold, or too wet), maybe we can interest you in one of our Rhapsody indoor playsets!

This was the subject line of a nice email I received recently from one of our customers. It reminds me of how fortunate we are to be in a business that makes people really happy. I am sure there are lots of great companies that sell fasteners (y’know, nuts and bolts) that rarely, if ever, get a happy customer letter. We, on the other hand, get lots and lots of them.

This letter, from Liza Beaty of Bollingbrook, Illinois, happened to strike a particular chord for me. It speaks of exactly what we hope for each time we ship a swing set off to a new CedarWorks family. Liza’s letter began with “For 11 summers…” then shared the following memories:

“…our family enjoyed our CedarWorks swing set. Our 3 children, several cousins and countless neighborhood children had spent many gloriously happy days and evenings running, jumping, swinging through the (completely splinter-free!) CedarWorks swing set. Obstacle courses, made-up games, and fantastic adventures were a regular part of daily life in our backyard. As our youngest child enters middle school, and as focus shifts away from the ‘childish things,’ we dissembled something that had become so near and dear to us as parents, and a integral part of our children’s lives and livelihood.

Thank you for engineering such a fabulous product that has enriched our daily lives for more than a decade. The memories are far more valuable to us than I could ever have imagined.”

And, Liza, your generous comments have been far more meaningful to each and every one of us here at CedarWorks than you could ever imagine.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, consider us very flattered. We recently received an email from Dale Smith of Indy, Indiana (“a corn field with a race track in the middle” according to Dale) in which he describes an unusual project he had just completed. It seems that the assistant minister of his church needed some way for his son to access the loft area of his bedroom, and asked Dale whether he could help.

As Dale then describes, “I found your company on line, and requested a catalog.  When it arrived I was thrilled to see all the wonderful units you offer.  I am a bit artsy, so many of your units inspired my thinking.” Dale continued “I always liked the rascal ramp you use, so I drew up drawings of MY ideas and here is the end result.”

And quite an end result it is: beautiful, functional, and fun – just like what we want everything to be here at CedarWorks. According to Dale, the lucky boy who gets to use this every day and all his friends just love it. And that’s also just what we we want from anyone who uses a CedarWorks swing set.

So, thanks Dale – I hope that our products can continue to inspire you.

My oh my, our kids all grow up fast, don’t they? As true as that might be, we found this past year that they grow at a relative turtle’s pace compared with dogs. Our ten-week-old puppy arrived last Spring weighing in just shy of 20 lbs. and standing barely higher than a pair of kids rain boots. A year later, our puppy’s nose reaches above the counters, and he has more than tripled in weight. We thought that was impressive growth until we received the following email from a member of the CedarWorks’ family:

We brought Piper home a year ago weighing 45lbs.  My then 10 year old daughter encouraged her to climb the Sure Step System so that she could hang out in the top of our Jungle playset.  Now, Piper weighs 130lbs and can still squeeze herself between the steps to get up to her favorite hangout.  From there, she can see over the privacy fence and scope out the neighborhood.

When she’s done patrolling, she simply slides down the slide.  You’re not surprised, are you?

Thanks for a wonderful product. We bought it 10 years ago, moved it from Iowa to Wisconsin in a moving van 4 years ago and it’s still played with every time the girls go outside.

Angela from Wisconsin

Thanks for sharing, Angela! And thanks for the accelerated testing results on the ongoing suitability of a CedarWorks swing set as your kids grow. We’re sure glad that all of your “kids” continue to enjoy the playset!

If anyone else out there has a fun story about their CedarWorks swingset and their pets (or their kids!) please send it along to: info@cedarworks.com.

A while back, I shared some of our favorite animal stories and pictures from around our offices here on the beautiful coast of Maine. But this fantastic photo of an owl enjoying a splinter-free perch on one of our swing sets reminded me of some of the other great customer stories involving animals over the years.

There was a nice family from New York who insisted on a Rascal Ramp for their playset. Not for the kids, but for the dog. Then, a couple from Connecticut took catering to their dog a huge step further and designed an entire playset for the sole purpose of exercising and entertaining their agility trials award-winning pooch.

Other families have found their swing set play time on temporary hiatus due to Mother Nature’s intervention. We have had many stories and photos of birds nests and eggs and baby birds all enjoying the chemical-free shelter of a CedarWorks swing set.

And then there was the family who went to great lengths to make sure that their swing set play time would not be interrupted. This story came to us all the way from Alaska accompanied by a photo of a playset in the wilderness surrounded by one of the highest fences we had ever seen. Turns out that bears like to play, too, and these parents decided that it made little sense to purchase the safest swing set on the market but then fail to bear-proof the play area.

Do any of you CedarWorks families out there have a good animal photo or two that involves your swing set? If so, we’d love to see them. Just send them along to info@cedarworks.com.

With such a great website, parents often ask us why they need a catalogue. Well, I just had a funny conversation with a mom in California that confirms our notion that a CedarWorks catalogue is a must-have. Her family has been in the market for a swing set for years, but her husband has been dragging his feet unconvinced his kids were really interested.

That’s until our catalogue arrived. (more…)

It’s not something we like to do. In fact, we have always been very protective of the privacy of our customers, particularly when it comes to celebrities. But in this case, we are making an exception of sorts.

Last year, Carina (one of our Design Partners) received an inquiry from a “personal assistant” named Zona. Now, not everyone has a personal assistant. And not every personal assistant is named Zona. And this particular personal assistant was very, very protective of the identity of her client. In fact, Carina had to confirm that our installer would sign a confidentiality agreement before she could even proceed with designing a playset. (more…)

As far as Conlon Novak of Murrys-ville, Pennsylvania is concerned, he is a train conductor, not a boat captain. Conlan is fond of scampering up into the Crow’s Nest attached to his family’s CedarSaurus Jungle Slant, ringing a big bell and shouting, “All aboard!” Which brings every other youngster in the neighborhood running to play with him. (more…)

An incredulous mom called us recently with a remarkable tale of woe involving her family’s Skowhegan Jumbo Slant. Tracey Dacko was still shaking her head as she recounted the day when the bulldozer showed up to begin work on a garage to hold her husband’s car collection. Brett, the husband, reportedly watched for as long as he could stand it. Finally, he broke down and asked the contractor if he could try out the bulldozer himself. Well, Brett successfully filled the bucket loader with fresh earth and rocks. But then he dumped them on the playset. (more…)

When Navy Commanders Gail and Derek Takara bought a playset for their adopted Russian children, the kids’ first reaction was great excitement. Soon, however, reticence set in, and neither of the 4-year-olds would swing without a shove from their new parents. It seems that the actions required to swing were new to them, and for days the set went untouched. Finally, Julia, having learned from Gail how to “pump,” was spotted tentatively swinging by herself. (more…)