There is a swing set on the White House lawn!!!!! I think that's **wonderful** ....

[Stinky The Clown]

There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn! There is a swing set on the White House lawn!



America's first daughters found it upon their return from school today.

I know this isn't serious news. but it is just so heartwarming.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. Somehow I can see that tent part as the perfect hiding place

for Middle East peace talks lol.

[Occulus]

7. I doubt it- there's a cross in the window.

:D

[Stinky The Clown]

11. How in the name of all that is sane .......

.... did you go from a kids' swing set to the Middle East?

I'm flummoxed.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

92. It was a joke.

Lighten up don't hold your ass so tight, you might pop something.

[Stinky The Clown]

98. Bebe is a haha?

I'm a clown. I usually get jokes. I didn't get this one.

My ass is not tight. Try for a joke on that and I'll climb down your throat.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

101. Ok really your name says it all about your attitude...

Stand outside you are starting to funk . :eyes:

[Stinky The Clown]

103. Let me invite you to .....

.... perform an unnatural act upon yourself.

I find your stupid fucking joke which not one fuicking thing to do with the OP unfunny and **I'm* starting to funk?

Funk you, Bellie.

[SoCalDem]

15. Bibi Netanyahu would piss in the corner & then bulldoze it

:rofl:

[roguevalley]

114. I love it. I would swing all day long. On the swing set that is. ;)

[SoCalDem]

2. replied to wrong reply..n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

13. The second Middle East reference. How did you make a connection from a swing set to Bebe?

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

17. just responded to a reply...

but in the wrong place :)

[Boudica the Lyoness]

3. This put a smile on my face.

How lovely.

[tavalon]

4. Nice swing set!

It is nice to look at the lighthearted once in a while.

[TheDebbieDee]

5. That's so cool!

I wouldn't mind playing on that swing set now and I'm 47 years-old.

[ginnyinWI]

6. Aw, that's so nice.

And with snow still on the ground?

[Kajsa]

8. Yes, it is!

This is very cool.
:)

It's going to be nice having Malia and Sasha as First Kids.
( is that the correct title?)

I just love those two.

Thanks for sharing this.

:hi:

[malaise]

9. Too cool

:D

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. Consider this

That's the Old Executive Office Building in the background.

Which, in my mind, makes this a truly spectacular photo - and concept.

I love it. I just love it.

Where's the story?

[Stinky The Clown]

16. I heard it on Shuster's show, but here's a link .....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/michelle-obama/4940442/White-House-swing-Malia-and-Sasha-Obama-get-a-surprise.html

[Tangerine LaBamba]

27. A surprise!!!

I didn't think I could love this family more, but I DO!!!!

Thanks :hi:

[tpsbmam]

102. Awwww, I love this! n/t

[Captain Hilts]

35. OEOB, for short. nt

[Tangerine LaBamba]

40. How perceptive of you..........

But if I posted that, how many people outside of DC would know what it meant?

Once, during the Watergate tempest, I went over to a pal's office in the OEB, and, as we were walking down the wide, black-and-white tiled hallway - this was after hours - a cleaning lady was working with her mop and squeeze bucket.

My pal, who was a Senior White House Advisor, turned to me and said, glancing at the cleaning lady, "That's where we launder the money."

[Captain Hilts]

44. I knew you'd know....nt

[inna]

100. OEOB - what does that mean?? nt, just a question.

[xenussister]

112. Old Executive Office Building, I assume.

Love that swingset!

[elleng]

49. Malia, 10, and 7-year-old Sasha

"squealed with delight" upon seeing the play set, said a spokesman for the first lady.

The girls played outside for almost an hour, despite the chilly weather, she said.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

54. Chilly?

It was COLD here today - didn't even hit 40 degrees.

But, kids don't feel cold. And the fresh air is wonderful for them.

If you're a parent, and you've done something like this for your kids, you know what a damn wonderful feeling it is.

That this happened in OUR WHITE HOUSE is even better.................

[Captain Hilts]

56. There was no wind! Nuthin' for kids from Chicago!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

58. True...........

And downtown, right in the center of the District, where they are, it's always a bit warmer.

Still, they're on the shady side in the afternoon, but, boy, I wish we had a video of them seeing it for the first time, don't you?

[Captain Hilts]

62. Oh yeah. Watching them on it would have been great. I would have loved...

something like that. Oddly enough, in Navy housing we didn't have anything like that, then, one day...

they put THIS up on the edge of 'capehart' as Navy housing was called:



The BEST jungle gym a kid EVER had. X years later it was removed, of course. Damn.

[Withywindle]

108. Oh, so true!

It was about 40 degrees in Chicago today - children UNLEASHED, man. When all that cabin fever breaks at once, it's intense.

[elleng]

63. I was out this afternoon and wanted to take my coat off in the sun;

NOW I'm cold! Its 30 degrees.

[Captain Hilts]

65. My motor runs hot. I'm dreaming of last year at this time in Toronto: 3 weeks 3 ft of snow.

I love the cold, but hate the wind. If there's no wind, I'm in shorts.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

82. Same here

The heat rarely gets turned on in this dwelling. I don't mind wearing sweats, but, man, I love the cold.

Winnipeg is the coldest city in North America, I believe. I could live there happily.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

70. I never got out today,

but that sun looked yummy.

We're recovering from a bug, so outdoors will be a big deal tomorrow.

One month from now is the Cherry Blossom Festival. Yet another reason to avoid the District.................

[Captain Hilts]

73. Oh, god, isn't that the truth. It's best to just leave town. nt

[elleng]

85. Well, maybe on the DAYS,

but I sure wanna see those trees. Don't have puppy or kids around anymore, and don't work downtown. DAMN!

[starroute]

77. There'll be a taste of spring in DC this weekend

Weather Underground says 67 degrees both Saturday and Sunday -- and then staying in the middle to upper 50's. That'll bring out the crocuses for sure.

[elleng]

84. Darn, I'm not even at HOUSE where I can check crociii!

Monday cool again.

[annabanana]

12. oooo nifty!

That's a really nice one.

[alsame]

14. Shuster said it's right outside the Oval Office. I guess the

President wants to see them as they play. :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

33. Don't you love that?

He's such a first-rate father. He really, really loves those girls.

And his wife.

We are so damn lucky.

We deserve President Obama and his ladies................

[TahitiNut]

38. I'd be willing to bet an appendage he'll find hisself on it playing WITH them.

Of that, I have NO doubt.

[alsame]

52. I want

to see pictures! :rofl:

[Sabriel]

18. Nice, but totally unsafe

I hope they're planning on putting in some kind of shock-absorbing surface under it, like sand, woodchips, or rubber shreds. Without that safety precaution, it's paralysis waiting to happen.
(Not to be a buzzkill or anything....)

[Stinky The Clown]

20. "(Not to be a buzzkill or anything....)"

Yeahokay ......

:eyes:

[Sabriel]

22. Well, I'd like the First Kids to be safe!

Same as I'd like my own kids to be safe.

That being said, it is way cool that there are kids back in the WH.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. Mattresses

I demand mattresses under the WHOLE WHITE HOUSE.

NOW, dammit. What if someone trips? Or slides on those damn hardwood floors?

They better get them there FAST!

[Occulus]

21. Sometimes I'm amazed I lived through childhood

Remember the old playgrounds in public schools? All exposed, uncushioned steel pipe over concrete. And those slides! In the summer, you'd stick to it and your skin would squeak on hot, exposed metal....

Good times, man. Good times.

:rofl:

[dugaresa]

23. you always had to convince someone else to go down that hot slide first

hoping it would ease the pain of your descent, the fact that we knew it it would hurt and still did it is amazing to me.

[havocmom]

107. pffft! We just used hot days to apply the waxed paper to the slide!

That way, you went too fast to singe your hiney!

[Sabriel]

24. We WISHED we had exposed steel pipe over concrete!

We had to make do with punji sticks in pits with vipers at the bottom.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

31. You think that's bad?

We lived in an Italian neighborhood.

Every old lady was either hanging out a bedroom window, spying on us, or else they were out there, scrubbing their front porches and sidewalks. After dinnertime, they had their folding chairs out the sidewalk, where they could trip us as we ran by.

It was murder trying to find a decent cigarette butt in the gutters with those old harpies giving us the Evil Eye every time we moved.........................

[Captain Hilts]

34. Man oh man - the Fearsome Foursome!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

29. And how many times did you fall?

I was forever falling off the monkey bars. If you didn't have a couple of scab-encrusted knees during the summer, you weren't getting in enough playtime.

They were good times, for sure.

[Missy Vixen]

51. I still have scars on my knees and my elbows

from skinning them. Falling out of trees, falling off my bike, yep. When I wasn't doing that, I was in the gully by our house, catching tadpoles, garter snakes and frogs.

As someone else has said, it's a miracle I lived through my childhood.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

57. I just fell

Because, I think, I had this serious belief that I could fly, I was forever going head-first over, under, around things. My father used to yell at me to get off his car because, for some reason, I liked to stand on the car's roof.

I guess I had a good view from up there, but, years later, whenever I had to pick someone up at Union Station (in DC), where the waiting traffic is always thick, I just climbed up on the roof of my car, waved my arms, and my arrival always found me.

We don't outgrow everything, do we?

[Captain Hilts]

32. Don't forget the smartasses that jumped off teeter totters. And jumping out of swings ...

at their highest point.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

37. My ass still hurts

I fell for that one every time. My little buddies loved to do that to me because I was such a ditz.

Teeth-rattling landings. I can still feel them.

Remember playing on the merry-go-round until you puked? Or was that just us?

[Captain Hilts]

39. I was similarly victimized. Maybe we need a support group. Yes, I got sick on

the merry go rounds also. If you didn't get sick, you weren't doing it right.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

41. Tell me this -

will anything ever feel as wonderful as swinging as high as the swing would go?

Until you were sure you'd either loop around or touch the sky?

[Captain Hilts]

43. Very few things, indeed. It was great. I still scout swingsets in public parks for just the right

kind....

[TahitiNut]

46. We 'competed' to see who could swing ALL the way around, over the top.

Then, one of the kids didn't quite make it ... and essentially fell hitting his back on the swing bar. As I recall, he became a paraplegic.

Fun times. :hide:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

50. Jesus.............

That would do a number on anyone's head.

How absolutely horrible.

Kids - we were lucky to make it to adulthood, where we discovered we weren't ten feet tall and bulletproof.

I'd still like to get on a swing again, though......................

[Captain Hilts]

55. Do it! Find a park with some good, sturdy swings. Yes, you can! nt

[TahitiNut]

78. When ya grow up with the Spectre of Polio all around, everything else seems benign, I guess.

All the houses in my (new) post-WW2 GI Bill subdivision had asbestos siding and roofing shingles. We had a shoe store with an X-ray machine just inside the door, so we kids would stop in every time we were near to look at our bones wiggle in the viewfinder. It was NORMAL for kids (7, 8, 9 years old) to pick up beer and cigarettes and milk and bread at the local Mom&Pop store, on errands from their parents or ANY OTHER neighbor. "Look, ma! No hands!" was common. Slingshots, BB guns, boomerangs, squirt guns were ALL "gotta have" toys. My favorite schoolyard merry-go-round was a pumper that we could get turning at least 1 G ... flinging a kid that didn't hold tight at least 6 feet.

Fun times. :silly:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

80. Same here

That shoe x-ray machine was a real favorite, yes. And we could buy cigarette - for ourselves (we were Italian kids, don't forget) - three for a nickle. Matches were two packs for a penny. I don't recall anything being off limits, besides the usual unacceptable bad behavior.

We swore like sailors, but so did the adults.

Stealing smokes out of the ladies' purses. Almost always Pall Mall.

We played in streams that were still clean, and we roamed hills all around our small town, finding fossils and quartz and fools' gold, without any adults around. We learned everything we needed to know on the streets. The facts of life were somewhat garbled, which might account for the number of shotgun weddings I attended before graduation. Eventually, we all got them right, though.

It was lovely, all of it. I still have the sweetest memories of sitting on a big rock on a big hill overlooking our town, all by myself, wondering what being a grownup would be like....................

[TahitiNut]

89. Squishing pennies (and stones) on the railroad tracks, skinny-dipping, swiping apples and pears, ...

... playing in the barns full of hay, walking through the cow pasture and feeling a warm cow flop ooze up through the toes, swiping beer and getting tipsy in the treehouse .... good times.

I can't even imagine being told to be inside watching TV ... that's be PUNISHMENT. :rofl:

[Hekate]

95. You can really truly fly if you do that, you know. But you have to do it just right or it won't work

Yeah.

Hekate

[IndyOp]

87. Remember when Patrick split his head open in kindergarten? That was COOL -

He landed hard on a paved surface when he fell from the jungle gym and his head SPLIT OPEN -- the teacher's clothes had blood everywhere.

< The aforementioned incident is a real incident from my kindergarten year and the thing that strikes me is that the phrase "split his head open" was common among my peers. Someone in school "split their head open" at least once every school year.

[A HERETIC I AM]

83. You DO know what falling off a swingset and getting hurt teaches children, don't you?

How not to fall off a swingset.

An incredibly valuable lesson with applications throughout life.

Your post reminds me of the character from "A Mighty Wind" who is concerned about everything to such an absurd degree that he warns the audience of the low hanging flowers in the lobby.

[Hekate]

94. Real grass planted in actual dirt will do nicely. It's asphalt that really hurts.

Ah, those were the days. I used to be able to "skin the cat" and "skin the cat backwards" on the trapeze bar on my swingset. Also could climb the big tree in the backyard really, really fast and then shinny out to the end of the big branch and drop off. :wow:

Hekate

[monmouth]

19. And god bless the people that put that together....LOL...n/t

[tritsofme]

36. Lots of beer and obscenities

If it was anything like the swing-set we put up way back when.

[EFerrari]

48. LOL! That was my second thought.

Those instructions translated from Korean, Doug used to say, "Whatever, do not the bolt".

[Sequoia]

25. Can I come over and play?

Look, a little picinic table too.

[Stargazer09]

26. How wonderful!

It's so nice to have a President with young children in the White House. :)

[Captain Hilts]

30. Very cool. I'd like to play on it!

[elleng]

42. They just found it?

So it was erected for SPRING!!!!!

Just WAIT 'til they see the CHERRY BLOSSOMS!!! 1 MONTH!!!

[LanternWaste]

45. There's just something so heartwarming about those two little ladies...

There's just something so heartwarming about those two little ladies. They seem not only to maintain that wonderful childhood innocence and naivete so many of of us have willfully lost and cynically discarded never to be thought of again, but also appear to be infectious carriers of it in that whenever I see a picture of either one of their smiling faces, some of my own is rekindled. :)

[Missy Vixen]

47. How sweet is this?

It even warms the heart of the childfree. ;-)

I love the fact the Obamas have invited the kids from their class over, etcetera. It's nice to think that there are kids, playing and laughing, at the White House these days!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

59. I'm old enough to remember

Jackie Kennedy establishing a little school within the White House for Caroline, and children of friends were invited to participate.

The sightings of those kids, though, was rare.

Things are so different today.

[The Backlash Cometh]

53. On the Drudge Report: Obama is a swinger.

[KG]

60. to make room they had to tear out the wet-bar set-up for the previous set of WH daughters.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

61. Also,

the pole's gone.

[Captain Hilts]

66. Okay, I laughed out loud at this one. nt

[Tangerine LaBamba]

69. So did I......

Isn't that pathetic?

[Captain Hilts]

72. On second viewing, that woman is really athletic, obviously. nt

[Tangerine LaBamba]

81. I know,

but I didn't dare post the first pole picture I found.

I like DU. I don't want to get tombstoned...........

[bleever]

86. I think I found the one you're referring to.

:scared:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

88. That's pretty awful, but,

don't show this to anyone -

[Captain Hilts]

91. Bambi and Thumper?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

97. You know them?

I'm not surprised..................

[neverforget]

96. My eyes! They burn!

:silly: :wow: :spank:

[Captain Hilts]

64. Give the Bush twins some cred, they were GREAT giving the Obama kids a tour of the WH.

Some reports even had them jumping on furniture together. I hope it's true.

[elleng]

67. and they wrote a lovely letter.

.

[Captain Hilts]

68. Yes, yes they did. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

71. I LOVE that! nt

[Lugnut]

74. How perfect!

Now it looks like a family's house. :D

[cory817]

75. Meanwhile there are less fortunate children being force fed cheese sandwiches. jk

Sorry just kidding.

[struggle4progress]

76. I'm psyched

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Canuckistanian]

79. It sure beats the minibar in the East Wing library

Jenna and Bahhhhrbara had simple tastes, but not not what you'd call charming.

[bdamomma]

90. President Obama doesn't want those girls sit in front of a TV!!!!

good for him and them, everyone needs some sort of exercise. Looks like fun too.

[Hekate]

93. LOL. Remember Amy Carter's tree house? and Caroline Kennedy's pony Macaroni?...

Although I'm not sure where that pony actually lived, just that the little tot had one.

It's so cool to have kidlets in the White House again. Thanks for the post, Stinky.

Hekate

[merh]

99. That is so cool!!!

I want one just like it. :thumbsup:

[Jennicut]

104. That swing set looks almost like the one my daughers have! Wood sets are nice.

We got one from my mother in law for the girls birthdays one year. Hope Malia and Sasha have lots of regular-kid fun. :)

[Liberal_in_LA]

105. Cool!

[Taverner]

106. So glad to see children in the White House

Sure, I know I missed out on John and Jackie...being GenX and all, but hey - we missed that whole thing!

[Withywindle]

109. That's one of the coolest swing sets I've ever seen, too.

It has everything but a water slide.


Even has a "secret clubhouse" to hide in. Kids love that.


(Oddly enough, I was just looking at play furniture for cats online and I see a lot of the same elements. :D)

[donheld]

110. That's been there for years

W used to play on it when no one was watching. :D

[Motown_Johnny]

111. I think they took it out after he choked on a pretzel. It was just to dangerous.

made him ride his bicycle more

[4_TN_TITANS]

113. Love it...

It's great to have an engaged, caring father in the WH again. I KNOW the effects on future generations are being considered in decisions again. Democrats make the best Dads.

[Xenotime]

115. That's wonderful. They deserve it..