The Bunk Bed Slide

A while ago, I was perusing a magazine and came across an ad that featured a bunk bed with a slide. I thought it was a cool idea, but also thought it went a little too far. I mean, as a kid, who wouldn't want a slide on their bunk bed? I showed the ad to Joseph and he thought along the same lines as me. We had thoughts like, "Oh man! If we ever got one of those for our kids, they'd never go to bed," and stuff like that. We laughed about it, then the subject was quickly dropped and the memory stored in the far reaches of our minds.

Well, last Friday, Akiko came up to me and said, "Mommy, wouldn't it be neat if I had a slide on my bunk bed so that if I needed to go twinkle in the middle of the night I could just slide down and go?" I thought of that ad and started laughing and told her it would be cool (while simultaneously thinking "Yeah, right!"), and the subject was once again dropped.

The next morning as Joseph and I were getting ready for the day I told him about the short conversation I had with Akiko the day before. You know what he said? Something like, "That actually sounds like a good idea. I'll build them one today."

*Wait, what? Today? But you were just telling me about all the work you need to do. How in the world are you going to fit in building a slide for the bunk bed? I'm still not sure that's even a good idea.* These were my thoughts, but I simply, but skeptically said, "Um. Really? Okaaay."

He sensed my skepticism. He proceeded to convince me that it won't be very expensive or take very long, the kids would love it, Akiko had a great point about the urgency to go potty, and Moses, who loves to get on the top bunk but gets stuck up there, would have a way down without yelling "Ayuda me!"

Now, it's important to note that Joseph has a lot of experience with construction and building things. His dad was a general contractor all while Joseph was growing up and he learned quite a few things from his dad. This knowledge has rarely manifest itself since we've been married and I often forget that my husband really does know what he's doing.

I like building things, too, but apparently I get really carried away when I start to plan and engineer the project and it quickly becomes really complex. Hence, the big source of my skepticism. I simply could not figure out how Joseph was going to build and attach a slide in a sturdy and inexpensive way.

Well, Joseph made his quick trip to the big orange store and came back just in time for me to take Akiko to a birthday party that she'd been invited to. I didn't see what he'd brought home. Besides, he wanted it to be a surprise for us anyway. I was in too much of a hurry to ask.

Akiko and I were only gone for two hours. We came home to a big, no HUGE, surprise! Not only had the kids room been cleaned by my fabulous husband, but he had rearranged the bedroom so that the slide that was now complete and attached to the bunk bed would fit properly.

Akiko was elated, to say the least. Her exact words were, "Now that I have a slide on my bed, we don't need to go play at the park anymore!"

Joseph is a genius. His design was so simple. All he did was get a really sturdy, very smooth board and attach matching trim on the edges. I'm not exactly sure how he attached it to the bed, but it is certainly very sturdy, and I'm sure it was also extremely simple. My design would have been much more complex, not to mention expensive.

So, there you have it! The kids have a slide on their bunk bed. It's made them so happy. Akiko looks forward to waking up every morning. She has told anybody who will listen about it. She even dragged the home teachers into her bedroom to show them when they came to visit. And if my kids are happy, I'm happy, too.

PS: Joseph wanted me to note that this was part of the "nesting instinct" that I'm apparently rubbing off on him in order to prepare for the baby. I, of course, haven't been able to "nest" much myself because of the back pain. My husband is so awesome!