Flat Stanley & Flat Joe at a Leathers Playground

Silly Stanley, he and Flat Joe missed Friday Fun with Flat Stanley yesterday. They apparently were too busy having a good time to come and post and tell you all about it. Here they both are at Wickliffe Elementary Playground in Upper Arlington, Ohio. This is a very special playground you see. It was built in 1989-1990 as a community build. Everyone got in the act. First all the school kids told Leathers People what they wanted in their playground. The kids talked, drew pictures, and made models. Then a plan was drawn up by by The Leathers Team and presented to the parents along with the price tag. Fund-raising ensued and for a week everyone came together, students, teachers, parents, and neighbors in the community to building this fabulous playground. Everyone was involved in some manner. Some took care of tools, some carried work equipment to and from, others prepared food and drink to keep us workers going hour after hour, others babysat so parents could pound nails Follow us now and we'll show you this marvelous playground. Come on in through the gate where Flat Stanley and Flat Joe are....

Hang on Joe, it swings. That's pretty cool. See behind Flat Joe? Things of different sizes for different age kids to enjoy. Fun spaces to crawl and play hide n seek, places to climb, places to sit and read. Even a little stage where kids can perform.


Flat Stanley here walking on a rail, while Flat Joe is exercising on the rings. Look careful and or click to enlarge the picture to see Joe.
Walkways, Castles, benches, play phones, swings, and slides and more. Flat Stanley and Flat Joe had a marvelous time playing and learning all about this really cool playground; but you know what they thought was the coolest? People working together to accomplish good are unstoppable. Flat Joe of Joseph Allen's Designs, said it's just like all the people pulling together on The Bridge and Beyond, there they make a difference one stitch at a time, and here they built a playground one board at a time.

Joe's on his way home now after 4 fun adventures here with Flat Stanley. If you missed any of their fun, you can catch up here:
Not a ordinary playground
Traveling Buckeye Style
Flat Joe and Flat Stanley

Pack a Flashlight

Pack a flashlight or two. I always, always, always pack a flash light. If I'm traveling by car I pack a flashlight. If I'm traveling by plane, I always pack a flashlight. Going for a quick wk-end or a nice long vacation, yep I pack a flashlight in either case.
WHY?

1. Electric can go off anywhere, anytime. After all it goes off at home, right? Why wouldn't it go off due to a storm or electrical problem when you're traveling?
2. Hotel rooms are dark, which is really nice when you're trying to get some sleep; but when you wake up in different places all the time can you see your way to bathroom in the middle of night? Not normally. Thus the little flashlight on the right in above picture is something always packed in my ditty bag for all trips, long or short. It's always placed on my bedside nightstand in hotel rooms. It always get's used!
3. The flashlight on the left is a new item we've gotten really hooked on. You do not need batteries! Batteries are heavy. Regular batteries are expensive, always have to be replaced and are not at all environmentally friendly. If you use (and we do 99.9% of the time), rechargeable batteries, then you need to be sure and pack the recharger. This flashlights run by being cranked up. See the handle? You crank it a few times, then snap it back down and you have light. We've tested it out. We cranked about 40 times and it ran all night. It's small, lightweight, easy to use and the light has 2 levels--regular and bright. So, it really is one that you can see with.
4. If traveling by car, hubby usually has a large heavy duty flashlight in the car. This is a safety must! If you're on the road at night and have a problem, you really do need to see what you're doing. Maybe you need to change a flat, hard to do without a good flashlight.

Sometimes we're caught off guard and things happen one doesn't expect, with truly with a little bit of forethought and planning you can be prepared for almost anything. Being prepared, being organized can make your trips so much more enjoyable. Being organized, being safe and planning ahead can make what could be a bad situation nothing more then a little bump in the road.