In Ground Trampoline

 This is how our trampoline used to look:  Well, most of the time it didn't have snow on it, and it quite often had a net around it, but it was above the ground with a special rock pad underneath it.  The net was usually in a state of disrepair because as soon as we would get a new one, or fix it, the neighbor kids or a friend would pull it down.

This is the pad without the trampoline:  It was a great pad, it kept the grass and weeds from growing underneath it.  Problem is, the left part of the pad is in the middle of where part of the pool is.

Once we figured out where the pool would be, we moved the trampoline around to several places to figure out where we would want it.  I wanted it off in the corner of the yard near a shed where I couldn't look at it.  Joe had this great idea to put it in the ground and then we could keep it by the back patio because it wouldn't be so big and obtrusive.  We hired a teenager to start digging the hole, but then he left on a mission and there was still a ton to dig.  My parents came out for Nate's baptism and helped us dig a ton. We put the dirt around the pool to raise the ground level closer to the level of the pool.  Every time we would dig it would rain and the hole would fill with water and wash some of the dirt back in.

We dug some more.  And some more.  And then some more.  This was like the neverending project.

Finally we got the dirt dug out.  Then we took the frame of the trampoline and put 1X4's around it and corrugated steel around that.  That was to keep the sides of the hole intact when we put the trampoline in the ground.  At the same time, Joe installed an automatic pump and wired it into the electricity of one of the plugs in the back patio.  Then we backfilled the hole to fill in around the trampoline frame.

 Then we put the mat on.  The trampoline became slightly askew somewhere in the process, so there were some springs that were extremely hard to install.

 Finally, all the springs were in and the mat was on.  This is the first jump!

 Then we resodded and put a mat on, and it looks beautiful.  The kids love jumping on it, and it is so much more inviting being at ground level.

 This was the project from hell, and I definitely cannot recommend it to anyone.  A couple of friends hired someone to dig the hole for theirs and it was about $700, and that would totally be the way to go.  I do love it now that it is done, and think it makes our yard so much nicer and more fun.