Sandbox

Asher has been wanting a sandbox forever, mostly to drive his Bruder trucks in and play construction. I figured if he's almost 12 and still desperately wants a sandbox, he'll probably play with it for a long time to come. We were going to put one in a few months ago covering the whole area that used to be a chicken run (which right now just turns to mud every time it rains). However, we were shocked by the price once we priced out all the materials. So we've been thinking about it for awhile and Austin and Asher decided to make a smaller box and reduce the price (although it was still quite pricey!). Once they got the material, I was surprised at how fast they worked out their plans and got the frame put together.  

 

 Heidi helped outside a little bit, but mostly stayed inside with me doing a sewing project, then she had the idea to make lemonade for her brothers and loved delivering it to them. 

I made Asher do a lot of the talking to order the sand from the landscaping company. We all went in together, but I referred to Asher a lot to answer the questions. As always, he was quite shy, but he is getting a little better at talking to strangers. 

It took a couple days to get the sand delivered, but he was so excited when it came. Austin oversaw the delivery, but had to keep working, so it was up to Asher and Leif to move the sand into the backyard with shovels and a wheelbarrow. I helped them quite a bit, but they did a lot of work too- especially Asher!

As you can see, this area gets very muddy when it rains (which it did a ton the day before and even a little when we were finishing up bringing the sand back), so we moved a lot of these pavers out of other areas in our backyard to made a track so the wheelbarrow wouldn't get stuck in the mud every time.

Torben loved digging in the sand, so we put him to work helping to empty out each wheelbarrow-full after we had tipped it up. This worked very well- we just had to be sure to keep him from throwing any sand out of the box.

 

 Since we finished it, the kids have gone out to play in the sandbox multiple times a day (and Austin got a sun-shade put up to keep them cooler and from getting sunburned). They all have a ton of fun- especially Asher loves playing with his trucks, but still thinks the area is too small. I'm finding that a sandbox is a bit annoying with all the sand that is getting tracked into the house and the outside hose constantly being on as kids wash the sand off themselves, but I'm guessing as time goes on they won't play out there 5 or 6 times a day, but only once or twice and the sand being brought in will reduce quickly.