Here is the awesome and amazing story of our new sandbox.

We had a sandbox that we got when Ezra was three (4 years ago) from the Company Store, and it simply was too small and did not hold up as well as we had hoped.  It was cute as can be in its day, but it was looking rather beat up. 

When deciding what we wanted to do with the play area we looked at a couple of other options for sandboxes.  First we contemplated fixing up our old sandbox, but we decided that even if it were refurbished it would not be big enough for both boys and their sand toys.  We decided we needed something new and something larger.  There are some adorable sandboxes out there on Pottery Barn Kids, One Step Ahead and CSN Stores.  But after looking at them all, we kept thinking how bummed we would be if we bought it and it didn’t hold up like our last one.  Another thing we immediately ruled out was the green plastic turtle sandbox, for no other reason that I personally don’t like the way they look.  They are a great affordable and temporary option though.

My amazing husband had the fantastic idea of building a simple one.  That way it would be just the size we wanted and if the boys outgrew it, we would not feel bad about it because it would be half the cost.  Yay… he is so smart.  Haha.

We dug the area we wanted to place the box out so that it would sit about 3 inches in the ground.  This way the sand would not seep out of the bottom and the box wouldn’t slide around.  We then put down weed block.  We took 2  ten foot boards and cut them in half and built a 5 foot square.  Once it was laid in the trench we back filled around the edges so it was in the hole nice and tight. 

Here are the boys waiting for the sand.

 

Then we dumped in 12  bags of play sand. 

The boys love it. 

There is plenty of room for lots of friends, and trucks and pails!  It is really just perfect. 

Thank you to my wonderful husband for putting it together. 

 

 

We also installed some shade for our play area and sand pit.  I bought our shade sail on Amazon.  I really love the shade sail.  The way we positioned it, it blocks that hot afternoon sun.  Where ever the sun may be in the sky, there is shade on at least half of the sand pit.  Perfect! 

To install it we simply put a 10 foot post out in the play area (after measuring with the shade sail several times).  We attachted two corners of the sail to the fence and one to the taller pole. 

It seems really well made, we will see if it stands the test of time.  The lovely thing about it is that it is hung on eye hooks with caribeeners so we can take it down with minimal effort in the winter or if the wind gets too strong.

We have a couple more things to add to this area, but that will be another post!