Sunday, May 3, 2009
A Sandbox Built For Two
 When Spunky was born, my mom and dad gave us a 2 foot by 2 foot plastic container with a lid that was supposed to do dual purpose as either a children's pool and/or a sand box. They brought several bags of play sand and set it up in the backyard, which was wonderful. With a new baby, it was good to have something to keep the little Banana occupied, it got lots of use. We noted, though, that there was a) nowhere to sit and that b) there was not enough room for a child any bigger than BananaMuffin was at the time (which, at 20 months, was not very large) and there was no way Spunky was going to get in there with her.
When I met the The Wool Fairy, I fell in love immediately with their very generously sized sandbox, constructed of old barn beams, and realized we had to do something as our kids were asking to go to Chi-Chi and Muffy's house just so they could play in a sandbox! Not that I don't love a good visit with The Wool Fairy, but the demands of daily life mean we don't see each other as much as we used to.
Last fall, Becky's husband started building a post-and-beam shed with none other than reclaimed barn beams. I'm pretty excited about his project as reclaimed materials and post-and-beam construction are both interests of mine, but he happened to have a couple of beams with dry rot - not great for load bearing construction, but perfect for sitting on the ground to contain sand!
Scotian set to work with a saw, a line level, and a shovel, and started to lay the foundation for our sand box (note the passed-out greyhound in the foreground - this is the daily activity level of retired racers!). Leaving the boys alone to work, BananaMuffin and I drove over to Kent where we bought their last 16 bags of play sand. By the end of the day, the kids had a brand new five-foot-square sand box, complete with sand and toys. They now play in the sand box every morning before "school", every evening while we cook supper, and on the weekends while I'm digging away in the backyard.
(Thanks again to Becky and John - I fully think the mirror, if you still want it, is a perfect trade :)
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