Houston, We Have a Sandbox!

So we've been parents for seven years, and have lived in this house for six years. Thus, ever since I had a kid who wanted to play outside, I have been asking Joe to get/build/make/buy a sandbox. It's a part of being a kid, in my book (ask my mom about how much I loved to put sand in my hair...answer, a lot.).

However, it hasn't been something Joe has considered super necessary. I asked six years ago, nicely. The next year and the next were just as nice. Last summer, however, after receiving another, "I know, I know," I threatened to purchase the green plastic Little Tykes turtle sandbox.

That threat was met with silence.

You see, that Little Tykes sandbox looks cute in your well groomed, fenced town yard, but out here, that's not how we roll.

Sandboxes are constructed, not purchased. If they have to be "ready-made," they're made of an old tractor tire. However, considering the sheer number of kids we have, coupled with the fact that you can't make a nice straight, long row, if you were farming this sandbox, a tractor tire just doesn't cut the mustard.

So, with the summer coming, I planned on making my sandbox plea, again, however, the torch was passed. Amelia, our sweet, then two-year old, the one who has her dad in the palm of her hand, requested a sandbox for her birthday.

Then, to add insult to injury, our sweet little girl added, "a sandbox made by Daddy."

Huh.

Isn't that just funny? Isn't that so cute? Isn't that ironic?

I have been asking for a sandbox since our oldest was still in diapers (she is mortified that I mentioned her in diapers...that's how old she is now!), and with just a bat of her eyelashes and her sweet smile, Amelia Jane has a sandbox frame, a 10x10 frame, constructed of 2x12s. It sits at the edge of our swingset, just waiting to be filled with sand, but not the sand you can purchase at Home Depot (because that ranks up there with the lame turtle sandbox...to purchase sand in those stupid tubes would be gauche!), but sand purchased from the dude who owns the trucking company in town and has some extra, clean sand.

It has taken seven years and four kids, but we will have our sandbox by the weekend.

Remind me that I'm excited about this when I'm blogging about the mess it makes, okay?