Time to Play Catch Up

It has been a while since I have been able to post.  We have been going nonstop for about the last month and a half.  There is a lot to get caught up on, and not all of the topics that I am ready to post about have photos available yet....of course. 

Well, let's start with a general update on what has been going on at the Yost house and at For You, By Me Events.  My last post was related to Eli's sister's graduation in which I made towels for her as she was due to be married and would need some in her new kitchen.  Since then, Eli and I went on a date night in Great Falls to see Gabriel Iglesias, the Helena wedding's maid of honor and I threw a bridal shower in Eureka, the family spent Memorial Weekend with the in-laws, we attended the Childers' Family Reunion, Isaac and I went early to the Baker wedding to get it setup, we had the Roberts boys over for help with landscaping projects and to build the Cozy Coupe, Isaac and I attended a family wedding in Washington, and we attended and set up the Helena wedding (my sister-in-law's).  Long list I know, we have been busy. 

Isaac is currently in Washington with his grandparents and has been for almost a week.  I will be joining them over the weekend to prepare and set up for my only July wedding.  It has been a busy week without Isaac but also very relaxing.  Eli and I were able to finally finish Isaac's sandbox, I sorted out baby clothes, and I have been sleeping lots.

I have decided that I'll post about Isaac's new sandbox first.  I have the photos and it will be an easy post to get back into things.  With the upcoming July wedding, there will be another lull in the postings but hopefully by then, I'll have all the photos I need to update the website as well as write the posts.

For the little guy's sandbox, I searched on Pinterest for different ideas and plans.  I knew I would end up moderating them a bit to fit the space we had, as well as to fit in with what I really wanted.  I found 2 different sets of plans to reference.  One was pretty much what I wanted, but it was a true blog post (like what I do) in that it had a lot of fluff to it.  I knew Eli would want a more direct set of plans, so I found another set that was more to the point but not exactly what I wanted.  After reading the plans and figuring out what I wanted, I modified the plan and we got started.


 The first step was to choose our location and measure it.  After we measured it, I started cleaning out the area.

After I cleaned out the box and got it as level as I could, it was time to get started on the actual sandbox.  Well, life usually has different plans. 

The weather started to turn and each time we had the time to go get the lumber we needed, it would start to rain. Not what you want when transporting unprotected lumber.

Once the weather warmed up and it stopped raining, we suddenly didn't have time to build the sandbox anymore.  The weeds grew back...with vengeance.  Eli was able to go pick up the lumber mid-June and the week after (when Isaac and I were out of town), he was able to stain it.  The box still needed to be put together though.  With Isaac at grandma and grandpa's, it seemed like the perfect time.  After cleaning out the area again and spraying it with weed be gone, we got started.


First, we laid down weed barrier.  We wanted to prevent weeds from coming up the best we could. 
After that, we put together the box.  We made ours 6 feet by 6 feet and used 2x10s as the sides of the box. 

The first side, Eli attached the far board to the box first.  I would recommend attaching the 3 boards for the side of the lid together before attaching them to the box, it made attaching the hinges harder when the far board was attached first.  We used 2x12s for the top figuring that with the gaps for the hinges, 6 boards at 12 inches would end up hanging over the end a bit, but oh well.

After attaching that board, we attached the hinges to the top side so that it fold open and sits on top of the board that is attached to the box.  The center board gets attached with hinges on the underneath side so that it sits up and acts like a back for the seat.

 

The second side we attached all the hinges first, then attached the outer board to the box, it was much easier.  Once both sides were attached, it was time for the handles.  We couldn't find handles that matched the hinges and we kept wondering if there was a way to help prevent the handles from burning me when sitting in the sun.  Eli came up with the idea of rope handles, perfect!! 

He drilled holes in the inside board on each side, then put the rope through and tied each end.  After the handles were attached, the 2x4s were attached.  The 2x4s just help the back of the seat stand up rather than falling over.

Once it was built, we closed it...and discovered that 2x12s are really only 11 inches wide.  Oops.  We didn't want to attach a board to just one side so it looks funny when they are folding up, but the purpose of the lid is to keep cats and such out.  We decided that we'd leave it and see if animals get into or not, if they do, then we'll deal with it.  As for this winter, we'll cover it with a tarp to help keep as much snow out as possible.

We attached plastic to the inside of the box to help keep the sand in and then we filled it with sand.  Around the edges I put rocks to cover the weed barrier.

We may have put more sand in the box than we planned, but as Isaac plays in it, I'm sure some of it will disappear.

 

We are done!! Yay!!



Now Isaac has a place to play and I can sit and watch.  As the summer goes on, I'll keep in eye out for patio umbrellas on sale to set it up so that we can have some shade out there.  Next big thing for Isaac with be a kiddie pool but luckily I can just go buy one of those.