1957 Chevy!

Back in 2008 my dad built over one of the raised garden beds in their backyard and made a truck sandbox for the boys. It has been SO cool and all the kids have loved it.

The engine part even opened up exposing a V8 engine! 

This is right after Dad finished it. Owen was such a little baby here. The sand looks so dry and nice! 

Last couple of summers the truck sandbox had really started to show it's age. The pile wood roof of the truck had started splitting, the lower boards were rotting out and the sand had pretty much ruined the wood from the inside because it was always wet. 

Now that Pa is retired he had some time to actually work on fixing it. I had no idea what he was going to build, but I knew he was so excited to show the kids.

He even put Ga-Ga to work!!!

Here's the 1957 Chevy...unpainted of course!

The front hood and the trunk are actually storage containers. Dad took one of the lids in to the hardware store so they could match the paint to it. 

All 4 lights in the front actually turn on. They are those push lights. 

Ga-Ga slaving away in the sun....anything for her sugar bears!

Pa putting the black paint on the bottom portion of the car. 

Pa was able to keep the original wheels that he used for the truck sandbox. 

A few years after building the truck sandbox they bought a playhouse to go on top of the other raised garden bed....you can see it in the background. Since the sandbox got a makeover they figured the house needed one too. Mom is painting the shutters to the house the same color as the car. 

Here it is all finished! It truly is amazing!!! The chrome pieces look so nice and add that little extra touch of authenticity! 

The door handles are what you use to lift the roof off to expose the sandbox portion. 

Pa lined the roof of the car with a tarp and then painted it to match. Hopefully that will help it weather better. 

The Chevy emblem is actually from my Grandpa's 1960 Chevy pickup!!! 

Once you take the roof off it's now a convertible! 

In order to stop the sand from rotting out the inside Pa got these 4 plastic containers. Each of the kids has their own sand area to play in. It's perfect!!!! 

The first time we got to see the new sandbox was on July 1st. We were bringing the kids down to spend 3 nights at Ga-Ga & Pa's.

We don't have a sandbox at our house anymore....we have cat and it turned into a giant litter box because kids wouldn't shut the lid! This will be so nice for the kids to have something at Ga-Ga & Pa's that they don't have at home. 

Owen was super proud of his castle with a moat that he built. I'm sure there will be hours and hours of entertainment to be had. Pa sure outdid himself this time!!!

Family 4th!

This year our 4th of July festivities were a bit more quiet due to several families not being able to make it to my parents house. It was still a wonderful celebration though!

 

 

Ga-Ga & Pa looking quite patriotic! Zeke even helped Pa add a little more red to his shirt when he fell out of the truck sandbox and got a bloody lip!

 

 

Love how the balloon got in the picture! Oh yeah and see the herd in the background...more on that later!

 

 

Even though Uncle Ry, Aunt Stephie, Bill, Christina and kids weren't able to join us we see distant relatives...people I had never met before. This is my 3rd cousin Ryan and his wife Ling. They just moved up here from Colorado.

 

 

This is Kelly and Vernita, Ryan's parents. Vernita is my Dad's cousin. They are also from Colorado. They helped Ryan and Ling move up. It was so fun getting to meet them and chat. It's always fun to meet family!

 

 

And what is a day outdoors at Ga-Ga & Pa's without taking a spin in the big ball. You might notice that it's not a big RED ball though....that one bit the dust! So Pa went out and purchased a brand new big BLUE ball for the kids. The blue ball has got a better design in regards to the chambers that hold the air. Hopefully this one will last longer than 2 summers!

 

 

I'm not sure who has more fun...the boys being pushed my Pa or Pa pushing the boys!

 

 

You might remember that Ella Bean was absolutely terrified of the big red ball...we were hoping that she might have warmed up to the idea of it. She actually asked to go inside! I was totally shocked!

 

 

Of course she changed her mind once we got over to the ball, but I was able to convince her sit in there with me holding onto her. Huge step!

 

 

After Ryan and Ling had been at the house for a while they decided to go check out that big blue ball too. Jack helped Ryan push Ling around in the ball. I don't know if she had fun though....I can't tell!

 

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

Even though it wasn't the nicest day the sun did come out for about 45 minutes and there was no denying these kids some sliding time on the slip and slide!

 

He's the winner!!!

 

Taking a spin in the truck sandbox!

 

 

Perfect size for him!

 

 

Handsome boys in there 4th of July clothes courtesy of Aunt Stephie. Of course I never did get a picture of all 4 of the kids in their 4th clothes. Either Zeke was napping or the boys were in their swim trunks.

 

 

Later on we got the kids in their pj's and then Zeke did his best impersonation of an orangutan. 

 

 

This cute 13 month old is still not walking! He is our latest walker. He's started standing up on his own in the middle of the room so I know it's not far off though.

 

 

And of course what's a family celebration without smores!

 

Once the fireworks started...there legal in Orting...we took the boys (Ella and Zeke were in bed) to the front yard to watch them. The people across the street were freaking Michael out because they were not handling their fireworks very responsibly. Owen is our little pyro maniac so he was in heaven. Jack was so completely exhausted that he kept saying he was bored and then he sat on Pa's lap under a blanket and fell asleep! After a while Michael and I went inside...I'm not much for fireworks either and I wanted to watch Vampire Diaries on Netflix! The kids...even the younger ones that were supposed to be a asleep didn't get to sleep until 10:30! Let's just say that Friday wasn't pretty!  

Surprises For The Kiddos!

Last Saturday we went down to Ga-Ga & Pa's house to spend the day and the night. They had a few surprises to show the grandkids.

Pa said, "Let's go see what's in the backyard!"

Pa decided to use the garden box next to the truck sandbox as the foundation for the kids new playhouse.

Ella was loving it!

The kids have their own little clock inside there house.

A kitchen with a stove and a sink.

Also window boxes...although Jack think once of them is a mailbox.

Pa got this kit at Sam's Club just recently and it's just the cutest thing. There was supposed to be a bench that came out on the right side of the house, but since there wasn't room for that Pa used the wood instead to make a nice little step for Ella in the front.

After Pa got the door and the doorbell in place the kids had so much going in and out. The hinges on the door are the kind that you would imagine on an old farmhouse where the door slams back shut. It's so cool! Thankfully no fingers have been hurt...yet!

On Sunday morning after the boys got dressed they decided they should go out and cook fruit snacks and cookies on their stove.

Jack also gave Ella a crash course in how to wash your hands in the sink. See the shutters there...we played a game of 'Drive Thru' where I pretended I was driving buy order stuff. I would first ring the doorbell, give them my order and then pull forward to the shutter window where I would get my goods. It was fun!

Pa still isn't finished though...Ella is dancing on what will soon be the front porch with rails and all.

Play Area!

We are almost done with the yard! Michael got all the gravel spread around the play area the other day. He still needs to finish putting down the rest of the stones we bought for the boys dirt pile and framing in the left side of the play area.

When we stayed at Ga-Ga & Pa's we took a bucket worth of sand from Pa's truck sandbox. We are going to get a couple more buckets worth, but we knew we would need more than that so we went to Lowe's and got two bags worth. It was enough for the boys to play with. They love the sand!

This is the area that will get worked on next summer. We are going to take the fence down and use the left over stones from the retaining wall to build a stairway to the front yard. Also the chicken wire fence on the right will be a wood fence instead. Our neighbor is really nice and he wants to go in half and half to pay for it.