Birthday and Sandbox

We spent this past weekend in Minneapolis celebrating Will's birthday. On Saturday evening, we enjoyed a very nice dinner at the Guthrie Theater and then saw their production of Macbeth. There may have been chocolate cake from the 50's Grille at one point during the weekend too. Sarah and Josh were our babysitters on Saturday. So, on Sunday morning, to thank them and to further celebrate Will's birthday, we enjoyed breakfast at The Original Pancake House.

Of course, we needed some Anders time and were not disappointed in that department. He showed us one of his bikes, including how he can ride it down the back driveway and into the fence! Hitting the fence was all part of the plan, because he turned right around and demonstrated the technique again.

Contrary to these pictures, we did see lots of smiles during the weekend. He was too busy loading up on his Dad's waffles to provide a smile in this picture, however.

Will had asked us to drive there in our pickup so that we could help him build a sandbox for Anders. Naturally, I'd jump at any chance to build something. We built a basic box first, although Will had worked out affixing some slanted pieces to the bottom so that the top of the box would be level. Then, we covered the bottom with a piece of outdoor carpet so that rain (or Anders use of a garden hose when making moats, rivers, ponds, and lakes in the sand) wouldn't flush all the sand out under the sides and ends.

After we flipped it over, Will proclaimed things satisfactory.

Then we transferred the sand to the box. This we had purchased at a nearby landscaping outlet the evening before.

When Anders awoke from his afternoon nap, there was a big surprise waiting for him. The pieces laying across the end are parts for a top, which Will is going to complete later (or maybe he already has).

Anders tested it all out and also proclaimed things to his liking. He has had prior sandbox experience at preschool and so is very discriminating.

Actually, I think Will maybe wanted this for himself as much as for Anders. I suspect he has good memories from his own childhood sandboxes. Also, it gave him a chance to show Anders how those old toys of his can be even more fun when in a sandbox.

I liked watching "my boys" playing together!