backyard play area

My younger self always thought I'd never be that person with plastic Fisher Price toys scattered about my yard. Now, I'm the proud owner of a few of those beauties. They're fun, sturdy, and affordable...I get it.

Our outdoor project this spring is two things: starting a small vegetable garden (more on that later) and to clean up the area where the kid toys are and make it more visually appealing and functional.

Our backyard has one tree and we've placed the kids play houses and sand table under it. However, it was in no way a nice place to play. I forgot to take a "before" photo (why do I always forget?!). So just imagine a big uneven pile of dirt, mud, rocks, old bricks, and grass clippings topped with wet leaves and spiders. Gross.

Chris hired our brother-in-law, Steve, to assist him and they cleaned out the area, tilled the dirt piles flat, put down weed tarp, bordered it with paver bricks, and filled it with a rubber mulch. Now there is a nice area for the two play houses, sand table, and water table. Huge improvement!

 after it was leveled and tarped

Complete! Time to play!