What's Buzzing with the Brasfields: Outdoor play space

We have been working on an outdoor play space for the kids in the backyard. Tyler LIVES to play outside so this quickly moved to the top of our priority list. Mainly because the outdoor toys are starting to take over, but also because we didn't really have a good, safe place for Tyler to play in the backyard that isn't full of dog poop. So as a result, we usually play in the driveway and front/side yard.

Here is a before shot of what we started with. A couple owners before us made this back area into a play zone and we still have the remnants of pebbles (that allow nothing to grow!!) to prove it. It has been storing Tyler's playhouse that he never got to use and we also kept firewood, pool supplies and just miscellaneous junk back there. Russ cleared out the space, then added a cheap wood border and landscape fabric to keep the weeds out.

Before...

Space being prepped with landscape fabric.

We then had 20+ yards of freshly cut wood chips dumped in our driveway! We didn't intend on having that many wood chips, but when the truck came, I was the one who was home. They dumped a little bit and asked me if that was enough. I had no idea!! I knew we wanted 6 yards but couldn't tell if that was enough, so I took them to the backyard to show them our space. They said we needed a lot more and proceeded to leave us the entire, huge dump truck full! Granna and Tyler got home from daycare right as the dump truck pulled out of the driveway. Tyler was so upset about the "big mess" that the dump truck left in the driveway! It was hilarious and all he talked about for days!

Yes, that is Russ' head poking over the pile! So crazy!

Ridiculous amount of wood chips!

Needless to say, we had WAY more wood chips than we needed! Russ and I spent several nights moving the chips where we wanted them (him more than me...thanks, honey!) and then we put an ad on Craigslist for free wood chips. The rest disappeared in 2 days! We probably had 15 different people, some taking multiple loads each, come and shovel them away! Everyone was so nice and appreciative. It almost felt like we were doing a really good deed...even though they had to do their own shoveling and hauling, which is hard work! We are certainly happy to have our driveway back and Tyler is glad to have the "big mess" gone. Though he did have fun "helping" Daddy "clean up" the "mess". Ha!

The start of MANY wheelbarrow loads of chips!

Tyler helping Daddy clean up the mess!

He loves helping his Daddy...great for future yard work!!

He was not content to merely shovel.
He needed to put it in the truck, too,

So, to explain the hat...Tyler wants to be just like his
Daddy and always wants to wear Russ' outside work
hat. I found this safari hat at the Dollar Tree so
now Tyler has a "work hat" of his own!

Yay for a smaller pile!

He had to have his own shovel to help!

Taking a break to play!

Throwing wood chips is super fun!

Here is the finished product of the kids new backyard play space! The entire project cost about $100 and we absolutely love it! It not only makes the backyard look nicer, but it gives Tyler a big, contained place to play, that isn't in the front yard (though we do still play there, too). But it has created a little monster, because this just makes Tyler want to play outside even more! We have bigger plans to add more things to the space over time, but this is a great starting point. We have one spoiled little boy right now!! (Who is a little obsessed with hats...as you will see by the winter dino hat he is wearing in most of the pictures below! Ha!)