Beach Boys & Building

One of the great things about being with grand-parents is that they are more than excited to go out on early morning beachie explorations. Here we found our 'professional' sand castle construction-guy getting all organized to start his final project of the week. He creates great big SOLID packs of sand from which to sculpt and build his creations. He brings all sorts of equipment to the beach, learning as he goes from a variety of websites and tutorials. He let the boys stand in his packing sand in an effort to get it even further compressed.

If you look very closely, you'll see that he is not compressing the sand in actual buckets. He explained to me that he has 'up-cycled' old conveyor belts from his job at a Frito Lay factory. He rolls the conveyor belts into the size circle/bucket that he desires to fill and then clips it into shape with some heavy-duty, seriously strong clips. That's when he starts the 'tamping' down process. Once he gets the sand really packed, he removes the clips and unrolls the side mold (conveyor belt) and he's left with the perfect sand cylinder for sculpting. He's a big fan of archways and bridges as you can see here. No. He did not get that entire castle sculpted while we did our early morning comb of the beach. We stopped back later in the afternoon to see his finished creation. Watching an expert at work at what they love is always an inspiration.

*****Next week includes "International MUD Day" where all things mud & dirt are celebrated. Surely slurping about in the wet sand is good preparation for pure 'mud' play? Whether you're seven in the slurrrpy/sloppy sand or a full grown man with sculpting tools in hand -- having the opportunity to dig and sculpt is pure delight, as evidenced by these pics filled with glee!