To Sand or Not to Sand

When we first moved into our house my father in law asked if he could do a project at our house with our son Mitchell. We said yes and ended up with a huge sand box, two uneven bars, a fire pole and a big blue slide that Mitch could barely caring over his head with most of it dragging behind him.
Since we have cats we have had issues with our sand box. Several years ago we made a cover for it. Last year we did not open the sand box once. Since the cover does not seal, rain water and sprinkler water can get inside. We debated rather we should replace the sand yet again with new sand, thinking that Rylee would like to play in it. I was not looking forward to having sand everywhere but we gave in. Rylee loves it and I think Madee is happy too. Here are some pictures of Rylee playing in the Sand box. These pictures were taken as we were shoveling the new sand in. She was a little excited to get in and dig. She didn't care that we had shovels and rakes all around her. And yes we have sand everywhere. In the shoes, socks, diaper, bed, crib, couches, and of course the wood floor!

If you look close you can see that she has sand in her hair and all over her face. Look at that smile how could we say no?