Sand Sculpture Mania

Xaviar mixing the right amount of water into the sand

Last weekend we drove up to Drake's Beach to see the 32nd Annual Sand Sculpture Contest.  The National Park Service puts on the event and it is truly spectacular.  If ever there were a great photo opportunity, this was it.  And, silly me, I left my camera in the car!  As walked along the gorgeous beach with ocean on one side and rocky cliffs on the other, we discussed which sculpture we enjoyed the most.  First we encountered a mermaid/merman honeymoon scene complete with toilet and sink in the bathroom.  There also was a giant foot, a pirate ship, a handful of octopi and a Mars rover.  We all agreed that the best was the sculpture of a fat man sitting in a boat unwittingly being swallowed by a shark,  which received an Honorable Mention.  There is a separate category for sculptures created by children only and some of their creations were adorable to say the least.  I watched one blond girl skip around her castling stringing seaweed around as though she was decorating a Christmas tree. Fun!

Basil preparing the castle site

Inspired by these works of art we headed to the beach at Crissy Field's the next day with an array of buckets and shovels (including some purchased from the hardware store for this specific purpose).  We had a blast building a castle with a moat.

 The boys then decided to bury each other and we couldn't resist adding some details.

Then Basil and I worked together on an octopus while Nigel and Xaviar supervised :)

Basil and I working hard with our supervisors are keeping an eye on us :)

The finished product

Along with a five gallon bucket, a garden shovel and several plastic sand toys we used some old copper baking tins I had picked up from a thrift store.  Upcycling these old metal items can be more eco-friendly than using plastic toys at the beach.  And they make cool designs!  Here are some examples:

Fun fish mold :)

These bread molds have cute details. . . .

. . . and they work very well as bricks!

Xaviar's class is going to be part of a sand sculpture in October so I am sure we will be spending many more days honing our skills.  Wish us luck!