My boys have found their new favorite toy! We decided to visit Grandma and Grandpa Petersen this weekend, in celebration of Independence Day! We figured that being up close and personal with the fireworks would be better than gazing at the Stadium of Fire from across town. And the Grantsville/Tooele parade is more child friendly, lasting approximately an hour and they throw candy to the kids (at least that's the rumor).
Well, we arrived mid-afternoon and the challenge of finding activities to occupy our children presented itself. David immediately asked to play the computer and was emphatically denied. So what do you do in Grantsville? I'm not sure who made the initial suggestion but our boys decided that riding on Uncle Kyle's go-kart would be fun. However, the stipulation was that they couldn't ride it alone because of stability issues when cornering quickly. So I decided, through unanimous suggestion, to take the boys for a ride on the go-kart.
Uncle Kyle pulled out the go-kart and hosed off 5 layers of dirt. Then he fired it up and it was ready to go. After a brief 5 second over-view I took the kart for a test drive to get the feel of it. Once around the bulb of the cul-de-sac and it was time to take the kids out. Now keep in mind, this kart is designed for a single rider but I had to be there with my boys. The three younger boys fit in just fine but David is growing up and it was a tight squeeze. But we managed to sacrifice minimal comfort for the opportunity to drive!
So David was the first to go for a drive. Maybe I'm a little over-cautious but I did most of the driving for the first round. But one trip was all it took to get the boys addicted. The second round each boy took control of the wheel. I maintained control of the gas and brakes but the boys were thrilled to be in control of the kart, driving here and there, all over the road. Grandma lives on a very quite street in a small town so there was very little traffic to watch for so the kids had the entire street to themselves. We only had a few close calls with the curb and the few parked cars on the street. It looks like playing Mario Kart on the Wii has finally paid off.
I think we had about 5 turns each driving to the end of the next street and back. By then I was getting tired trying to contort myself to fit in the kart, allowing the boys to drive but controlling the acceleration. After the last turn we parked the kart for the night.
It wasn't an hour later before Michelle decided that she wanted to take a spin on the kart. So back out it came and off she went. By this time David was distracted by the computer (he finally gained control of the console). But Donovan, Michael and Aleky were ready for round 2! Michelle took them for a spin this time. But not having as much time with each boy she was a little more cautious with each one, not completely allowing them to control the kart. But it didn't matter, they had a blast. And I suspect that Michelle was having a grand ole time as well.
