The Beast

Surprisingly, the title of this post isn't referring to Teddy. It's the name of the totally awesome contraption my dad built for the boys. It's part sled and part tube with equal portions of ingenuity and love.

In case you didn't know, I grew up on a dairy farm. Although my family no longer raises animals, they still have all the property and raise crops. This means the boys get plenty of 4-wheeler and tractor rides when we visit. I didn't think anything could make tractor and 4-wheeler rides better until we got there this weekend and saw "The Beast."
 

This is completely normal for us.

My dad had created this specifically to allow Teddy to go tubing without needing an adult to hold him. It consists of a slippery plastic bottom with a large tractor tire tube strapped securely on top. The finishing touch was a smaller tube placed inside to give the perfect amount of support.

The boys loved the Beast. In fact, they spent most of Saturday morning riding in the Beast. They came in to warm up with hot chocolate (AJ) and snooze (Teddy - that 4 a.m. wake up makes him a bit tired by 11 a.m.). After that, we headed down to the woods where my dad had started a fire. We cooked hot dogs and s'mores for our winter bon fire picnic. It was so neat to see Teddy wandering around to whatever he wanted, mostly the 4-wheeler, when he couldn't walk by himself a year ago. We had snowball fights, played with snow paint and enjoyed an amazing afternoon.

This is mine. All mine. Wait, can you make it go?

This is our second year doing our winter cookout, and it's such a fun day. We were lucky to have much warmer weather this year that we could spend more time playing and enjoying the day.

Family sledding on the Beast.

As I've gotten older, I now have a much deeper appreciation for farmers. My dad (and uncle and grandfather) proved time and time again that no one is just a farmer. Farmers are gardeners, veterinarians, inventors, welders, woodworkers, machinists, mechanics, diagnosticians, meteorologists and so much more. I'm so lucky that my boys still get to experience bits of my childhood and spend such fun times with my parents. I mean, who else aside from a farmer could create something as awesome as the Beast?

Personalized sledding perfection!