Niklaus is CRAZY about tractors! He rides with Daddy and Papa every chance he gets and holy smokes if you forget to offer him a ride when you start up the machine and start mowing the lawn without him! Papa will occasionally hook up the little utility wagon and haul grandkids around. He likes to go on the paved path through the woods next to their house...the one marked "No Motorized Vehicles". Dad never was one to believe the rules actually apply to him. Besides, the current path covers the old which was a cow path formed by the cattle from the old farm...so I guess he thinks that he has some sort of "grandfathered right" (pun intended!) to use it with his John Deere.
When my sis married Mathew and they settled out at Mat's house in the country I couldn't wait for my Matthew and all of our children to live the "country life" and spend a lot of time out there. Mat lives next to HIS family farm where his mom still lives and they keep cows! Hubs and kids love to help Uncle Mat "farm" and do duties around their 5 acre place. It really is sweet to see Matty and Niklaus "helping" and "doin' guy stuff" with daddy and Uncle Mat. This winter Niklaus got a ride on the "good tractor" with Uncle Mat while he plowed his driveway of snow. One of Niklaus' favorite books is an informational book called "Tractors". There are actual pictures of tractors and farm utility vehicles and little tidbits of information on the edges of the pages. I was reading it to him for the umpteenth time the other day and he pointed suddenly and said, "Hey, it's Unco Mat!" I looked at which pic he was pointing to and saw this:
