New Ride!

Gavin has a fancy new truck to cruise around the yard in!

After much debating about what to do for Gavin for his birthday, I took him to Toys R Us to see if there was anything that caught my eye and Gavin's interest that would be worth considering as his present. We didn't actually stop in the Power Wheels section, but Gavin freaked out as we went by and desperately wanted to stop and get out of the cart to play. I was able to distract him with looking at some other toys in the next section but I knew that I needed to reconsider my position on Power Wheels and at least look into what our options were.

We decided to go back together to look at what Toys R Us had and let Gavin try a few out to see if it was even possible to find something in a reasonable price range and size. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety available. I thought the only options were the small "starter" ones that are far too small for Gavin or the large, $400 plus, size that seated two kids. I didn't know there was an in between size that would fit Gavin! Toys R Us didn't have many of the in between size so we took to the internet to see what was available from different brands in that size to get an idea of the price to decide if it was worth it. Scott found the perfect vehicle! A truck that was the perfect size and a very reasonable price! So, after a little bit of research to be sure that was our best option and we were getting the best price, we ordered it from Amazon. Unfortunately, although it qualifies for Amazon prime shipping (we are so spoiled by this), it took about 4 extra days of "processing" before they ship it out. That meant there was no way it would be here by his birthday. Huge bummer.

It came last night and it was totally worth the wait! Scott met the UPS delivery guy outside to have him bring it to the garage. We didn't want Gavin to see it so I distracted him and he didn't even notice Scott was gone for a few minutes and that something was delivered. Scott took care of putting it together and getting the battery on the charger after Gavin went to bed. Scott had planned to come home from work a little early so that we could unveil the truck to Gavin. We knew it would be a nightmare if Gavin had access to the truck before it was ready. He wouldn't understand he had to wait so it was much better to have him see it for the first time when it was all ready to be used. It didn't take Scott very long to put it together but the battery has to fully charge before it can be used for the first time (18 hours), so coming home a little early from work put us at a perfect time to try it out for the first time!

Scott went downstairs to take the truck outside before I brought Gavin down. Gavin just thought we were going outside to play so he was excited and headed straight for the garage door where Scott was waiting with the video camera (I had the Canon to take pictures of his reaction).

He was really excited! He saw it and he immediately climbed in to check it out. We tried to show him what to do but he pretty much figured it out what it does on his own right away. He still needs to figure out the whole steering concept, so we had to help direct him and keep him from running into trees, the house, and walls. He did really well and would often stop to just check out his truck. He could decide whether he wanted to drive or check it out more. It was really cute. We didn't know how long the battery would last, especially with driving through the grass, but he had a good 45 minutes of pretty much constant driving. It probably would have gone even longer if it had only been driven on pavement because while it was perfectly capable of driving through the yard, it was clearly using more power to do so.

The truck was absolutely a huge hit! I am so glad that I caved and gave Scott's idea some real consideration. I can't wait to go back outside for Gavin to spend more time enjoying his truck!