Kids driving

Driving is all the rage around here these days. A month ago I had to renew my drivers license and while at the government office I picked up a copy of the rules of the road manual that all almost-sixteen-year-olds eagerly pore over to prepare for the written test to get their learners permit. I tossed it to Erin in the back seat. Heck, it was free -- and she'd probably get a kick out of it. I expect she read it cover to cover, actually. A week or so later I got Erin to move the minivan back from where we'd washed it, by the shop, to the carport. She was thrilled with her little tour de property. Then we found a larger area where she could practice, away from people, vehicles and public roadways and tried that out this week. The other kids think this is extremely fun, and funny. They can't wait until they're old enough. Maybe this is a fourteen thing... we'll see. I know that Sophie will need to outgrow her booster seat first!!

The kids, especially the middle two, took to watching the grass grow, waiting for the day they'd be allowed to hop on the lawn tractor and mow. Finally it came this weekend, in the midst of the power failure. Erin started mowing. Noah and Sophie were hoping for a turn. But Noah had been working on two fronts. He'd not only been angling to drive the mower tractor -- he'd been campaigning his dad for a chance to learn to drive the quad. It's a "working vehicle" that gets used for hauling bucked firewood out of the woods and for transporting Chuck and his digging and felling tools up the mountainside to where our creek emerges. Noah had managed to convince the aforementioned keeper of the ATV that he should begin to learn to drive it. Before I knew it, everyone was in on the act. We had a kid on the lawn tractor and kids taking turns on the quad. Even the little one with the newly broken collarbone got in on it -- though she at least had an adult drive her about under relatively safe conditions.
What a bunch of yahoos.