The Story of a Box

Last month, the day Sam came home with the Adventure Bag, to be exact, the kids pulled out some cardboard boxes from our "to be recycled stash" and the ice cream bucket of markers and went to town decorating, creating and carefully planning what each box would be.

Well into the process, Sam came up to me and said his toboggan needed wheels. I suggested black construction paper, or small paper plates that we could glue to the side of the box. Nope, paper pretend wheels would not do for this little guy. He wanted real wheels and a steering wheel. "Sam," I said, "real wheels and a steering wheel .... that means some kind of an axle, and that's beyond my creative abilities. How 'bout we call Grandpa Bob and see if he can help you with it?"



After a short conversation with Grandpa about wanting real wheels for his toboggan car that he could steer ... and a bit of translation ... aka Soap box car frame for a corrugated box 12 x 12 x 24. Grandpa was good to go.

The kids were already scheduled to spend Saturday morning at Grandma and Grandpa's so the box went with them and Sam and Grandpa spent the morning in the shed cutting wheels out of 2x6's, building a little I frame for the box to sit on and engineering a steering system. The result was better than any of us could have hoped for!





The little soapbox toboggan car spent most of it's first day with us in the house with the kids giving Alex rides all over in it, but we don't have a lot of room for that kind of thing inside so they quickly looked to taking it outside later in the week when the weather was a bit warmer.

Sam came in and said Mom, I'm going to ride my toboggan down the hill - our perfect for sledding, not so perfect for mowing hill on the east side of the house.

I said that was fine, but strongly suggested he start halfway down the hill, wear his bike helmet and large puffy winter coat, hoping a combination of the three would provide needed protection for when he fell out or was catapulted from the car. Sadly the wheels really need some kind of engine on grass, and so they quickly abandoned the grassy hill and moved on to the neighbors equally steep driveway ... bless that sweet neighbor for filling in all the deep caverns at the end of his driveway this past fall. He saved the children from many a scrap and bruise!