the great thing about having kids is that you get to live vicariously through them. when i was a kid we had a neighbor who had a green machine and i loved it when ever he would let me ride it. it is kind of like a big wheel but the steering has been moved to the back of the vehicle. this makes it where the rear will “sling around” quickly. in other words, you “spin out”. it was always a blast. unfortunately i never actually had the opportunity to have my very own green machine.
since, i am the proud father of an almost eleven year old and a recent seven year old my wife and i now get the opportunity to get things for them that we always wanted for ourselves. of course, it is always nice if they like the things that we want to get for them. this year “santa” brought my youngest child a green machine. we have spent about half of the day outside in the freezing cold, sleet infested weather. the boys have been sliding all over the road. the funny thing has been watching all the neighbors come outside and watch the boys ride on the green machine. i had a conversation with one of our across the street neighbors earlier today about how he had a green machine as a kid. he was surprised that they still make them.
the great thig is that they have actually improved the machine. it used to be made almost completely of plastic and it wore down pretty quickly. the new model is about 85% metal and can support up to 180 pounds. it can be stretched out to the point that i think i can ride on it. i probably will later today. i’ll just do this for the sake of testing the safety of the device. these are my children and i have to protect them. 🙂