My mom always gave my brother and me complimentary Tonkas: he'd get a front end loader and I got a dump truck. He'd get tractor trailer and I got a dozer. And so on. We never got a crane - upwards of $20! She would section off a part of her garden and we could dig and make roads to our content, but we better not be seen amonst the carrots!

I had the sand and top soil pit behind our house to play in. Just had to remember to pick everything up after "work" or there was a real good chance my equipment would have been run over before the next day...

At the time I bet it was a drag having to cut your peddle car loose. "Just imagine" if you had them today.:bigthink:

Yeah I wish . . . wish my kids could have played with them, but I knew at the time that they were going to a good home with someone who would have as much fun with 'em as we did. That does take a lot of the pain out of it.

I had a sand box dad made I played in. Grandmas cats did too, not a good combo! Lol

My favorite Christmas memory was of my chocolate lab when I was 15. He absolutely LOVED snow, and would slide down hills on his back. We were at our sledding hill, and he tried climbing onto a saucer sled. His front legs slipped out from under him on the slippery plastic, so he was laying on his shoulder on the sled, but his hind legs were still standing. He realized he could slide faster this way, and for the better part of an hour he was sprinting all over the place with his back legs while half laying on this saucer. We all could not stop laughing, he was hysterical to watch. This was the days before camera phones, so no video proof, but that memory will last forever!