Tag Archives: nephews

Blinded by the green machines

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Nephew Reece has loved everything about tractors and digging in the dirt since he was practically old enough to crawl.

Every birthday and every Christmas brings one simple request from him. He wants tractors – lots and lots of tractors.

This year, however, the request wasn’t just for tractors, but specifically John Deere tractors.

Now, Reece knows my aversion to the green machines – he thinks it’s funny. (No doubt his dad, my brother, has had way too much influence on the little tyke!)

After buying Reece a red tractor for birthday No. 4, and an International-red T-shirt for Christmas, I broke down and actually shelled out my hard-earned money for something with a JD logo for Reece’s fifth birthday. I can’t believe I’m admitting it.

Oh, the whole John Deere versus International discussion is a big joke in our family. I don’t want to offend any JD lovers here. Who knows, if I hadn’t flipped that John Deere pedal tractor and gone head over heels as a 5-year-old – a little trick that required a rod be put through my elbow and I be stuck in a hospital bed for two weeks – I probably wouldn’t have such a dislike for the green machines!

Anyway, we joined the Fairmont Buntjers for a little birthday party Wednesday night. I’m pretty sure I’ve not seen so much John Deere green in a room ever before. The birthday boy was wearing a John Deere sweatshirt – with a matching John Deere T-shirt underneath.

And the presents … apparently little Reece gave everyone the memo to buy green. There were green tractors (yes, plural), John Deere decorations for his room and one of those big “Parking for John Deeres only” signs that he was so thrilled to get he kept kissing it.

I bought him the John Deere truck (I went for the brown one instead of the green one – for obvious reasons) that included a 4-wheeler and a cattle trailer with three Holstein cows. I think he liked it – he was just too wound up, sugared up and excited to open the rest of his presents.

Four wheels and a tangled web

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Despite what my teenage niece thinks (see my last blog), I’m pretty sure my 8- and 10-year-old nephews still think I’m cool. Of course, they aren’t basing this on my ability (or lack thereof) to operate my new cell phone. Instead, it’s my ability to drive them places they want to go.

I drove out to the farm this afternoon because nephew Blake of the Fairmont Buntjers is going to be spending the next week there. My folks traded their youngest granddaughter Alayna for her oldest brother on Friday, which means that after they fill Blake full of sweet corn and Grandma’s home-baked goodies (by next Friday) it will be Reece’s turn to spend a week at the farm.

Anyway, I took Blake for a ride to the back pasture on our 4-wheeler late this afternoon. We traveled the narrow path through the grove, sped up on the open dirt road between the alfalfa field and the soybeans until we rounded the curve, and then followed the waterway all the way back to the farthest point north on the property.

Before we made it that far, however, Blake tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a critter in the soybeans. All that was visible was her head and just a little bit of her neck.

"What’s that, Julie?" he hollered over the rumble of the 4-wheeler.

Had I been quick enough … oh, if only I’d thought of it … I could have spun quite a tale. Instead, I told him it was a deer. Then I paused.

"It kind of looks like a kangaroo though, doesn’t it?" I asked. "Those big ears, that brown hair … it could be, don’t you think?"

"Yeah, it could be," replied Blake. "But you already said it was a deer!"

Now, I can be pretty darn gullible at times and, if that is something one can inherit, well, nephew Blake inherited every gullible ounce of his being from his Auntie Juwee.

I can’t tell you how many times I have fooled this kid with my outlandish tales. Quite honestly, it’s to the point that the kid questions anything I tell him. That makes me giggle all the more!

It’s just that Blake asks more questions than anyone I know (well, aside from me – but hey, I’m a reporter!) It’s so easy to toss out a line and reel him in … hook, line and sinker!

But I really missed my opportunity with the deer. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow!

I took Blake through the back pasture, stopping to watch the rings in the creek after a muskrat spied us and ducked under the water, and then stopping again to point out some of the unique prairie flowers in bloom.

We’d spent a little too much time out back and, realizing we needed to get ready to go to the movie, I took the path back to the house at a little faster pace. Poor Blake was sitting on the back rack (his choice, not mine!) About half way to our destination, he asked me to go slower than my 15 mph speed … "at least over the bumps!"

Well, I slowed up a little bit and continued on my way through the alfalfa field, then onto the path through the grove of trees. I dodged the branch of a choke cherry tree and was just about to drive between the narrowest point in the path when I heard Blake say, "Why did that cherry tree just hit me in the head?"

After controlling my laughter (it was only leaves that skirted the top of his noggin’), I told Blake, "Ah, next time I duck, you need to duck. OK?"

I’m pretty sure he’ll believe me on that request. As for everything else I tell him, well, I’m thinking he’s learned to be a skeptic!

High five, low five, take five

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Awards on a wall or trophies in a case really don’t mean a whole lot in life, but the admiration of a nephew, well, now that’s something.

If I accomplish one thing in this life, it’s the "cool" auntie I want to be. I think I added another notch toward that goal Thursday night.

I left work a couple of hours early and headed to the Fairmont Buntjers to watch nephews Blake and Reece play baseball. There was a bit of a dilemma though – they both played at the same time – at opposite ends of an extra long city block.

My Godson Reece, he’s four, was already pouting before we got to the ball field, mostly because big brother Blake took the lucky batting glove, but also because he wanted his Auntie Juwee to stay and watch his entire game. In other words, Blake’s game didn’t matter.

Well, with the ball playing days winding down, and this my one Thursday night off of work, I had to make the most of it. I sat in the shade and watched Reece hit five balls off the tee during batting practice, then packed up my chair and joined Mom in a walk across the parking lot and down the street to watch Blake’s pee-wee game. Three innings later, Blake was finally up to bat. Pitch one – Blake connects and sends the ball straight above his head, and back down into the catcher’s mitt.

Blake headed back to the bench with a smile on his face, and Mom and I packed up our chairs and walked back to the T-ball game in time to see Reece knock a pitch toward a group of kids. He made it around all of the bases and, after he stomped across home plate, he made a bee-line for me with a mile-wide grin and a bouncing hard hat of a helmet.

I thought I was going to get whacked in the nose by the hard plastic, but as it turned out, Reece just wanted to give me a bear hug, a kiss and a high-five. That’s my little slugger!

A few more runs were scored by his teammates, and suddenly the game was over. Our second trip to the pee-wee field was timed perfectly with the end of that game. We missed Blake’s big hit (a single, but he made it around second, third and home plate on another kid’s hit to the outfield.)

It wasn’t watching both of the boys play baseball, however, that made me the "cool" aunt for the night.

Nope, it all came down to Wii.

I’ve never played the Wii before. My extent of video games these days are my Plug-N-Plays of Pac-Man and Centipede, favorite 1980′s Atari games that I purchased thinking they would be de-stressers from those long days at the office. It turns out, however, that those darn games stress me out even more!

Anyway, Blake started up the Wii and showed me his selection of games. Let’s see, I could go bear hunting, play a game of baseball or tennis, or … wait a minute, there’s a Wii archery game? Now that’s more like it.

When I told Blake I took a semester of archery in college, he looked at me with big eyes and asked an incredulous, "You did?"

"Of course! It was my favorite class that semester," I told him.

Let the competition begin!

It took a bit of coordination to get the wand thingamajig coordinating with the nunchuk contraption, but I didn’t do too bad. By the second game, I managed to get three bulls-eyes. Of course, that was also the game that I hit the wrong button and sent two of my arrows sailing over the target. In the end, Blake and I tied at 75 points.

After the round of archery, it was on to cycling around an island with Reece. This particular contest required me to move the nunchuk in one hand and the wand thingamajig in the other hand in furious motion, and then "steer like I’m driving a car" at the same time (Blake’s directions). Well, I finished the race, even after stopping my "bicycle" to enjoy the ocean view and a pretty lighthouse!

Next, it was on to Wii bowling with Reece. I don’t recall the final score, but I won’t soon forget the slapping high fives each time we threw a strike. By the end of 10 frames, my arm was tired and my shoulder hurt.

That’s when Blake said, "Julie, Wii is good because it can help you lose weight. It gives you a good workout."

I didn’t bother to tell him I’d walked around Lake Okabena the night before, which I consider to be better for my health than throwing my shoulder out playing Wii bowling. But hey, if playing Wii adds to my "cool" auntie points, well then, let the games continue!

The final match-up of the night pitted me against Blake in a game of baseball. I pitched a bunch of screwballs (I never did learn how to throw a fastball or a curveball because it apparently involves pushing more buttons than A and B and, well, I’m just not that coordinated!)

The pitching went OK, but the batting, well, not so much. I think I heard something pop in my shoulder.

I figure I’ll probably be feeling the pain of a pulled muscle in the morning. Then again, to have been the "cool" auntie in the eyes of my boys for a night, well, I’m pretty sure the pain will be worth it.