Meet Isaac, my 6 year-old nephew and professional mischief maker. Prior to my arrival in Minnesota last week, he’d scaled my sister’s refrigerator and downed a half bottle of Disney princess gummy vitamins. Luckily, they were iron free.
My sister, Carole, is now on a first name basis with both poison control and the Disney princess gummy vitamin people, who are sending her a free replacement bottle for her troubles. Someone there must have a six-year-old boy.
Carole will have you know, Isaac isn’t much of the Disney princess type. The vitamins just taste good. In his spare time, while not sneaking large quantities of supplements, he can be found playing with spiders, hunting snakes in the yard, and beating up other little boys behind his school.
So, my sister and I decided a little trip to the railroad tracks up the street from my mom’s house to flatten some pennies would be the perfect thing to distract him from any misadventures on the first day of my trip.
We used to do it all the time as kids…
Of course, maybe teaching him to play around boxcars hauling 1000’s of pounds of potentially toxic material at high speeds wasn’t the best idea.
Jolene's Life in Focus 
What a great set of images! I remember doing this when I was a kid.
Thanks, Ted! If you lived next to a train track, it’s unavoidable. You have to squish things!
What a fun day! I’m sure Issac will remember it always…
I hope so, Bonnie! It was a fun day. I only get to see him once a year. 😦
The hand-stand was cool though…. 🙂
Umm, may I give my heartfelt response to things like this without being considered trite or malicious, having been a trainman? I know what relationship we have is tenuous….so I don’t want to overstep my bounds….it’s just, you know, folks die. You’all were obviously in a switching yard next to the main line.
What you don’t see, Mike, is the picture of the train man Caleb was talking to who purposely squished the penny. We were also right next to a road with a clear view of what was coming. I assure you, we were perfectly safe.
Where are those pictures?
I left out those pics, Mike. They don’t really help move the story along. That’s why you don’t see them. 🙂
Great post! You know what really caught my eye in the Penny Prepping pic: the penny and Caleb’s wedding band which I think is totally cool. I also really liked the view of the trains – the humidity looks totally oppressive.
That humidity was oppressive! So glad to be home, Sherry!