First-born Douglas just turned fifty-two which means he was a little more than sixteen months old in this picture - Christmas, 1963 - taken in the living room of the old Methodist parsonage in Brooks. The 'Hanzie house' we had been renting in south Brooks was sold to Gene & Carolyn Dixon so we 'moved on up' across the RR tracks where we rented the old parsonage. It was a cute house too, but cold; hard to heat.
Christmas was coming and I wanted it to be a good one for our little boy. He was big enough to play with toys. I wanted in the worst way to buy him a wonder horse but they were expensive - somewhere in the thirty dollar range if I remember right.
I don't remember now how I managed to buy his horse. I might have put it on lay-a-way and paid a bit each week. However I did it, it was there next to the tree on Christmas morning. I can't decide what the expression on his face is - more "Hurry up and take the dumb picture so I can get off this horse!" than "Whoopee! Ride 'em cowboy!" If Doug ever had a name for the toy I don't remember it. I always just referred to it as the wonder horse.
The horse served many riders over the years including siblings Kari and Preston as well as cousins Andrew, Lorrie and Christine before being 'put out to pasture'...... (Stored upstairs in my parents' house.)
..........Until the next generation came along. This is Doug's first-born, Brock, riding the wonder horse in the living room of the house on the acreage we rented from Mrs. Elliott south of the Fairview Church. Brock looks as though he was enjoying the ride more than his Dad did.
Those wonder horses must have been well built because we now have a third generation riding this same old pony.....
....Brock's second-born son, Sawyer, turned one last month. At his birthday party Grandpa Doug presented him with the wonderful, only slightly faded, wonder horse. Sawyer's mommie, Paullina, labeled this picture "I'm a cowboy, Mom. Cowboys don't smile." when she posted it to FB Monday.
Just knowing that three generations have ridden the wonder horse and having these photos of them makes that original purchase price very well worth it!
Out of curiosity I looked up the present price for a wonder horse and this Radio Flyer "Blaze Interactive Riding Horse" came up. It says the list price is $269.99 on sale for $149.99. Glad I'm not debating buying one today! Of course the Blaze version has three stages of riding sounds - walking, trotting and galloping - and includes brush and feeding carrot accessories.
Sawyer might like Blaze's sounds, but since he already makes his own shifting sounds while playing on his riding car, I'll bet he can make his own horsie sounds on Grandpa's original wonderful Wonder Horse.
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