Kevin The Jeep!

Wait a minute!  Is that a picture of a little boy on a pink Barbie Beach Ranger Power Wheels?!

Why yes.  Yes, it is.  Why do you ask?

Barbie isn't for boys and neither is the color pink!

Um...you wanna bet?!  And besides,  the color of something doesn't magically change what it is.

So, over the weekend the grandparents were driving around, as they often do, and came across a free power wheels that they thought the Pizzmeister and his brother, Two-zy, would just love.

So, they shoved it in the trunk of their car as best they could and took it home, and they were right.  The boys did in fact fall in love with the Barbie Beach Ranger, now dubbed "Kevin the Jeep," immediately, but there was a problem.

We didn't know if Kevin would actually run, and I had no idea if I could get it running since I knew nothing about the inner workings of a Power Wheels.  Fortunately, after closer inspection I learned that it is essentially just a large remote control car, something I know about.

Phew! I thought.  

I can deal with that, and in fact I even have larger motors than what the power wheels has kicking around and can really get this pink beauty hauling petunias, but I decided that maybe I should just settle for slow and steady!

Anyway, as it turns out, running or not, Kevin was the coolest thing in the world, and it didn't matter what color it was.  All that mattered was that it had a steering wheel, tires, and a power source, which the boys had plenty of as any number of adults and Grammy's house are willing to push the rugrats around while they are driving there little Jeep.

But, being who I am, I wasn't satisfied with pushing the dobbers.  I wanted to see if Kevin the Barbie Beach Ranger Power Wheels would actually run.  So, I started where any sensible parent would start.  With a battery search.

Holy smokes are batteries expensive for a power wheels, and then you need a charger

too.

Not happening!

So, as you can see in this photo, I went back to Grammy and Grampy's house with Uncle Ra after the boys went to bed, and we did what we do best.  We improvised with what we have on hand, which was an old lawn mower battery and some lawn mower connectors.  The only problem was we had to cut the battery compartment to get the lawn mower battery to fit, and then find a way to secure it in place, but then the hood wouldn't close, but who cares?  It's a free power wheels that works, and the boys love it.

We spent a good part of Sunday digging holes and filling them with water because, of course, Kevin the jeep is a mud loving, rock crawler kind of a jeep.