Transportation Parade 2015

Every year Together We Learn has a Transportation parade.  This year Nolan chose to be a bulldozer and Carter chose to be a dump truck.  Our work was cut out for us, but thanks to Pinterest our lives were made a little easier with step by step instructions on how to make our projects.

The project took place over the course of several days, so don't think we managed all of this in one day!  I wish.  I have to admit I did have a lot of fun completing the projects.  Bill on the other hand did his part, didn't say much or seem too excited.

First things first, we needed boxes and lots of them.  The instructions called for Home Depot boxes.  Bill thought he could go to Lowe's and buy their boxes because all boxes are the same. WRONG! Believe it or not Home Depot's boxes are cut differently than Lowe's boxes.  Strange right?  After trying two different times to make the Lowe's boxes work, Bill finally gave in and went to Home Depot to purchase the correct boxes.  Along with paint, glue, tape, etc.

Nolan's bulldozer seemed more complex so we started with his first.  Bill measured, cut and glued.  Once the vehicles were assembled, I painted and decorated them.  Nolan had fun painting as well.

Blake had fun playing with the empty boxes.

Time for some paint.....

Once the main part of the body was painted yellow, it was time for the more specific details.  I don't think I have ever used a tape measure so much in my life.  The details were down to exact measurements on both sides, give or take a 1/4 of an inch!  As Bill said, "There are other measurements on the tape measure beside 1/4" and 1/2."  I told him it gets too confusing if I choose the smaller measurements! Haha

 We had to reinforce the front blade with screws.

 The finished dozer!

On to Carter's dump truck.  The dump truck consisted of less cutting and glueing, but it was the one that gave us trouble because of the Home Depot vs. Lowe's boxes.  The third box was the charm!

 Carter had fun painting the wheels on his truck.

When no one was looking, Carter decided to go ahead and paint the front of the truck white along with a nice side detail.  Luckily, it was only white and easily covered with red.

The front of the truck.

I told myself I was only going to finish the front and go to bed.  I was too excited to see what the truck would look like finished after I put the front up to the back part of the truck.  So a few hours later, the entire truck was complete except for the tires.  It was a late night, but I went to bed feeling accomplished.  It is amazing how much better the truck looks when the colors are outlined with black.

The finished dump truck!

The night before the Transportation parade, a few alterations had to be made.  Bill measured Nolan's dozer and with the tracks it wouldn't fit through the doorway, so Bill had to take 5 inches off of each track.  We didn't take into account how large the vehicles were compared to the kiddos.  Yes, we are those obnoxious parents who go all out and embarrass their kids.  Bill purchased suspenders from Wal-Mart to strap onto the vehicles and allow the boys to comfortably walk in them.  

Transportation parade day!  The parade actually took place two days, but I was able to go to the one on Friday.  Carter wouldn't wear his dump truck either day.  Miss Cassandra wore his dump truck on Thursday and Carter thought I would wear it on Friday.  Not a chance.  I carried his truck for him while he stood by my side.   Ms. Megan did make Carter get a picture in his dump truck at the end of the parade though.

 There were a couple of other obnoxiously large vehicles at the parade, so we didn't feel too bad.

The dump truck and bulldozer turned out so great and took so long to make, we decided with a couple of minor alterations these will be the boys' Halloween costumes as well.

Thanks to my awesome husband who puts up with my crazy school project ideas!