Braden's New Passion

Braden has found a new love. Ever since he dismantled Grandma's organ at age 3, we knew he was mechanically inclined. 

Last week we were at a garage sale. I was busy looking at the awesome amount of clothes for Maddie and me, which takes much concentration when there are great finds like there were at this sale. Braden kept coming up to me and talking about the weed whips that were "only $5!!" I kept saying "MmmHmm" as I always do when he thinks he has found a deal he can't resist.

After about the 5th time of him askng if he could buy a leaf blower, I finally realized he was serious. My normal mom "no" started to come out when I realized that 1....he had his own money. And 2...he was so excited about the thought of taking apart a motor and fixing it. Why would I not encourage this? He proudly paid $4 for a Craftsman leaf blower that the seller said did not work and within 5 minutes of getting it home, he had it running!

If only I had a video of him jumping around the driveway with that leaf blower running, shouting, "Yahooooo!". Seriously hilarious!

He preceded to work on cleaning up that blower for about 4 hrs that afternoon, and took Matt back to the garage sale the next day to buy two more leaf blowers and a hedge trimmer to fix and resell. 

I'm so proud of him and it makes my heart smile to see how hard he is working on these machines and his excitement for learning how motors work. He wants a workbench in the garage so he can start his engine repair business. We're going to keep encouraging him in this throughout he school year and gear some of his work towards his love of all things mechanical. He said he was even willing to do a report on how an engine works. Things like this make me excited for the new school year!