My younger daughter Kayden is one of those unfortunate kids with a birthday right before Christmas. In the shadow of the Holidays, our birthday gifts to her have typically been unimaginative afterthoughts. This past December seemed as if it would be no different.
“Kayden?” I ask sheepishly on the eve of her birthday, “What do you want for your Birthday?” If she says ‘trampoline’, I already have the excuses memorized.
“I want a Wave like Austin G.” she replies.
For those of you who are uninitiated, Austin G. is one of these ultra- coordinated kids that was umbilically attached to a skateboard at birth. The Wave is a 2-wheeled skateboard, also known as a Ripstick, or generically, a caster board. The Wave rider propels him or herself along the street by small hip movements and moving in a continuous “S” pattern.
I’d seen Austin G. on his Wave. It looked hard, even for him. Kayden is a strong athlete for her age, but I held out very little hope that she would ever master it.
I look at my watch. 8:30. The stores close at 11:00. The Wave is the best idea I’ve got, and at $75 on sale, the price point is right…. The Wave it is.
The Birthday morning comes. The Wave is unwrapped. “Oh, Dad! It’s just what I wanted!” She runs outside to try it out, and after 30 minutes, is unsuccessful. I think to myself, so far everything is going according to script. When she looses patience with it, we can store it with all the other abandoned toys in our garage.
But wait. We had a bit of a Christmas miracle last December at our house. Older sister Parker gave it a try, and in about 15 minutes, she was scooting around the court. That gave Kayden the motivation she needed, and within another day she was riding too. Now the big question. Can Dad do it? The drum roll please!
Yeah baby! So, ultimately we ended up buying 3 Waves at a local sporting goods store. We race on them. We do tricks on them. We play tag on them. We walk the dog on them. And just yesterday we played War with our Super Soaker squirt guns on them. It’s true, at age 45, and at 200 pounds, I do not have the maneuverability of my daughters. They have taken to calling me “The Great Unskilled One”. I’ll take the trash talk. This is a great Father-Daughter activity, and I cannot rate this toy highly enough.
Paulano gives it 5 stars. (update: One year later, May 2009, it is still gets a lot of play time)
If you are looking for great gift ideas, and your friends and family are not quite ready for the Wave, be sure to check out Kyle Design for cool water gifts that will make a splash without getting you soaked.
Technorati: Wave, Ripstick, Ripstik, Father, Daughter, Christmas, Holiday, Birthday, Gift, Dolphin Cake, Drum Set Gifts, Super Soaker, squirt guns, skateboards, athletes, sporting goods, toys, caster board, drummer, Drum Corps, Father-Daughter, family
Filed under: Daughters, Dogs, Father-Daughter, Gifts, Kyle Design, Livermore CA, Recreation, Reviews, athletes, toys | Tagged: athletes, Birthday, caster board, Christmas, Daughter, Dolphin Cake, Drum Corps, Drum Set Gifts, drummer, family, Father, Father-Daughter, Gift, Holiday, Ripstick, Ripstik, skateboards, sporting goods, squirt guns, Super Soaker, toys, Wave
