Son + Father = Boy’s Toys!

Every year Laurie and I head up to the Cleveland Ohio suburbs around the grandson’s spring break to spend time with them…and to celebrate David II’s birthday.

It’s hard to remember back when he was this young…!  Wasn’t he a cute kid?!

It’s even a little hard to remember back when he'd grown up a bit…before his braces and back when I still had hair!

Time flies!  A couple of years ago we found ourselves with our son as he graduated from law school and starting his second career...with his wife Amy, a retail executive, and two handsome and talented grandsons…David III and Emmett Lee.

At this point, David II had already started claiming that his birthdays were marching backwards…39 years old and counting.  I thought that it was a bit strange since Laurie and I keep getting older…at least physically!

We do like to surprise our son…just to keep him off balance so that he never knows what we might do next.  For his birthday this year we came through with some of his usual birthday wishes…books and video games.

But then we gave him a brown paper shopping bag…with his surprise gift!  By the look on his face, you can see that we have his attention!

I had decided that the time had come for me to pass on my collection of ‘toy’ soldiers.  I’d acquired them over a 50 year period… This is just part of the 'army' I'd accummulated.

My collection included Britain’s, French, Canadians, South African, African, Cowboys, American Indians and other figures.

In age, some dated back to the late 1800s and others were made by American artists and craftsmen into the 1980s.  I never did count up the total number of items in my collection.

David II started collecting St. Petersburg soldiers and figurines 10+ years ago.  He has amassed quite an impressive collection!

These little works of art are hand crafted and hand painted.  The detail is amazing!

With the addition of this birthday surprise to David II’s collection he now has a balanced, impressive and growing representation of both new and old creations… He will need to come up with more display space!  We think that he really liked this little birthday present… I sure enjoyed giving it to him!

To find out more about Britain’s toy soldiers, go to http://www.britains-soldiers.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britains_(toy_brand).  To learn about the St. Petersburg collection, you can go to http://www.aeroartinc.com/articles/st_petersburg_collection/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave