Doug Hayes, of Gladstone, Oregon, is the proud grandfather of 10 grandchildren. (That's a whole lotta grandkids, people!) And this year, he got them all the perfect Christmas gift: A big yellow school bus. In case you're scratching your head on that one, the school bus will be driven by Hayes, who plans to drive all 10 kids to school each and every morning, as a way of spending more time with them. How sweet is that?
Scrawled across the side of the mini school bus are the words "Grandfather Express" -- the name of the grandpa's new whip.
According to CNN, Hayes staged a surprise reveal this week, at his home in Gladstone, Oregon, which is just south of Portland. And let's just say, it was a big hit.
"When they saw it, they were just ecstatic," Hayes told the outlet.
Five of his grandchildren currently attend a small private school called Paideia Classical Christian School, which doesn't have its own school buses. So instead, their parents drop them off at school themselves each day. The other five kids aren't yet old enough to attend school, but in the next few years, they will be.
But recently, this got the proud grandpa thinking ...
"The kids have always said, 'Gee whiz, I like our school, but we would like to be able to have a school bus,'" he shared.
And so, this year Santa — *ahem_*_ I mean, Grandpa — granted that wish.
According to Hayes, all of the kids live within about a 20 minutes' drive, and their school is around 3 miles from his own house. So giving them a lift, all in one mini school bus, was really a no-brainer.
"Then I can just drop my bus back here at the house and take my car to work," he explained.
Oh yes, that's right — this grandpa still works. And yet, he's more than happy to do the school run for his grandkids.
Hayes admits that it was really his wife, Amy, who planted the idea in his head.
While sitting down to dinner on his 59th birthday in June, Amy innocently asked whether he had anything he'd like to accomplish in the coming year.
"Just for fun conversation I said, 'Well, you're officially going to be old next year, anything you need to check off your bucket list? Anything you need to do in your last year before 60?'" she recalled in a recent Facebook post.
To her surprise, he took the question seriously, and continued thinking about it for the next few weeks.
Finally, he came to her and said, three words she wasn't expecting: "I want a bus."
When probed a bit further, he explained:
"I want a bus so I can go around every morning, pick up all the grandkids, and drive them to school before I go to work. Just a small bus. We'd sing songs, talk, and it would be something unforgettable they did with their grandfather. If money were no object, I'd want a bus."
(If that doesn't warm your heart, I don't know what will.)
Amy kept pushing him to make that goal a reality, and after a month of tireless searching, the "Grandfather Express" was soon sitting in their driveway.
Making the bus even better was the fact that it was decked out with magnets of letters and numbers for the kids to play with as they ride.
And to give the parents all peace of mind, the grandpa added seat belts to the school bus, as well.
At the end of the day, this little yellow school bus means more to Hayes than all the Christmas gifts money could buy.
"It's primarily about getting to spend a few minutes with them every single morning," Hayes said.
And according to CNN, he can't wait to get the bus out on the road. In fact, his first official school pick-up is already scheduled for the kids' first day back from Christmas break!
