GRAPEVINE, Texas — At the start of summer, when 8-year-old twins Felipe and Evelyn Araujo got out of school, their dad, Fabio Araujo, worried they’d go into hibernation.
So, to keep them from sitting around the house and to get them outside, he posed a question.
“I asked my kid if he wanted to build a little car, a toy truck, wood, together so we could be more outside,” said Fabio. “And I said, ‘can we just build a rollercoaster instead."
Once summer break commenced, so did construction. For more than a month, through heat, splinters and exhaustion, they toiled.
“And I was like, ‘I don’t know about this,’” Evelyn said.
Even Fabio said, at times, he felt like giving up, but couldn’t.
“I always like to show them that everything is possible and can be done,” Fabio said.
Their front yard is now the envy of their Grapevine neighborhood. The twins, and even their older sister, Emily, ride the rollercoaster pretty much every day.
Getting them outside has never been so easy.
Fabio says he’ll keep the coaster as long as his neighbors and the city allow, but eventually it will come down.
And when it does, the love behind it will remain.
“When they get old they will remember that,” Fabio said. “They may not remember other things but they will remember that.”
What do the twins say they’ll remember?
“That my dad loves me a lot,” said Felipe.
“The moment I was born he was already saying, ‘I love you,’” Evelyn added.
Through life’s ups and downs, it’s good to have a dad who will always give plenty of love and amusement.
“Like building a really, really big train,” Felipe said, when asked what they should build next.
“Bring it on,” Fabio laughed. “Let’s do it. But we’re going to have to ask mom first.”