Two-year-old Amare Overstake excitedly awaits to have his picture taken with his parents, Reesa Allee and Tre Overstake, on Friday outside their Lawrence home. Allee submitted a story for Radio Flyer's Little Red Stories contest about how much fun Amare has had with his wagon since she and Overstake adopted him from Ethiopia. The story was selected as the grand prize winner, and the family was presented with a 0,000 check and other gifts from representatives of Radio Flyer on Friday.

The winning photo and caption in Radio Flyer's Little Red Stories contest, featuring Reesa Allee and Amare Overstake of Lawrence: This

Like many kids his age, 2-year-old Amare Overstake enjoys telling his parents what to do. Like many parents of kids his age, they listen.

So when he said, “Mama, sit,” one day last year, his mother, Reesa Allee, obliged. She squeezed into the Radio Flyer wagon next to him while her husband, Tre Overstake, snapped a photo.

Little did the Lawrence residents know how much that picture would bring them.

After Allee posted the photo to Instagram with the hashtag “Radio Flyer,” someone from the company contacted her and suggested she enter it into Radio Flyer’s Little Red Stories contest. Each month, the company gives the family with the most heartwarming story a $300 gift card. Amare and his family won for October.

Earlier this month, they found out their entry had been selected as the grand prize winner out of hundreds that had come in from across the country. Radio Flyer representatives flew in from their Chicago headquarters Friday to give the family its winnings: a $10,000 check, a customized wagon and tricycle and, in a surprise to the family, 10 wagons for Allee’s employer, Children’s Mercy Hospital.

“Our mission at Radio Flyer is to bring smiles to the faces of kids of all ages and create warm memories that last a lifetime,” company representative Melissa Enos told the family upon presenting the gifts. “We chose your story because it captured the joy of childhood that we try to provide to all families around the world.”

Overstake, 38, and Allee, 31, adopted Amare from his native Ethiopia in December 2012 (they still often call him by his Ethiopian name, Dawit). For his second birthday, last June, his family got him a Radio Flyer wagon and tricycle; he recently grew big enough to start riding the latter.

Allee, a respiratory therapist, says the couple plans to use their winnings to give Amare a little brother or sister. They started the process to adopt another child from Ethiopia about a year ago (it usually takes two years). Allee said she had always wanted to adopt children, and had an interest in Africa after doing mission trips on the continent.

Amare, meanwhile, was the center of attention in the family’s front yard Friday. News cameras and a Radio Flyer videographer captured him riding his tricycle and telling his mom to get in his wagon with him (she did). After his dad started pitching him a whiffle ball, a crowd of students on recess at a nearby school cheered loudly every time he made contact.

It appears Amare and his family won quite a bit just for being themselves.

“We’re a pretty playful bunch,” said Overstake, a wholesale manager at a local liquor store. “(Amare) likes to make … demands, which we often meet. On a normal day going for a walk, he’ll tell you to start dancing, so you start dancing — whatever it may be. That day, he said, ‘Mama, sit,’ so, you know, that’s what we do. I pull him around for a while, and it’s just a good time. … I guess that’s just what we do.”