PORTLAND — On his 59th birthday last June, Amy Hayes asked her husband of 20 years, Doug, what he wanted to check off his bucket list since he would be “officially” old next year.

According to a post on Amy’s Facebook page, the question flummoxed Doug, who thought about it for a couple of weeks before hitting on what he wanted to do — buy a bus so he could drive his grandchildren to school.

The Hayes have five children and 10 grandchildren, ages two to 10, all of whom live within 20 minutes of the couple.

Five of the grandchildren are old enough to attend school, and all five go to the same school, Paideia Classical Christian School, near Portland where the family lives. Next year, two more will attend the school.

Doug and Amy are already very involved in their grandchildren’s lives. They have family dinners many Thursday nights, and Amy works at Paideia Classical Christian School (though she said that teachers have to get there much earlier than students, so she doesn’t get to ride the bus).

The idea of taking them all to school every day was just an extension of this relationship.

“It sounds like a lot of fun to pick up the kids and take them to school,” Doug said. “All I have to do is get up a little earlier,” he added.

He and Amy did some online searching and eventually found “the perfect one for our purposes through a Facebook marketplace ad,” Amy said.

The couple added seat belts and signage designating it “Grandfather Express,” (Doug is known to the kids as “Grandfather”) and presented the bus, previously owned by a party bus and brewery tour company, to the children before Christmas.

“They just lost their minds,” Doug said. “They could not believe it.”

Doug and Amy were pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic reaction of the grandchildren but were shocked at the overwhelming and positive response by the media and people online.

Since Amy posted the story of the bus on Facebook, it has been shared widely.

People are responding well to the story, Doug said.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘Hey what am I doing with my grandkids?’” he said.

The Hayes hope to keep Grandfather Express going as long as they can, Doug said, even if it’s just for a couple of years while the children are young. He likes the idea of spending time with them every day and making lasting memories.

“We’re Christians,” he said. “We’re just convinced that it’s import to leave an inheritance to our kids, a legacy of some sort.”