Arty

Abbie Rose had a painting picked for the district wide Up-With-Art show at the Bear Gallery in Alaskaland. This is a salt painting, she also wrote a nice story about the wolves who live under this starry sky in the mountains. Very picturesque :)

AR's birthday the last post

For her birthday day dinner Rose wanted to go out to eat. She was having her friend, Kayanna over for a sleep over so she came with us to Gambardellas. More Italian food for dinner :)

A few last presents from Mom and Dad and brother...her own pocket knife! We figured she is old enough to be responsible with one and we use them all summer while camping. I think Abbie Rose had a good birthday this year :)

AR's birthday with friends

 Party at the ice rink! This time girl chose chocolate chip cookies instead of cake for her treats.  We also had water and juice and some meat and cheese with crackers. Skating makes you hungry!

 Still wearing the poncho :)

Happy girl. A good crowd of her school friends showed up and we all had a good time. The dipper is a great place to have a party, the kids entertain them selves and the clean up is minimal.

Rose is 9!

Girl's birthday weekend started with a pizza party (just in the house pizza, too cold and busy for outside-big-oven pizza) All the fam came over for some pizza, presents and some chocolate fondue for dessert! 

Ham-bone-with-cheese face!

 

The present pile with a new poncho made by Grammie Lorna.

 

Time for some "happy birthday"singing, with a candle in a berry :) It is fun to have kids that are not cake centric for their birthday treats, but it makes it hard to find a spot for their candles!

 

Happy girl face.

 

Tar pit reenactment in the chocolate fountain :)

Adventures in Car Land

Soooo, Leigh and I have been talking for quite a while about the age of our current vehicles; their economy or lack thereof and our current transportation requirements. At the end we decided to look at new cars. What a dangerous thing to decide right?

We had been idly looking online and reading reviews in magazines now, we actually went to town and LOOKED at cars. We were determined to find a small hatchback that had at least 30MPG on the highway.

The first day we sat in some cars and compared the room that I had in the back seat, by the end of the day we were already pretty fixated on the Honda Fit. Leighs good friend Zara has one so we were able to get some first person consumer reviews about it. I could actually fit in the back seat with the front seat slid all the way back; Liam isn't getting any smaller you know. We went home thinking hard...

That evening we did more looking online, comparing the deals that were available for the different makes and models of cars. We found that the 0.9% financing on the Hondas ended on 29FEB12...HMMMMM

When we went to town on the next day we talked numbers with the dealer and then left for lunch... After a Portobello sandwich at Julias Solstice Cafe we went back and I bought a car. I don't think that I did to bad, but I don't think that I really got a smokin deal either. As I left the salesman said that they lost $125 on the deal but I think he was just trying to make me fell better. I guess if we both feel a little screwed then it was about right.

You can ask Leigh, it was traumatic for me to sign up for monthly payments but the car should pay for itself in 6 years or so depending on the price of gas, and there should be less nickel and dime repairs on it as compared to the Suburban and Saturn.



This car is very "cute", its new and peppy... I guess its a nice car, I like to watch the economy indicator on the dash and see almost 40MPG. Leigh is saying "I kinda like the color, and its pretty fun to drive". The color is one that has to grow on you a bit, it makes you think of candy or something it pretty much matches some of Leighs handbags and jewelery. Liam and I think that its a girl car, so of course I am going to drive it to work tomorrow, it has a remote start, I don't know why I never put one in the Saturn.

All the grimness aside I am happy to have a new car in the garage, and am truly looking forward to not paying for as much gas in the Suburban over the coming months.

On a side note we are going to keep the Suburban parked out in the yard so that we can transport the clan when appropriate, and we are keeping the Saturn for its fine fuel economy, though it is getting to have some engine problems. It's gotten to the point that I should start asking if they have a fleet discount at the insurance company.