Saturday, July 19, 2008

Exciting Day

We woke up this morning and everyone was really excited about our trip to Bermuda next week (leaving tomorrow). Yes, we just got back from a week at Smith Mountain Lake, but Ali has plenty of vacation time with her current job, and I just told my boss I'll be working from home (just kidding, taxpayers!).

Jake is excited to go snorkeling, and play on the beach, and ride the Metro to the airport. We keep telling him, "tomorrow we're getting on a plane to fly to Bermuda!" And he replies: "and the train, right?" So, basically, we could just take the Metro to Wheaton and he'd be happy.

But, to add a little excitement, and to Jake's disappointment, we bought a new (used) car today!! And it's a minivan, so turns out we won't need to take Metro to the airport since now we can fit us and Grandpa and Mimi all in one car. I think Jake's excitement over the new car will trump his disappointment about not taking Metro tomorrow. At the dealer he said, "I don't want our old car anymore, I like this car." I told him, "play it cool, Jake, Daddy has to ne-go-shee-ate." But he had made up his mind that he preferred the "miniman".

Here's a picture from the dealer (our cameras are already packed!):

The decision to buy a minivan didn't come easily to Ali and me. I don't think either of us ever thought we'd buy one. Not that we looked down on minivans or minivan drivers, we just never saw ourselves behind the wheel of one (except all those times when we borrowed the Jackson's to move something big). But, our trusty Saab was starting to feel a little small with our 99th percentile string bean kids in the back, kicking our chairs playfully. And then Pop showed up with his Toyota Sienna and I was sold. All the room, the sliding doors making it easier in parking lots, and the third row all looked pretty nice, especially after our long road trip down to the lake.

So, there we were at the dealer, new minivan owners, and the kids had been great and patient, but it was lunch time and well past naptime. We needed some quick food, and we needed to get home. Yep, we went to McDonalds in our minivan, and we got happy meals.