Wishes Fullfilled

For a few years now I have dreamed of owning a Toyota Sienna. I really wanted an eight passenger mini van. I just couldn't rationalize the expense. Now that we are expecting baby number three, we have to get a bigger car. Three car seats will not fit in the back seat of my Honda CRV. Since learning of my pregnancy we have been checking out listings on these mini vans. There really isn't a big selection of used 8 passenger Siennas (The 7 passenger is more popular).

Well, over the weekend I found a couple of Siennas on eBay that I was interested in. Our very good friend, Mike, is the manager of a Toyota dealership in California. He has been looking for a Sienna for us. He also offered to negotiate a price for us if we found one locally. Well, David emailed the two listings to Mike on Saturday. Mike told us which one he thought was the better deal. In fact, he told us that he has been looking for us for months and hasn't been able to get one at that good of a price. He said he'd call the salesman and try to negotiate the price down a little but even if they didn't budge $1, it was a great price. He figured that there wasn't much room to move the price but he may be able to get it down $500. Well, Mike called. He got the price lowered $487.

We made a deposit on the van through paypal after talking to the salesman. We booked a flight for David to fly to Ohio Monday morning to close the deal and drive the van home. David shows up at check in and presents his drivers license to the TSA agent. The agent asks, "Did you know your drivers license was expired?" David answers, "uh... no.." They ask him for other ID like a passport or military ID. He has none. They have security check him very carefully. They went through every pocket of his backpack. Fortunately they decided to let him fly. Phew!

The salesman picked David up at the airport and drove him to the dealership. They completed the paperwork. Thankfully everything came together because that van was David's ride home.

I am now the very happy owner of a New Toyota Certified Pre-Owned mini van. :) I love driving a mini-van. I love being up high. My first trip out was to Wal-Mart. When I went to back out of the parking space, I was so excited to find that I could actually see if a car was coming! It was amazing! I find myself reaching for the clutch with my left leg a lot. This is the first time I've owned a car with an automatic transmission so I have to get used to it. I love driving stick shift cars, but I conceded this time because I really wanted a mini van. Its a good trade. :)

The girls were also really excited about the mini van. When we went outside, the sliding door opened and I instructed Eliza to climb in. She gasped, "The door opened by itself... that is so cool!" I showed her how I opened it with the button on my key chain. She climbed in and looked around and kept repeating, "This is so cool." That's not even a phrase she ever uses.

BTW, David went to the DMV on Tuesday and renewed his license. I guess that's something they have those over the hillers do when they turn thirty. :)

OTHER RANDOM STUFF

Another wish of mine has been fulfilled... Sadie had bronchitis last week (um... that's not what I was wishing for). She was given two presciptions. She doesn't fight me to take her medicine! I don't have to feel like a jerk as I force it down her. In fact, all she wants is to be able to administer it to herself. How wonderful!

Here's a photo of Grandpa and my girls enjoying some watermelon together. This was on Monday afternoon when my dad delivered a twin bed to my house. It has a very comfortable generic Tempurpedic mattress. My mom and I traded. We are giving my dad David's old 1994 Toyota Corolla, which just yesterday hit 200,000 miles. Its hard to believe, but its actually a step up from the old two door Toyota Tercel my dad drives. I mean, I know he grew up in the depression and all, but the guy just won't give up on his car. This interesting trade is the only way we can get him to indulge in driving a four door car with all the seats in tact and no holes in the floor. We will all miss seeing blacktop below us when he drives. :)

Our Great Wolf Lodge Family Vacation

Last week we went on a little family vacation to The Great Wolf Lodge. Boy did we need the time away! We had soooo much fun! The highlight of the resort is the indoor waterpark. Unfortunately, thats the area where we don't have any pictures to show how much fun we had. We arrived on Monday and after visiting the park, we decided we really needed pictures. That night I took the girls to show and story time while David went to Wal-Mart in search of a waterproof camera bag. No luck. The next morning we went to the only other store in town we thought might carry one, Ritz Camera Store. The only thing they could offer was a waterproof disposable camera. I asked the clerk if it had a flash and he said yes. I should have looked for myself because as soon as I opened the box back in our room, I noticed there was no flash. Well, we took pictures anyway and just like I suspected, they didn't turn out. (If by any chance you care, you can see lots of pictures of the waterpark here.)

We had such a fantastic time. Sadie mostly wanted to stay in the baby pool where she could go down the baby water slides over and over again. Eliza and David rode down some of the big slides together on a tube. There is a big fort thing that you can climb. At the top they have a couple of big water slides that you don't use tubes to go down. On Wednesday, David climbed that fort with the girls and they both went down those big slides. I waited at the bottom for the girls. I was so nervous David was taking them down those big slides. When Sadie got to the bottom, I picked her up and asked her if it was scary or fun. She responded repeatedly, "I went down big slide all by myself..." I wasn't sure if that was a proud "I went down by myself" or a traumatized one. I found out when Daddy and Eliza went up again without her while I remained holding her. She was so upset. I asked her if she wanted to go with Mommy to the baby pool and go down those slides. She said, "No! I want big slides!" They went down them a few more times. I was glad, at least, that they didn't try those big slides until the last day. I was nervous every time my babies went down those slides. At least I didn't have them begging to go down the whole visit. :)

Its been a week since our trip and Sadie is still asking to go back all the time. We love The Great Wolf Lodge! I play the "this little piggy" game with her toes only I send the piggies to The Great Wolf Lodge, to the wave pool and the baby pool, ect. Sadie wants me to do it over and over again. :)

Happy 30th Birthday, David!

Today my hubby turned 30! I don't usually procrastinate gift purchasing. This time I did, and it didn't go so well. At the beginning of this week our family went to The Great Wolf Lodge. We had sooo much fun (and I'll blog about that later when I'm feeling better). My plan was to take the girls shopping with me when we returned on Thursday or Friday. That way they could be involved with getting Daddy a present and wrapping it, ect. Well, Thursday I woke up with a sore throat and I felt a little sick. I figured I'd go shopping on Friday when I felt better. Thursday night I felt worse. I woke up in the night with a fever. So I never made it to the store. So last night I told David that I was sorry I didn't get him a gift and I invited him to order something for himself online. This morning he reported that he ordered himself a new pair of dress shoes from Zappos. He also ordered a year membership to the NRA, which includes a magazine subscription. See, that I would have never thought of . :)

David made his own birthday cake with the girls last night. I even planned a little surprise over the hill birthday party for him but I realized I wasn't feeling up to it and our guests probably didn't want to get sick. Yesterday I talked to my sister on the phone and I told her the party was canceled. Then I told David all about my good intentions to give him a surprise party. Then this morning I even had David call up our friends and tell them that his surprise party was off.

So David's 30th birthday has been spent taking care of me and the kids. Oh yeah, and attempting to put together a changing table which came with a messed up part. He has to call the manufacturer in British Columbia on Monday and ask for a replacement part. David took the kids outside to play and Eliza commented that Daddy needed to mow the lawn because the grass was too long. So, David also mowed the grass while the kids blew bubbles on the porch. I tried to tell David that he ought to get used to it. Birthdays are probably going to be more like this now that he is over the hill. We are old now, after all.

Happy 30th Birthday, Honey! I am glad you were born!

Baby's Gender Announcement

Well, I had my mid-pregnancy ultrasound today... IT'S A BOY!!!

I am so happy to finally know the baby's gender! I surprised myself a little at my feelings after Catherine, the ultrasound tech, told me it's a boy. I began to feel a little nervous. I mean, I have daughters.. they are like me. I don't really know about raising a son. Then I immediately tell myself that it will be fine, I mean, afterall, there are a lot of men around, all of which have mothers who learned to raise sons. See, I can be practical that way.

Here is the baby's profile. The black hole is his stomach. :)

On Monday our family is off on a little vaction. We are heading to The Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of nights. We planned it as a way to celebrate David's graduation and to go one last time before we have a newborn. Well, it turns out David is not graduating like we thought becasue he has a lot more work to do on his thesis apparently. Oh well! I have to say I'm not too sad that its too late to cancel! :)

The Great Wolf Lodge is located in Williamsburg. Prime Outlet Mall is also located in Williamsburg. I am excited to visit the Carter's Outlet and other baby stores while I am there. I am looking forward to shopping for some little boy stuff! I love little baby clothes and since I am having a new gender, I can more easily justify the expense! :)

Wyatt's Birthday

Last Saturday was my nephew, Wyatt's, fifth birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. The kids had such a great time. Eliza loved the rides and the climbing tunnel and slide.

Sadie loved playing games that spit out tickets. David said she just loved to pull the tickets out and then feed them to the ticket cashing in machine thing. For her prize, Sadie picked out a little bag of Pirate MoneyTo my amazement, I ran into one of best friends from high school at Chuck E Cheese. Here's Piper. My sister and her family live in our home town so thats where the party was. Piper lives in Tennessee now. She was visiting for the weekend and decided to bring her niece to Chuck E Cheese. What are the chances that both of us, who live out of town, would be at Chuck E Cheese at the same time? I had a great time catching up with my old friend! We used to run around so much and have so much fun together when we were young. It was an amazing treat to see her again.

Here we are at age 18 with Piper's boyfriend, Chopper, at my boyfriend, Kelly's, missionary farewell party. Chopper and I were the only Latter-Day Saints in our class at school so we were pretty close friends. The four of us (Chopper, Piper, Kelly, and I) had a lot of fun together.My sister, Molly, decided to have birthday cake at home instead of at Chuck E Cheese so that we'd have a way to encourage the kids to leave. Here is Wyatt's awesome Harry Potter cake.
Molly is a dog groomer by profession, and apparently a very good one, so naturally, I asked her to trim Eliza's bangs for me. Actually, since becoming a dog groomer, so many friends have asked her for hair cuts that she went ahead and bought a pair of human hair cutting scissors. Baby Elliot is so cute. The kids had fun blowing bubbles and playing in the backyard.What's a birthday party without a serious game of Mario Cart on the Wii?Happy Birthday, Wyatt. We love you!

Ahh, doing chores

This morning Eliza wakes me up by shouting, "Mommy, Mommy, I made my bed by myself! Come see! Come see! " Then she showed me how she also opened her curtains "like you do, Mommy."
I am very proud. What a good girl.