It was time for Owen to get a haircut—he wasn’t letting me put any gel in anymore so that was the alternative. Since it was so nice out, we did it in the back yard.
This is just to show how long it had been and how much we cut off.
I didn’t get a final picture because I was in starting the bath. 🙂
Unfortunately we were out of the right vodka so I had to take my new car on my maiden voyage to ABC. 🙂
It looks like we’re getting a new car today.
Tom went alone so we didn’t have to drag the kids and he just texted me that they agreed to our minimum trade-in offer (they had to come up $500 from their original offer to match that). Tom also got them to halve the “reconditioning fee” but I still hate all those fees—the “online special” price magically becomes the original price they were asking after all the fees, etc.
The cons? Our payment doesn’t go down quite as much as we’d hoped (but anything is better than nothing), I’m not sure my new phone mount will fit anywhere (thanks to that huge nav screen), our insurance goes up by $26/year, and we have to put a hitch on (but at least it’s wired for one) but…YAY I have a new car!
Nothing like talking about it Thursday, test driving Friday, and bringing it home Saturday! Stay tuned for real pics once the weather stops being gray and rainy.
The last pic of our old car as Tom left the lot…
We were out and about testing out the car and decided to stop at a new playground (it’s at the other local elementary school).
Katie is so different from Owen at that age—she just climbs right up the stairs no problem and zips down the curly slide with no fear.
She kept going over to these but wouldn’t actually get on them.
Then when it was almost time to leave, she decided to start playing in the wood chips and dirt.
Friends were talking about getting new cars and other friends were talking about cars they were looking at and how much their cars were worth…so just for shits and giggles I researched my car. Kelly Blue Book approximated $25k-27k so that grabbed my attention because I knew our payoff was about $10k less. Now, it’s not that I don’t like my car…but I don’t love it (like we loved the Highlander) and I thought What could it hurt to look? Famous last words, right?? 🙂
I had a few cars in mind from friends’ recommendations, so when Tom came home I told him what I was thinking and he looked at me like I was completely nuts. By the time I was leaving for my PTO meeting an hour later, he was on board for some research and we agreed we’d take a quick look at Carmax tomorrow. By the time I got home from the PTO meeting, he told me we had two test drives scheduled (at two dealers) for the morning! 😯 Well well, look who was suddenly on board!
The reasons for wanting a new car were twofold—our current monthly payments are a little too expensive now that our cost of living is higher (our BAH—the money the government gives us for housing—paid for the house AND car in Jacksonville…here, it doesn’t even cover our rent) and we have realized we miss the AWD (especially with actual winter weather coming). So we just thought we’d see what we could find that might cut our monthly payment a bit while still giving us the size we need.
And then the reality sets in that to REALLY cut our monthly payment like we’d like, we’d have to spend about $10k less than we are looking at…and unfortunately I’m really used to the nicer touches of a little bit more expensive car. (When we were searching for this car, we looked at the Ford version of a similar size (I think the Traverse) and everything about it just felt cheap.) I also really really really don’t want a minivan. We don’t need seven actual seats but we do sometimes need six so when parents come to visit we don’t have to take two cars (critical in this traffic nightmare). And I like the space seven seats affords us with the last row folded down because we fill up the back A LOT (we’re not even carrying strollers and stuff anymore—I’m talking trips to Costco, IKEA, Target—all errands in one day type of thing—plus our road trips to Michigan). We use all that space very frequently.
I was 99% sure that there is not a new/different car in our future because we are not the people who just buy a new car on a whim (I kept my last car for 10 years and Tom has had his Prius for six years), but now we’re both thinking about it.
So…we did our test drives. I’ll skip the majority of the BS that goes along with that, other than to say we had Katie with us and she didn’t do too badly. She LOVED playing in the cars in the showroom while we waited and didn’t mind the test drives at all.
Katie: I want to start it up!
Mazda earned points for giving Katie a balloon—and boy did she love it!
After both test drives, we were pretty sure we were going to go ahead with the Mazda CX-9 if they could get us a bit closer on trade-in value. We liked the dealership and they’ve let us take the car home overnight to really test it out.
Most of the things I don’t like about it are minor (the auto liftgate isn’t quite as good, I don’t love the color (see below), it has navigation which I don’t want, it doesn’t have the backup warning beeps, the shifter pattern is WEIRD, and it doesn’t have the automatic three turn-signal-clicks with one press)…but the Bluetooth is nice, it has lots of pep, the third row seating is easier to get into, it has XM, and while it’s not as tall as my car, it still sits high enough to not feel like a car). The things I don’t like about it are things that my current car has spoiled me for over the past two years. It’s definitely a step down in luxury but not enough to be a deal-breaker.
Dolphin Gray Mica—meh. It totally reminds me of the color of our Birdie house—the siding was gray or blue or green depending on the lighting. At least this car doesn’t have shutters that try to match. 🙂
So stay tuned!
We picked a local place we hadn’t been to yet. It’s a sports bar/restaurant and they had a paper football on the table, so we tried to teach Owen.
He doesn’t quite have the gist of flicking the football with just his finger, but every once in awhile he’d connect and he even landed one in my glass!
Since we have time in the morning before school, I had Owen make a birthday card for Tom. He’s doing well with letters, but we just need to work on keeping it on a straight line. 🙂
It was also just supposed to be Happy Birthday but since the first happy went a little wonky he wanted to try again. 🙂
The heads are, in order, daddy, Owen, and Katie (you see she gets the big eyelashes)! The other circles are the cake.
Katie was super excited and was ready to go the second I put her shoes on. Tom made sure to be home in time to go with us. 🙂
Playing with the other kids.
We could finally see the bus…and she sat down to wait. 🙂
Finally!
Screenshots from the video:
Once we got home I tried to get the scoop. He was excited and more interested in watching the movie (which was paused). But he was happy so that’s all that matters!
Owen has REALLY been looking forward to the cookout and I was excited because Tom would be home so we could ALL go to the pool together for the last time. It was definitely warm enough and it looked like the rain was going to hold off for a bit, so we headed down after Katie’s nap.
Now, let me preface this by saying that when we go to the pool, there are typically just a handful of people there. As in maybe 3-6 other kids AT MOST (with parents)—and most of the time, there’s less. And when Owen and I went this past Saturday (the last Saturday before the pool closed for the season) we were the ONLY two people there (four total if you count the two lifeguards). And by the time we left two hours later, the only other people there were two older couples! I was baffled.
So today we walked in and HOLY SHIT there were a lot of people. As in “Wow, I guess there really are people who live here.” As in “If it was this busy all the time we wouldn’t come nearly as much.” There were lots of older annoying kids who didn’t much care that they were running into people or splashing people or just being overall obnoxious (and of course their parents weren’t doing anything about it). I heard the lifeguards’ whistles more today than all the other days combined. It was extremely chaotic.
The super annoying thing was that we had nowhere to sit when we got there. I felt like we should really have our names on some seats because we were there ALL THE TIME. All these other people NEVER went but were taking up all the seats for the free food. Well, at least that’s what it felt like. Literally the only seats that were open were in the kiddie pool area. Which was fine…just annoying.
So Tom was swimming with the kids and I was chatting with the mom I had hoped to see there (with the son in Owen’s class). And then I saw another mom I’d met at the pool previously (the ones that are moving this December) so we chatted a bit. And then Katie was coming down the pool steps behind me and I turned to see Tom behind us as well (just having moved our stuff to a table that had become free) and he was saying “Katie! Katie!” at some other little blonde girl wondering why she wasn’t stopping to listen to him. Well, it turns out her parents were right in front of me and Tom obviously had the wrong kid, so we laughed about it and started chatting and WOW, fingers crossed, they might just be our new best friends here. We just really hit it off—they have a 2.5yo girl with another on the way, they’re military (army), and they just moved here in late June so they don’t know anyone, either! And we instantly hit it off (as opposed to the other people we’ve met who are NICE but I just didn’t feel that instant connection with). So much so that we invited them to come sit at our table with us!
And then! Tom was sure he recognized a guy sitting across the pool. I told him it was all him—I’d done my part meeting moms. 🙂 So it turns out it’s someone he went to TBS with back in the day…AND THEY LIVE ON OUR STREET!! Small world, right? So we might end up with some good friends yet!
So then we had a little more fun in the pool and then Katie wanted to go home so as Tom was getting her packed up, Owen also decided he wanted to go home. I think it was just too chaotic for him (which I totally get).
He was doing SO well on his own that I started recording…and then he kinda lost it a little bit…but finished with some help. You can tell he was getting VERY excited about getting to 100. 🙂
I don’t think he’ll have a problem mastering the Kindergarten first quarter expectations of counting to 10. 🙂
So, all the literature about BTS Night mentioned taking the bus from the local library to the school. I could totally understand this because we’d been at the school and there really isn’t much parking (well, at least not for back-to-school type numbers of people). A last-minute email also mentioned available parking at a nearby church and grocery store, but I googled, and it still appeared to be about a mile walk…? (Unless there were hidden walking paths through the trees that didn’t show up.) I figured there would be street parking since it is a neighborhood, but I couldn’t imagine that many people trying to park on the streets…so I just figured the library bus was the best (most popular?) option. I even envisioned two or three buses to take the hoards of people. Besides, we knew both kids would LOVE riding the bus (Katie is infatuated with school buses).
Katie: SCHOOL BUS! SCHOOL BUS!
Owen: C’MON! LET’S GO!!
So we get there and…where are the throngs of people? Where’s the bus(es)? Well, we were 10 minutes early, but still. So the bus arrives at 3:55 and we pull out about 4:05 and there was a grand total of about 20 people on the bus. Huh? I was intrigued—I couldn’t wait to see how many people were actually at the event AND see where they were parking. Yeahhhh…turns out all the surrounding streets were PACKED. (That said, next year? We’re driving. Three hours was TOO long.) But there were lots of people there!
My first thoughts?
It was a madhouse. The kindergarten rooms are fairly big, but add in two parents for most of the kids and other siblings…all trying to talk to the teacher and fill out forms at kid-sized tables. EGADS.
What a melting pot. I honestly think Caucasian is the minority here. I have no problems with that—it’s just an observation. Just look at this class list (last names obviously obscured), keeping in mind that some of the more Americanized names are…not:
Other random things:
Owen was—SURPRISE!—super shy. He didn’t want to go look for his name and was glued to my side. However, he did go with the teacher when she invited him to come look for his number and cubby.
Owen’s teacher is a tiny thing and when they were standing next to each other, I just kinda went HOLY CRAP THEY’RE CLOSE IN SIZE!! I didn’t get a picture, but I’m sure I will eventually. I didn’t immediately LOVE her…but anyone trying to live up to Miss Ashley is going to have a hard time. 🙂 I look forward to getting to know her. She had a few old students come in to say hi, and in briefly chatting with the parents, I could see she is obviously well-liked.
We discovered that one classmate lives in our neighborhood—they recognized us from the pool—so that’s cool. It was so busy I didn’t get a chance to talk to her, but I’m hoping we’ll see them at the pool party this weekend.
So, then the teacher gave a presentation which was fine…except Katie threw a fit during it because she wanted to play with the baby (another person’s actual baby!) and we wouldn’t let her. The teacher heard me saying “No, you can’t play with the baby” and took a moment to stop and ask if I meant the toy doll that was just out of reach and when I said “No, the real baby” the entire room laughed. 🙂 So Tom had her in the hall for the rest of the time.
She said their class has a late lunch this year—1:30! So, snack time will be in the morning instead of the afternoon. (And we have to use a special bag to send in their snack every day. Lordy. I’m sure they know it works, but what a pain.) Another new thing is no mats for rest time—it is just considered Quiet Time for reading or something quiet at your desk. The kids all got name/room stickers to wear the first week so people can help guide them to where they need to be—they have safety patrols out at the buses (older kids, I’m guessing, from those I saw wearing reflective-wear today).
We only had about an hour in the classroom, and it wasn’t long enough because everyone wanted to talk to the teacher (as expected). We could have easily used at least another half hour. Really though, there wasn’t much else (for us) to do. They had a table set up in the cafeteria with info on the school lunch program and you could add money to their account (which long story short, they assigned a SIX-DIGIT number for Owen to memorize to use his lunch account and I was all REALLY? FOR KINDERGARTENERS? so she let me pick a 3-digit number)—and the gym had a few things like Scouts and PTO—but by the time we got done with the extra time in Owen’s classroom, it was time for pizza (Owen ate FOUR slices!) and then we just kind of wandered around. We did get Owen a school shirt, though.
And even then, we still had almost 45 minutes to waste before the bus took us back to the library. So we went out to the playground.
I was stunned that THAT was the entire playground area. Granted, they do have a huge paved basketball court and some soccer fields, but for an actual playground area it still seemed SMALL. So imagine my surprise when, as we were leaving, we went past the kindergarten classroom area and saw another SMALLER playground area. Hoo boy. I’m hoping that’s actually for the Pre-K classes so we’ll see.
Overall, it was fine. Katie was a bit of a mess on and off but she didn’t do too badly. Owen wanted to go home about 30 minutes in but then he rallied.
I just can’t believe HE STARTS SCHOOL IN FIVE DAYS. The worst part, I think, will be me not being able to take pictures…and Katie going through Owee withdrawal.
Papa happened to call right as we were walking in, so I Skyped them back so they got to watch Owen do a few jumps and watch Katie swim around.
He kept doing this and I finally asked what he was doing… You’ll never guess. He was trying to do a somersault! 🙂 I told him I’d help him when we were in the big pool!
Katie saw Owen holding his nose, so she was trying to do the same thing!
The kids she had been playing with in the kiddie pool were going home, so she was at the fence saying “Guys! Guys? Where are you going?”
He loves just floating like this.
If you didn’t know he liked to do it, it might freak you out because he looks…well…dead.
This is how Owen moves across the pool when he’s not actually swimming.
And then it was time for the special surprise! Not only was daddy at the pool with us…but we ordered pizza for dinner! Poolside! (Ever since Owen saw the signs and saw someone have pizza delivered, he’s wanted us to do it. Since the pool season is almost over, today was the day!)
She loves being tossed in the air…but can’t quite manage to count to three. 🙂
My turn with Katie. The video isn’t that great (meaning Katie doesn’t appear to be having that much fun) but she really was…and it’s rare for me to actually be in a picture or video with the kids. So here it is. 🙂
I finally got a video of Katie getting out of and back in the pool. However, she only did it once. The other day, she just kept going up the ladder then back into the pool—time after time after time.
And the bonus to the whole day? I started talking with a girl at the pool (she was there with a little girl who Katie was playing with in the kiddie pool) and long story short, she’s a babysitter and lives in the neighborhood! WOOHOO!
And the funniest thing of the day? While I was at the kiddie pool talking to the girl, Tom came over to tell me what Owen had just said. Tom said they had a race across the length of the pool and of course Tom won, but when Owen finished, Tom asked if he was tired or if he wanted to go talk to me. Owen’s response? NO! I’M PUMPED UP! LET’S GO! 🙂
Thirteen years ago tonight we were eating our post-wedding Chinese dinner…
Before we moved, I bought a Groupon for Pirates Cove Waterpark and today was the day! It’s not huge like Great Wolf Lodge, but it’s plenty to keep the kids busy. We started in the wading pool (which is where Katie was supposed to stay since she isn’t potty trained).
She did pretty good at waiting her turn in line when it was just a few kids, but when it got to be more than four or five, she either wanted to push to the front of the line or wait and let everyone pass her.
While I was with Katie, Tom was with Owen over in the bigger pool.
We asked him why he was swimming like this and he said because someone had tied his hands behind his back with a rope! Tom said he even went DOWN the waterslide like that. I love his imagination. 🙂
Unfortunately, I could only keep Katie happy and occupied for so long before she REALLY wanted to go in the big pool with daddy and Owen. As in she was starting to throw a fit. So we left the gated wading pool…but the wheel only worked for about two minutes.
Finally! She was with daddy in the big pool and she was HAPPY. And fearless. She went under twice, coughed and spit a bit, and then kept on chugging.
She loved loved LOVED the waterslide. She would have gone down it the rest of the day if we let her.
She really liked the pirate, too!
And then we had a major tantrum because it was time to go back to the wading pool and she DID. NOT. WANT. TO. GO. I’ll spare you the few tantrum pics I took (and deleted). We got a funnel cake for a snack and that didn’t really even appease her much. Then she saw the sand area…so that’s where we headed.
We had planned to stay longer, but about 2:30 we were leaving. Tom came up and said that Owen was being a major grouch so he lost his pool privileges. It felt like we had been there for a long time…but it was ONLY TWO HOURS. Egads. But the kids had fun. I can definitely see us getting a summer pass next year!
Waiting and watching.
Owen, upon seeing Katie playing with the steering wheel: Katie, that is NOT a toy.
Owen locked Katie in his bedroom (technically accidentally but kind of on purpose because he was playing) and—SURPRISE!!—we don’t have a key to open it. None of the generic tools I found were working, our landlord didn’t have a key either, none of the neighbors we knew were home, and the hinges and knob screws were on the inside of the door (so I couldn’t remove them). Oh, and Tom is 1000 miles away.
Cue subdued panic for about 30 minutes while I texted Tom, texted the landlord, visited the neighbors, hunted for the tools, etc.
I finally jimmied it open…and now his knob is reversed, too. Is 9:30 too early for a drink?
Oh! The best part? All Owen was concerned with (if we didn’t get the door open) was he wouldn’t be able to sleep in his bed tonight.
The roof is leaking into the garage. With the torrential rains we had yesterday we had small puddles in the garage, the drywall tape is completely peeling away from the ceiling, and Tom could see mold (which means this isn’t a new problem). It can’t be good.
The landlord came out today and I’m guessing we’ll likely have to have the garage torn up eventually.
Lucky us, eh? I’m not sure where all our stuff is going to go so they can work on it.
But the good news is at least he’s not ignoring it!
Tom took Owen down for the night swim again.
Ice cream time!
🙂
Then we set these brackets in the cart and she set them all upright. 🙂
After running our errands, we surprised the kids by taking them to the Lego store at the mall. They were both excited! There was lots of Star Wars stuff around so Katie kept screeching “YODA! YODA!”
We were willing to buy him a huge $80 set (that was on clearance) but he chose a little $10 set instead. 🙂
Then we stopped at the play area on the way back.
Today was the day! We had been preparing Owen for a few days prior, telling him he would be seeing his new school. We didn’t know what all would be involved (aside from turning in the paperwork that I’ve had completed since June) but we were hoping we’d get a little bit of a tour. As we were walking out the door he said “But I forgot my backpack!” We told him we were just visiting today—school doesn’t actually start for another month. He was relieved (that he didn’t need his backpack) but a little bummed it wasn’t actually time for school.
It’s four miles and 10 minutes away so not too bad—but I’m still pissed we’re not within the district lines for the school that is 1.5 miles away. GRRR. But he will hopefully be taking the bus—we know the bus stop is at our corner and I know he wants to ride the bus—but we’ll see how it goes because we all know how Owen is with new things (though he is getting better).
First impressions? The place is HUGE—definitely not Grayling- or Kalkaska-sized. I was seriously in awe. And to think it’s one of two schools in a five-mile radius! (Click the picture to see it a bit bigger.)
The lady who handled registration was very nice and Owen actually talked to her without being suddenly bashful. She was impressed with me because I had the forms already printed and filled out AND had a copy of the lease and his shot records for her to have. The only thing I didn’t have was a copy of his birth certificate and my drivers license—but that wasn’t on the list. (Well, I had his original birth certificate but hadn’t made their copy.)
She took us to see a kindergarten classroom which was really big—but not much set up yet. She said the class size will be about 20-25 with a teacher and an assistant (so just a handful more students than his pre-k class). It has their own bathroom, cubbies, windows, etc. She said they will go out once a week for art and twice a week each for phys ed and music. (I don’t remember going outside the classroom for that stuff until first grade but maybe we did?) They also go to the cafeteria for lunch. Which I guess I knew in the back of my mind…but that’s a lot more work for me coming from pre-k where breakfast AND lunch were provided for free. 🙂 We will find out who his teacher is going to be (and see his actual classroom) at the Open House in a few weeks.
The school was hopping when we got there about 9:20—she said it was the last day of their summer school programs. They were actually getting ready to start their morning welcome session in the cafeteria and asked if we wanted to join. We asked Owen and of course he did. He got to take a number for a game they would be playing and we sat at a table on the outskirts of the kids (who were all on the floor). He said he wanted to go sit with the kids and we said okay…but then he changed his mind (there were about 80 kids). Everything was done on a laptop and drop-down screen. We had to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance which he didn’t want to do—I never thought about it but this made me realize they didn’t do that in pre-k—but he eventually did. They also had a moment of silence which of course is when Katie piped up with “Mama, what are they doing?” 🙂 The game they played was Family Feud and the assistant principal used a random number generator on the laptop to choose who was going to get a chance to answer. Of course Owen was excited—and then bummed when his number was never called (they only called about 12 total for the first game and then we left before the second game was over because we had errands to do).
And then on the way out he threw a little tantrum because HE WANTED TO STAY. Well, at least we know he wants to be there. 🙂
So, overall, a successful trip. And we all can’t wait for school to start. 🙂
We went to our first farmers market since moving here. It’s pretty much right up the main road about two miles away. It’s a small one (maybe seven booths) but it’s a Wednesday!
The kids tried fresh kettle corn (being made as we watched).
We tried and bought homemade honey mint dressing (better than you’d imagine) and zesty balsamic dressing.
We bough fresh corn on the cob, pickles, cabbage, and multi-colored carrots.
We tried pumpkin chocolate chip bread and white cheddar garlic bread (and bought that one).
We sampled cookies…and bought some.
Then we got the kids some Venetian Ice (I think it was called) and went to sit on the lawn in the shade. There were some kids nearby eating some as well and Owen desperately wanted to go sit with them. So we said okay.
Then Katie wanted to go sit by Owee…
Since Katie’s X-rays came back negative, the Doctor then wanted to do bloodwork to determine if any of her whatever levels were elevated… Increased levels of whatever might point to arthritis or a blood borne reason for the continued inflammation.
Tom took her to the lab and SHE WAS A ROCK STAR. The nurse was a bit nervous when Tom told her it was Katie’s first time, but Katie didn’t even flinch or wince and it was over just like that. Yay Katie! But what she didn’t like? The tape holding the cotton ball on! 🙂
Before any curtains…
Tom and I disagreed about how many curtains to put up. I wanted to reuse our two orange panels (I like the orange and it would save money) and didn’t think we needed to cover the door (thinking it would look like we had two windows instead of a window and an unusable door). We’re not worried about blocking anyone’s view or really even keeping the sun out—it was more just to add color. Tom wanted three panels to cover all glass openings. And…??! We ended up with what I wanted…but installed a long curtain rod over the double door so we can always add more curtains if we change our minds.
Of course the room still isn’t quite done—the mantle still needs to be filled and artwork decided on…
Another day, another afternoon at the pool…but today, Owen got to wear his new goggles (like all the other kids have!)…
…and Katie got to test her new “puddle jumpers” (a life jacket that keeps her perfectly afloat). THEY WERE BOTH IN HEAVEN.
She wasn’t thrilled about this hooded towel, but it is dang cute (and a hand-me-down from a friend!).
The weather was nice so Tom and I sat out at our slanted table for the very first time! I tried to get a good picture to show just how slanted it is but none of them do it justice.
