Before we left town on Friday, Andi and I made stops to two different dealerships in town to pick up our new vehicles. It was sort of a surprise to me -- I knew Andi was "working on some deals" to get us into new cars but he's ALWAYS working on some sort of deal so I didn't realize it meant we'd be getting something new LIKE NOW. I guess it had something to do with the end of the tax year and end of the year car specials and who knows ... I don't ask a lot of questions. Because we need a vehicle with enough towing capacity to pull our boat and the new SUV will be my new "mom car," Andi narrowed down my selection to the 2012 Ford Explorer or Honda Pilot. I test drove each earlier in the week and decided I liked the Honda better. It drove more like a car and felt easier to handle since I'm not used to driving a larger vehicle. Andi chose a sporty little black sedan for himself as he needs something more "fuel efficient" for driving around town he said. Mmm hmm. Anyway, shiny new Pilot! Yay for me.
We loaded up my new mom ride and headed to our Wisconsin cabin late Friday afternoon. Tory Bean decided to be a car seat hater so that made the drive EXTRA FUN! I ended up sitting in the back seat with her to entertain her. I swear, between the dog jumping around and Tory screaming, it felt like I was herding cats back there. The joys of parenthood, I guess. We arrived at the cabin around 7pm just in time to put T-Rex (Andi's nickname for Tory's alter-ego) to sleep for the night. Then Andi and I watched Friends With Benefits (the second movie we watched together in 2011, pathetic I know), had cocktails and relaxed by the fire. Bonus! Tory had a poop-plosion during the night and I had to completely strip her down and wash her from head to toe. A wonderful way to spend 3am, no?
On Saturday morning, Nick and Julie arrived and we seriously bummed around the cabin all day. It was moderately warm for late December (high 30's) so we bundled up all the kids and walked over to our cabin owner's (Joe and Lisa), new cabin just a few doors down for a visit. (Joe and Lisa have two cabins on the lake - we rent one of them).
Nick, Alex, Joel and Julie:
Julie brought an ornament project for the kids to work on which was really cute so we crafted for a bit in the afternoon. The adult boys (Andi and Nick) said they had their own "project" to complete which required their rum bottle so they HAD TO FINISH IT by the end of the night in order to use it. So they did. Later, the boys built a bonfire, Alex and Tory took naps; it was a really relaxing NYE afternoon. Julie made tacos and enchiladas for dinner. We played toys and read books. The kids went to bed around 8pm and Nick, Julie, Andi and I sat around, talking and laughing the rest of the night. Well, until about 11pm when we decided why stay up until Midnight when it was already New Year's on the East Coast? No sense in staying up later than we had to, right? Best kind of New Year's I say. Early to bed, no hangover.
During the night, about 5 inches of snow fell and it was absolutely beautiful outside our cabin windows New Year's Day morning. There's something about nature and fresh snow covering the trees that makes winter seem so wonderful. Andi and I bundled up Tory and whisked her outside for a few family photos.
Love this one!
Catching snowflakes ....
(actually she was arching her back and fussing because she didn't want to be in her snow suit anymore, but that makes the photo seem less picturesque so let's pretend that wasn't the case).
That was our New Year's! So fun and relaxing. There was no place I'd have rather been.
Here's hoping 2012 brings as many great memories.
So instead of not working 3 days a week and staying home with your new baby, you went and bought a brand new SUV? Priorities?
ReplyDeleteWahoo for brand new Honda Pilots! I'm starting to think we're e-twins! :P I agree that it doesn't feel big like other SUVs which makes me way more comfortable to drive it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE that picture of Tory "catching snowflakes"! I have been known to take pictures of Charley through a crying fit b/c some of her crying faces look pretty similar to smiling faces, and if you snap the picture at just the right second, it looks like you caught a smiley face! Ha!
Looks like a great way to celebrate!! I love the snowflake photos of sweet little Tory.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new cars! So exciting! I'm excited to hear you don't think the Honda Pilot is that big. We'll be in the market for a new car in a couple years and I was already thinking I was going the minivan route since so many of the SUV's seem huge. I drive a crossover right now and LOVE it, but it would never fit three kids in the back. Maybe I'll have to reconsider the Honda Pilot.
ReplyDeleteLacey - we should swap email addresses. Our lives are seriously so similar! We could be long distance pen pals :)
ReplyDeleteJen - Thanks! The snowflakes photo is one of my favorites too.
Snowpeas - Definitely give the Pilot a test drive. One of the selling features the salesman said is that it fits 3 carseats in the middle row. I laughed at the thought of having 3 carseats lined up back there - holy cow life will be hectic when that happens!