This last weekend was some fantastic weather, the kids loved playing outside in the new pool. We went with my Mom to the Leach Gardens. They had a dinosaur thing going on which the kids enjoyed. It's a beautiful area on SE Portland right next to Johnson Creek.
Got some work done around home, and sat in the hospital emergency area for four hours Saturday night. Marci sprained her right ankle and just to be safe, we went there to make sure it was just a sprain. We greatly appreciated my parents taking the kids until midnight! Marci's doing fine, her ankle just hurts and she's feeling frustrated that she can't do much around the house. Both of us were starving by the time we picked up the kids. We were about to BBQ when she hurt herself and hadn't eaten anything. Thank goodness Taco Bell is open late! ;)
Sunday she relaxed and watch the kids while I mowed the lawns, water the new plants, finished installing the new ceiling fan (see previous post), ran some errands (Maddie came with me and had a nice nap - she immediately fell asleep when we got in the car), helped get dinner for everyone, took Zoey for a walk, got the sprinklers working again (it's the time of the year to turn them back on), failed to fix the portable DVD player after Maddie decided it needed more salt and pepper, and a bunch of other things. I tried to get Maddie to sleep so Marci could get to bed early and she didn't get to sleep until 11:45pm! I tried everything, but she was just awake.
Even though I'm tired this morning I feel really good about getting so much accomplished, with the ceiling fan being the big one. And the Leach Gardens were a lot of fun - I had a chance to make a few more panoramic - or rather multi-image - photos. :)
Monday, May 19, 2008
I didn't burn down the house!
We have two ceiling fans in our living room. They are nice, but the remotes never worked well and they don't provide a lot of light. A few weekends ago we finally got a new fan to replace one of them and just a light to replace the other. Really, there was no reason for two fans in the room. One of those things that sounded like a great idea when we were building the house and nine years later has us scratching our heads. haha
This last weekend *I* actually took out the old fan, installed the new one and it worked! Turned off the power, took down the old one, matched up the wire colors with the new one, put it all together, turned on the power, crossed my fingers and the fan started spinning around nicely. I gave out a little Tim Allen grunt of accomplishment. ;) I'm no electrician by any means, but being able to do that myself made me feel pretty good.
Next weekend, the new light will go up.
This last weekend *I* actually took out the old fan, installed the new one and it worked! Turned off the power, took down the old one, matched up the wire colors with the new one, put it all together, turned on the power, crossed my fingers and the fan started spinning around nicely. I gave out a little Tim Allen grunt of accomplishment. ;) I'm no electrician by any means, but being able to do that myself made me feel pretty good.
Next weekend, the new light will go up.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Happy Mother's Day!
We cleaned around the house, did some shopping, and tried to give Marci a break to do whatever she wanted. Unfortunately she had a headache and didn't feel that great. :(
In the afternoon we went to my parents for homemade pizza (Riley enjoyed helping with that). Maddie fell asleep on the way there and slept through dinner, waking up just as we were done. Then ice cream and opening presents. We all had a lot of fun.
Since Maddie had a good late nap, we knew she'd be up late (11:30pm she finally fell asleep!). Again, it was Mother's Day, so I told Marci, "Nope, no discussion. You go to bed early and get plenty of sleep, I'll get Maddie to sleep." Fortunately she was quiet and let me sleep between Backyardigans' shows. LOL!
In the afternoon we went to my parents for homemade pizza (Riley enjoyed helping with that). Maddie fell asleep on the way there and slept through dinner, waking up just as we were done. Then ice cream and opening presents. We all had a lot of fun.
Since Maddie had a good late nap, we knew she'd be up late (11:30pm she finally fell asleep!). Again, it was Mother's Day, so I told Marci, "Nope, no discussion. You go to bed early and get plenty of sleep, I'll get Maddie to sleep." Fortunately she was quiet and let me sleep between Backyardigans' shows. LOL!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
NEW CAR!!
Sunday we traded in our Honda Pilot for a Honda CR-V. It's AWESOME!
We were planning on trading in our Pilot in a year or two for a CR-V, but decided now might be a better time with a trip to Reno coming up, a trip to the beach later this summer, and who knows what other trips, and gas prices going up. The Pilot is a wonderful vehicle but with the CR-V we'll get 5-10 more miles per gallon.
It's a beautiful black car with beige interior. It's got pretty much every bell and whistle except navigation; navi was like $1500 more and we already have one we can mount in the window that works very well. Heated seats, dual climate controls, XM radio (free for 45 or 90 days, not sure if we'll keep it), a sun roof (WOOHOO!!!), and a bunch of other cool stuff. Unlike the Pilot, it doesn't have a DVD player in it. So we bought a set that hangs on the back of the headrests, one for each kid. You can play one DVD and watch it on both, both can play their own DVD's, and one can be playing a DVD while the other is playing a game. This means for our trip to Reno, Maddie can watch what she wants and Riley can be playing his Playstation 2.
The best part of this was the experience of purchasing the car. It was FANTASTIC!!! By FAR the best experience we've ever had getting a car!
Late last year when I learned what the 2009 Honda Fit would look like and decided I wanted one of those instead of the 2008 model, I contacted the internet sales person at Hillsboro Honda (formerly St. Johns Honda). I told her I was only interested in the 2009 and wanted to get my name on top of the list since I knew they'd be a hot item. Since then I've exchanged numerous emails with Pattie Brown and we went out to meet her once at some special event they were having.
This last Friday we started exchanging emails about the CR-V, figuring out what we wanted, how much we wanted our payments to be, etc. Sunday morning she said she had two cars like that and we were on our way. She was just the greatest. Very friendly, made us very comfortable, no pressure, definitely NOT your typical car sales person. I mean this person is someone you'd invite to a party, not someone you'd want to run away from as fast as you can and then take a shower to get rid of the slime.
There was one funny thing. The finance guys first estimate was $1.24 OVER what we wanted. Now $1.24 is not that much money and we certainly could have afforded that, but that's one of those things that makes you feel like someone is trying to make a point, that THEY are in control, not you. She saw that, turned around and told him, "Come on. Let's not be silly about this. $1.24 over is just crazy. Get rid of that." And he did. When she took the job she said if she couldn't be honest and no pressure she wouldn't do it. They all laughed at her and thought she'd be gone in a month. Last year she was the top sales person in the entire company. That's ALL Larry Miller dealerships across several states! Gee, what do you know, honesty and no pressure works. Go figure!
It took us a total of four hours, but it didn't seem that long because she made us so relaxed and comfortable. So if you're in the market for a Honda, click this link and you won't be sorry. You'll get the best deal you can and even if things don't work out, you'll love the experience and come back again.
Oh, and the kids were amazing! They played together nicely, the dealership had some things for them to do, and they really were wonderful. One of the cars in the showroom had a ton of balloons in it. Pattie let them toss all the balloons out of the car, then they put them all back in. Maddie was leaning out the window and Riley would hand them to her. The last 30 minutes was toughest and Maddie crashed in the car about two minutes after we left. But we couldn't have asked for them to be any better.
Ah, that new car smell....
We were planning on trading in our Pilot in a year or two for a CR-V, but decided now might be a better time with a trip to Reno coming up, a trip to the beach later this summer, and who knows what other trips, and gas prices going up. The Pilot is a wonderful vehicle but with the CR-V we'll get 5-10 more miles per gallon.
It's a beautiful black car with beige interior. It's got pretty much every bell and whistle except navigation; navi was like $1500 more and we already have one we can mount in the window that works very well. Heated seats, dual climate controls, XM radio (free for 45 or 90 days, not sure if we'll keep it), a sun roof (WOOHOO!!!), and a bunch of other cool stuff. Unlike the Pilot, it doesn't have a DVD player in it. So we bought a set that hangs on the back of the headrests, one for each kid. You can play one DVD and watch it on both, both can play their own DVD's, and one can be playing a DVD while the other is playing a game. This means for our trip to Reno, Maddie can watch what she wants and Riley can be playing his Playstation 2.
The best part of this was the experience of purchasing the car. It was FANTASTIC!!! By FAR the best experience we've ever had getting a car!
Late last year when I learned what the 2009 Honda Fit would look like and decided I wanted one of those instead of the 2008 model, I contacted the internet sales person at Hillsboro Honda (formerly St. Johns Honda). I told her I was only interested in the 2009 and wanted to get my name on top of the list since I knew they'd be a hot item. Since then I've exchanged numerous emails with Pattie Brown and we went out to meet her once at some special event they were having.
This last Friday we started exchanging emails about the CR-V, figuring out what we wanted, how much we wanted our payments to be, etc. Sunday morning she said she had two cars like that and we were on our way. She was just the greatest. Very friendly, made us very comfortable, no pressure, definitely NOT your typical car sales person. I mean this person is someone you'd invite to a party, not someone you'd want to run away from as fast as you can and then take a shower to get rid of the slime.
There was one funny thing. The finance guys first estimate was $1.24 OVER what we wanted. Now $1.24 is not that much money and we certainly could have afforded that, but that's one of those things that makes you feel like someone is trying to make a point, that THEY are in control, not you. She saw that, turned around and told him, "Come on. Let's not be silly about this. $1.24 over is just crazy. Get rid of that." And he did. When she took the job she said if she couldn't be honest and no pressure she wouldn't do it. They all laughed at her and thought she'd be gone in a month. Last year she was the top sales person in the entire company. That's ALL Larry Miller dealerships across several states! Gee, what do you know, honesty and no pressure works. Go figure!
It took us a total of four hours, but it didn't seem that long because she made us so relaxed and comfortable. So if you're in the market for a Honda, click this link and you won't be sorry. You'll get the best deal you can and even if things don't work out, you'll love the experience and come back again.
Oh, and the kids were amazing! They played together nicely, the dealership had some things for them to do, and they really were wonderful. One of the cars in the showroom had a ton of balloons in it. Pattie let them toss all the balloons out of the car, then they put them all back in. Maddie was leaning out the window and Riley would hand them to her. The last 30 minutes was toughest and Maddie crashed in the car about two minutes after we left. But we couldn't have asked for them to be any better.
Ah, that new car smell....
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