The Office

I have to say, I'm very lucky with my job. I get to work from anywhere that I have Internet access typically. The Friday that we left for the beach, I got to work from the van while on the drive to North Carolina. (hectic, but a nice option).

This week (the last week of summer break before school starts back), I took the kids to lunch and then we went to the park with their friends. I was able to tap into my Wi-Fi hotspot and work in the park while they played and had fun. It was quite ideal. 

I feel grateful that I do get to spend time with my kids, work a full-time job, be home for them when they get home from school or need something during the day...

I'm sad that Ella is leaving our elementary school, which is right in our neighborhood. She's moving on to the sixth-grade building. I think Silas will definitely find it weird the first week or two of school.

Today we went to Ella's new school, got her schedule, made sure that we could open her locker... And got her first school ID!

It'll be six more years before she and Silas will be in the same building again. That won't be when Silas is a freshman and Ella is a senior! 

Out with the Old...In with the New!

Time for a Trade-in! 

old...

new...

Okay, not really...

but I did make a trade-in.

We finally got a new van.  I really liked the old one, but with 127,000+ miles on it and things starting to

go...and we were looking at making some long road trips...

decided it was time to take the plunge.  

It's a Volkswagen Routan - and we love it.

Within 2 days of having Minnie (short for Minivan) we broke her in with a drive from OH to NY and then from NY to NC and then back to OH again.  Several thousand miles, several pukes (Ella gets car sick), a gallon of sand, lots of crumbs and one speeding ticket later (not me) - she feels like ours...

but I haven't actually made a payment yet though so that might change by May 1st...

I am extremely sentimental though, and it was very difficult to clean out the old van (it was such a pigsty!). We got the van in April 2002, before we even had Ella or Silas. I love our new Minnie but still miss the old van - I get a little weepy when I see similar vans out there. But don't get me wrong, I wouldn't give Minnie back - she's got a lot of great features that I've gotten used to - mainly a great stereo and power doors. And a DVD player with 2 screens.  And I love that the middle row windows roll down, and there is SO much more storage!  That is actually the best part. We don't have to pack in like sardines when we go on road trips.  

I'm hoping Minnie is as reliable - that we get another 8-10 years out of her...that should give us enough time to pay her off!