Another New Car...

On Saturday, we purchased a brand new 2007 silver Honda CRV from Auburn Honda. Could it be? Lance actually has a brand new car. See previous post "A New Car" (from our other blog.) I say this because the past 5 brand new cars were always my car when poor Lance was left with his same old car.

Lance was in NEED of a new car for a while now. His 1993 Camry lasted a long time considering that we finally laid it to rest at 195,000 miles!!! That's a lot of miles! Like he always said, it got him from point A to point B in one piece.

He deserves the car and more. It's a nice looking car and Lance is so excited that he has it now. A good solid reliable little suv to get him to where he needs to go. It's funny because he jokingly said that we'll have it for another 10 years and by that time, Joshua can have it since he'll be 17! I was taken aback with that statement. I can't even imagine Joshua at 17 and driving! Yikes!

Another side note, we traded the Camry in at the dealership and I told Lance as long as they don't make us pay them for taking it away, I'd be happy! Haha. Believe it or not, they gave us a "whopping" $200 for it! The only good thing on the car were the tires...and that's not a joke!

Anyway, Lance is fully enjoying his brand new car...doing what we all do when we get a new car...parking far away from others, taking in that new car smell, keeping it spotless, and he's even wiping his feet before he enters, well, practically!

It was yet again, a pleasurable process thanks to my (retired) Dad and doing the search for us and contacting the manager over at Auburn Honda. We got a great deal.

See ya on the road!

On to Division

A few posts ago, I mentioned that Joshua was the only one in his class to be in multiplication. As of last week, he had already mastered his multiplication assessment test and moved on to division!


Apparently, second graders aren't required to or even expected to be in division. In fact, Joshua's 2nd grade teacher told him today that she needed to get the assessments tests for division from the 3rd grade teachers. She also mentioned that he is the only second grader in the school to be in division at this point!

Needless to say, Joshua is excited and we too are excited for him. Great job again Joshie!

The Boardwalk...

We took an overnight trip to Santa Cruz on a "spur of the moment" decision. Reservations were made at The Inn at Pasatiempo at 8pm the night before (the beauty of the internet) after a lengthy search - just being cautions on my part and not being to Santa Cruz in over 20 years. We left Lincoln at 830am, and arrived in Santa Cruz at 11:00am. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we proceeded to The Boardwalk for some good ol' fashioned "Spur O' the Moment" fun.

Of course, once there we had to eat (rather the boys had to eat), so they chose pizza (big surprise there). We bought some ride tickets and off we went! Throughout the day, the boys went on a number of rides...surprisingly Jayden wanted to ride the Log Ride (twice - much to dad's dismay) and Joshua was dead set on going on the Big Dipper (Rollercoaster) only to find out he was about an inch short of being able to ride it. BUT! He didn't let that stop him and decided to ride the "Double Shot" (again - much to dad's dismay see the video for yourself) to make up for the missed fun on the rollercoaster. You'll have to ask Joshua if he'll ever ride it again...



The weather was perfect (low 60's) and the walking was great excercise...the smiles and laughs from the kids was icing on the cake. After midway games, arcade games and rides, the kids were done about 4:00pm. From there we took the short drive (5 minutes) to the room, checked in and started the search for a place to eat. I consulted a local entertainment paper and a book in the room and settled on a restaurant called The Crow's Nest in Capitola (about 10 minutes from Santa Cruz) - mainly because it said "Kid's Menu" (which usually means, cheesburgers and chicken fingers).

The restaurant was set up against the beach, and we were seated at a window with a view. Cyn had the Coconut Crusted Mahi-Mahi, which she claims is the best she's ever had (I'll admit - it was good!! And a generous portion), I had the Prime Rib which was also very good, and the kids had - a cheeseburger and chicken fingers (another surprise!). We got to see the sunset and take some pictures using the ocean and a lighthouse as a backdrop.

Our room was good (rated three diamonds by AAA) - but it wasn't the Sheraton or the Hilton. It served it's purpose, and for a short notice reservation, it was good. Cottage-style room, in room cable and fridge and complimentary continental breakfast were inicluded. I did notice there wasn't an A/C in the room - but we didn't need it.

Overall...we all had a fun family overnight trip - and are considering visiting again (so Joshie can ride the rollercoaster - ha!). Cyn and I even decided we may need to do more "Spur O' The Moment" trips with the kids...

Picture Perfect...

Here's our future "male model of the year". Blake and Katelyn's Aunt Cari snapped these two great shots of Jayden a couple weeks ago at the park. Although he looks like he was posing, he didn't really want to take the pictures, but Cari was too quick for him! Glad she took these...I love these photos!

Thanks Cari! You have a great eye (and a quick trigger finger)!

Jayden can't wait to give you more tickets and warnings.=)