Farewell to the RX-8

The day has finally come.  For about three years we've seriously considered selling my Mazda RX-8, and today is finally the day.  It's caused plenty of frustration with its quirky rotary engine and various mechanical issues.  It was reasonably fine when we didn't have kids, and even when we had one or two kids, I could actually fit two car seats in it, so it wasn't too bad.  But with three kids, there's no way for me to take them anywhere together in my car.  So I've ended up taking Meghan's Mazda CX-9.  That's a little inconvenient in and of itself, but it becomes a bigger problem because my car has a manual transmission, and Meghan can't drive a stick.  So if I take the kids somewhere for the day in her car, she has the day to herself, but she can't leave the house to run errands or go get lunch or anything else.  Also, because it's so light and is a rear-wheel drive car, it's terrible in the snow.  Every winter I've been nervous that I'd get stuck or slide off the road, and there were some close calls.  I can work from home any day I want, so on snowy days I did, but there were also times when I'd have to drive to the airport for work, so in fresh snow I'd very slowly make my way as the slowest car on the road.  But we put up with all of that partially because we knew the alternative was likely a minivan, which would mean that Meghan would drive that instead of her CX-9, and I would drive her CX-9 instead of my RX-8.  In that situation, both of us lose, so we weren't eager to make a move.

But the biggest factor in keeping it for so long is that I love this car.  Love it.  I love the way it looks: black on black, leather, spoiler, sunroof, cool body style, etc.  And I love the way it drives.  I never knew the amazing drving experience that a short-throw shifter manual transmission could give until I had it.  When I bought the car, I hadn't planned to get a stick, as I'd had little experience driving one, but I fell in love with this particular car when I saw it at the dealership.  I decided that if I could test drive it without killing it, then it'd probably be fine.  I did, and though I wasn't perfect at the beginning, I soon learned how to smoothly drive it.  I'm thankful of this, because I can now drive a stick, and otherwise I probably wouldn't have that skill.  But the thrill of the car is the driving experience.  It's so responsive.  The steering gives you total control.  And although the acceleration from a dead stop is good, the acceleration at higher RPMs is phenomenal.  It's what I imagine piloting a jet or driving a racecar must be like.  It's like the car is begging me to unleash it and let it blast off. The instant you tap the accelerator, it goes.  It's exhilarating.  This car has brought me so much happiness.  I've said it many times, but it's true:  It literally has given me joy every single time I've driven it (okay, outside of the snow times).  I love driving it even if I'm just running to the store.  I loved driving to Iowa or Missouri or Arkansas for my job.  Five hours in the car in this bad boy?  Sign me up!  It's a 2005, but I bought the car in 2007 with 7,500 miles on it.  It now has 86,000 miles on it, so I've put 80,000 thrilling miles on it.  But it's time.  I looked at trade-in values and wasn't getting what I wanted (they offered between $2,500 and $4,000), so I listed it on Craigslist and sold it for $6,700 to an 18-year-old kid who is from a family of sports car buffs/gearheads.  They all love the car, and the kid is totally pumped to have it as his car, as he should.

Here it is at the gas pump tonight as I filled it up one last time to give the kid a full tank of gas with his new car.  We then completed the transaction (his parents where there too, and they were super nice), and he drove it away.  I was a little bit emotional and actually teared up a bit, but I'm happy it's going to a kid and a family who will appreciate the great things about that car, and they definitely do. The RX-8 is officially gone, but I'll never forget what an awesome car it was for me.

Glamourous Hannah

Hannah's outfit today was especially cute.  She added her sunglasses, of course upside-down as she always wears them, and was excited to show us how pretty and glamourous she looked.

A Disinterested Soccerette

Clara has done indoor soccer before, but we decided that this season she was ready to move up to outdoor soccer.  Today was her first day, and it also happened to be the picture day for this season.  Here team name is the Soccerettes, with Coach Shawn leading the way.

Things started off well, as she participated in the first half hour, which is the practice.

But when it came time for the second half hour, which is the game, she suddenly had no real interest in doing anything.  That's her on the far left.  That's every single other player on the far right.  It was a struggle to get her to go into the game, and once she did, she just stood there, doing nothing.  She sometimes would walk around rather aimlessly, but she was not interested in moving toward the ball and certainly not in trying to kick it or be part of the team.  It was almost identical to Joshua's first experience.  Fortunately, we got past it with him, and he now really enjoys it, so I'm sure we'll get there with Clara as well.

Sticks That Walk

I remember seeing walking sticks (also called stick bugs) when we lived in Missouri.  But I don't think I've seen one since I've lived in Kansas.  Yesterday Joshua told me he saw one at school the other day, which surprised me, since I didn't think we had them here, but I was pleased because I think they are super cool bugs.  But then today when I went to pick up the kids, they'd found two walking sticks in the back yard, one green and one brown.  So perhaps there's some sort of sudden infestation of them, or maybe it was just a coincidence.  Joshua had learned well and was quick to inform me that the stick bugs were very fragile and that we needed to be very careful with them, which I was glad to hear.  Benjamin didn't get the memo and attempted to smash one with a baseball, costing the bug one of his legs.  Julie was upset, but the good news is I later read that they can regenerate their legs, so the walking stick would be fine.

The girls were less interested in the walking sticks than the boys were, and they were happy to hang out with Grandpa for awhile.

Acquiring Hannah's Future Room

After we re-did Clara's room to give her a "big girl" room, Hannah immediately began asking for her own big girl room.  We weren't in any particular rush to do this, since she's still 2, but we were keeping an eye out on Craigslist in case something good came up.  Recently we did see a bedroom set that we liked that was also a really good value.  We were able to contact them soon after it posted and were able to come to an agreement.  Unfortunately, a moving truck is not among my possessions, so I had to rent a U-Haul, as the set included two beds, a chest of drawers, a dresser, a night stand, and a large mirror.  Tonight I picked up the furniture from their storage unit and delivered it to our house.  It's a really pretty set, and we think Hannah will love it.

Visiting Jim

A few weeks ago I got the terrible news that my colleague and friend Jim had suffered a stroke.  He is the sales rep with whom I've worked most closely and frequently during almost my entire time as a sales engineer.  He's been at the company for seven years, which is a very long time for a sales rep.  But he's been very successful, which has allowed me to be successful.  The three times I've been able to go to President's Club (Bahamas, Vegas, and Maui) were because he qualified by meeting his annual quota.  We've done so many meetings, demos, and presentations together over the years.  We have similar interests, including both being Cubs fans, so we always enjoy spending time together whether talking about work or about anything else.  We work very well together, and everyone in Sales in our company knows the two of us as a dynamic duo who successfully sell software together (he does the bulk of it as the sale rep, but I support him with everything from the technical side).  "Jim and Jason" is a phrase that's been uttered many, many times by a lot of people.  So when I heard he had a stroke, I was stunned.  He lives in Indiana, so I wasn't immediately able to visit him, but I had a meeting in Chicago this moming, and I booked my travel to allow me time to drive over to the hosptal in Indiana to visit him for awhile.  Thankfully, his cognition is good, but he is working through quite a few other physical issues.  It was great to see him, but he didn't look great. I was initially going to take a pic of us together, but I decided to use the above one from Maui instead to represent today's visit.  It's still possible he'll fully recover, perhaps in a few months.  But he may not, and if not, he wouldn't be able to continue his employment with our company.  I'm hoping and praying he recovers mostly for his and his family's sake, but I'm also hoping he will eventually be able to come back and work with me again, as I already miss seeing him and talking with him.

Zoo Day with Halie and Miss Alaina

Today Halie took the kids to the zoo and met up with her friend, Alaina (who is known as "Miss Alaina" to our kids), Alaina's kids Hayden and Caleb, and Alaina's niece, Zoey. The kids had so much fun.

They especially loved the train and carousel.

I am really excited to be done with my job soon, but we are going to miss seeing Halie on a weekly basis so much. We are glad they can have some fun outings in the last few weeks of her spending this much time with us.

First Day of School

Today the kids had their first day at their new school. Hannah is also starting this year, but this school requires that a child be 3 before they come so she will start in October.

It was a really hard decision on whether to switch schools or not, but in the end I thought this was the best environment for Joshua and he's older so I decided to switch. Our new school is a nature preschool which means they spend a large portion of each day outside and the focus is on natural learning and not as much on traditional academics. I really feel this is appropriate for any preschooler, but especially Joshua who is not really excited about worksheets or letter of the week.

Joshua was immediately excited to be there, but Clara was less sure. She wanted her old teachers and her friend Teagan. Unfortuntely she would not be in their classes this year regardless, but hopefully she adjusts to her new environment soon. Next year Joshua will no longer be in preschool so I will be making our preschool decision based mostly on her needs, so if I don't feel she is thriving here, I would be open to moving somewhere else.
However,I think she will adjust and make new friends and be happy. There is a lot to like about this school. One of things I really like is it's just a single multi-age classroom, which not only do I generally think is ideal, but I also love that all my kids can be in the same class. And I also love it because I can easily teach letters and numbers at home. But I don't love catching bugs personally and I don't have a bug microscope or an outdoor kitchen for mudplay or logs to build things outside, so this school provides a lot of resources I don't have. I'm looking forward to this year and seeing what the kids learn.

A Tradition for the Last Day of "Summer"

Last year we started a new family tradition where on the night before the first day of school we will grill hot dogs for dinner and eat s'mores for dessert.  This year we will have three kids in school, though Hannah doesn't start tomorrow.  But Joshua and Clara will be heading off in the morning, so in a sense it feels like the last day of our summer.  Everyone likes hot dogs, and everyone loves s'mores, so it can't really go wrong.  Although heating the marshmallows over the grill doesn't seem to work as well as doing it over an open fire, so we're still working out some of the kinks.  But still, we had a fun evening.

Inside Out, PetSmart, and McDonald's

Earlier this year, I took Joshua to his first ever theater movie, and for my date day with Clara today, I decided it was time for her to get to see one too.  We went to see Inside Out, which has been out awhile, but it's a Pixar movie, which pretty much means it'll be great, and the reviews backed that up.  And sure enough, it was really a pretty outstanding movie.  I really liked it.  The visuals were stellar, but it also had a great plot and gave visual structure to the lead character's thoughts, emotions, memories, etc., which made it really interesting to think about.  Clara really liked it too.  She didn't really know what to expect from the experience, but once I told her we'd be eating popcorn and watching a movie, the rest didn't matter.  She did really well and was engrossed in the movie the entire time, but she made sure to chow down her popcorn too.

Next we went to PetSmart, as they often have puppies and kittens there for adoption on Saturdays, though we were just going to look, not to adopt.  She made fast friends with a little dog, and if I were even remotely open to getting a new dog right now, I might have taken him home.  He and Clara loved each other.  Clara even asked me if we could take him home.  Later she saw birds and fish   She found one tank with a large school of fish and pointed to one and said, 'Dad, please can we get one?  I think I love him!"  We brought home no fish, but she was over it by the time we left the store, so it was okay.
I asked her where she wanted to go to lunch, since I didn't have a particular plan, and to no one's surprise, she chose McDonald's.  Here she is eating her fries and then making a super cute expression.

Here are a few other pictures of us, including eating our ice cream treat outside.  We had a really fun date day, and I'm glad we got to see her first theater movie together.