Chauffeur service and back seat drivers

Today was a very typical day where all I seemed to accomplish was chauffeuring boys (actually, today it was just one boy... Oliver) to and from activities: to the pool, home, to the pool again, home again, to tennis lessons, home again. All the while, Oliver is looking out the window and delivering a non stop commentary on just about everything from to how others drive (too fast), to how I drive (too slow), to how many red cars he sees (not enough), to how many bumps we hit on the road (too many), to how we do not stop at for ice cream nearly enough... anyway, you get the picture. When we got home, I asked him for a tip and all I got was a clap on the hand and him telling me to keep the change ;) I had to remember that it could be worse... Alexander will be able to drive in just over 2 years. I think that I will enjoy my chauffeur status for as long as I can ;)

Hope you all had a good day! xox

Please note that Oliver did have a seat belt on while we were driving. He took it off before I had the chance to take his picture.

I also don't take photos while I drive... and I try not to drive into parks ;)

New in the family

As a consequence of our unexpected shopping trip (see here), we are now the proud owners of a 2014 Nissan Versa. I think it is cute. Andreas would prefer to think of it as practical ;) Yes, all five of us can actually fit in it at the same time... Bring on the conflicting soccer games! ;)

Wishing you all a happy Friday! xox

Unexpected shopping

Yesterday was a kind of Murphy's Law day: Andreas had to go to work for a few hours so he left with our "back up" car. The plan was that I would, while he was gone, get ready and head out to Ikea when Andreas got home. About 20 minutes after he left, Alexander answered the phone for me. It was Andreas, insisting to talk to me... Oh oh... that didn't sound like good news! I took the phone, only to find out that our old car had died on the highway in a dramatic "all lights flickering on the dashboard, with loss of breaks and steering kind of way". Luckily, Andreas managed to get off the highway and onto the service road. Frantically calling roadside assistance, I had a bad feeling that we would end up buying more than a small carpet and set of dishes from Ikea ;)

Anyway, 3 hours later, we had almost $400 in our pockets from the scrap yard and a signed contract for a new (well... new to us) car. I will show the pictures when we get it next week....

Welcome back to the post-holiday reality ;) xox

Our final few minutes with the car...

This experience was total boy cool ;)

Bye bye, Mazda!

Sparkle on!

Since this past summer, Oliver has been asking for a sparkle car. This request started at the time that we bought the Honda (which he thinks is his because we first saw it on his birthday). In the beginning, I asked him if it were painted with a special colour. No... that wasn't it... Did it have stickers on it? No. Was it a police car (the lights)? No. Honestly, I had no idea what he was talking about (but that happens often) ;)

Earlier this week, we had to go back to the Honda dealership to visit our lovely mechanic... again... but that is another story :P Oliver asked again if, one day, we could buy a sparkle car. Trying to get to the root of it, I asked him to show me what the heck a sparkle car is. He pointed to the next door dealership. Finally, I got my answer:

He means Subaru!!!! I told him that maybe he can buy it with his allowance when he is 18. It seemed to satisfy him ;)

Keep on Sparkling! ;) xox

Hibernation time

Today we had the winter tires put on our cars.... I am officially depressed ;)

The only thing that cheered me up were these cool murals on a wall, near the mechanic, and that we had a bit of sun... Hibernation time is coming up!