Car Riding

One of my co-worker's mentioned that he was taking his daughters' old power wheel to Goodwill because they're getting upgraded to one of those 2-person fancy jeeps for Christmas and his son couldn't drive a pink one. I was about to open my mouth to tell him that was ridiculous, that any child should be THRILLED to have a motorized car toy regardless of color, that I'd ALWAYS wanted one growing up (and so did JP, one of the few things he wanted but never got, and this was a kid with a 6 foot remote controlled airplane- clearly the power wheel is a toy for only the fanciest of children)- but just as I was about to say that, he turned to me and said, "wait, do you think Claire would use it?"

 

Um, yes. Yes, I think she might.

 

Thank goodness his third is a boy who couldn't possibly drive a pink power wheel.

Admittedly, Tex seems concerned for Landon's manliness.

 

It was a hit and has been ridden every day and charged three times since we were gifted with it last weekend.

And speaking of riding in cars, we piled in our own at 8 a.m. Saturday morning to drive to Austin and San Antonio and back to visit the great-grandparents and a few friends. The kids got spiffy for the occasion.

 

I believe Claire's purse contained 2 trains, a Cliff bar, 1 bracelet, 4 tiny rocks, and a small plastic turtle. You know, the essentials.

 

We owed my four grandparents a visit- with the move and longer distance drive (4.5 hours instead of 1) and then my grandpa getting so hurt and sick that he wasn't up for company of the child kind, it had been 9 months since we'd been to San Antonio (though my mom's parents have been to our house twice; we are conveniently placed along their route to and from Wisconsin each summer). And as long as we were driving to San Antonio, and driving right by Austin, I emailed a couple friends to see if they could meet us for lunch at a playground right off the highway. The kids played, we ate salad (I know, it was most unlike me and my usual disdain for carbless bowls of lettuce that pretend to be entrees), and I got to hold a very chubby and happy 8 month old baby. She was like a Clairebear with even bluer eyes.

We pressed on to 'Tonio (as Claire calls it) around 1:30 and got to hang out with each set of grandparents in their respective condos and then merged together for a trip to a very nearby, very tasty Italian restaurant that my mom's parents have been going to for 25 years.

My Dad's parents; Go Navy!

It was fantastic to see all four of them (and extra fantastic that we can see all four in one trip) and especially reassuring to see my Grandpa Glenn moving up and around (albeit with a walker). He still took the kids down to feed the fish and my grandma and I got to wave to the little group from the balcony just like always.

We left at 6:30 and got home about 10:30.

 

It was a lot of driving, but really not too bad to do in one day, and worth it to have all of today to run errands, clean, cook with the music on (this week's menu coming soon), and watch JP build fires because it is FINALLY feeling winter-like outside. Yay for singing Christmas carols and making cozy chili recipes and not feeling ridiculous because you're wearing a tank top and shorts and it's 80 degrees. My little weatherbug says it's 41 and dropping- December is finally here!