Amateur Hour

Joe had to go up to Alaska for training a couple of weeks ago, so Charlie and I took a little trip.  We met my mom and sister at a hotel down in the southern Virginia and stayed for a few days.  Charlie had a blast!  He got to go swimming in a real pool for the first time.  Charlie totally thinks that he can swim – he kept trying to squirm away from us, having no idea that his chubby little behind would sink right to the bottom if we weren’t holding him.  We also took him bike riding and spent lots of time playing outside.  Tons of fun!

A couple of weeks ago, my civic was leaking oil again.  Joe took it to the shop, and was told that the problem was fairly serious, and fixing it would cost almost as much as the car was worth.  It wasn’t very old, but it had been driven a lot (cross-country twice!)  So, we decided to replace it.  This is what we bought:

At the dealership, no less than 4 different people informed us that this particular used minivan once belonged to the “pork king” of the county.  Pig farms are big business here in eastern North Carolina, and now we have our own little piece of county royalty. 

It is by far the nicest car I have ever owned, and hopefully it will last us a long time.  In some ways, it is also the most ridiculous car I have ever owned.  For example, there are 17 cupholders in this car.  17!  And there is, of course, the pork connection, which I already mentioned.