Here are the February highlights:
- We buy our first new family car in 10 years — our first American car, a Ford Flex
- Lilah and I attend the annual Father/Daughter dance sponsored by the YMCA
- We take a trip to the snow in Frazier Park
Earthquake in Chile
Before I get into this month’s update, I would just like to say thanks to everyone for thinking about us and our family in Chile. As I wrote to several of you, physically everybody made it — even the family I have in Concepcion which was the most hardest hit area. It’s nice to hear that all my relatives made it through, but the aftermath is still no picnic. Many people did not have access to water or electricity for several days. It’s also tough because the earthquake damaged a lot of infrastructure including roads, bridges, and buildings, which has made it tough for people to see and communicate with each other. Looting has also been an issue but in some respects it has made the community of local merchants and law abiding citizens tighter as they form improvised security outfits to protect their property. Again, thanks for all your thoughts, e-mails, and phone calls.
Father & Daughter Dance
Lilah and I had a great time at the father & daughter dance. Lilah picked out her own very red dress and also selected the tie I would wear for the occasion. I don’t think she really knew quite what to expect, but once we got there and she began seeing many of her friends there, she relaxed and really got into the spirit of things. At first, I thought I was going to get away with not even doing much dancing as she hooked up with friends and began dancing with them in their own little circles (you know, kind of like how women at bars or dance clubs will often do). Believe it or not, however, Lilah did want me to dance with her so we did a lot of it — fast dancing, slow dancing, old songs, new songs, I think we covered the entire gamut. We danced to the latest hits like Poker Face, by Lady Gaga, we retro-ed out a little with Thriller by Micheal Jackson, and also had some fun with classic favorites like The Chicken Dance, The Slide, and the Hokey Pokey. Lilah wasn’t too into the slow dancing because it just made us hot and we were already sweaty enough from the fast dancing.
I think what I really enjoyed the most about the experience was seeing Lilah’s personality and what she’s into. On one occasion she was even educating me on the lyrics behind Taylor Swift’s song, Love Story. She began telling me about how the song we were listening to was about a girl who wants to date a boy but her dad won’t let her, etc.. Another one of those “oh, oh, my daughter is growing up too quickly” moments.
Two Trips to Frazier Park
As part of the YMCA Adventure Guides, Luke and I had an overnight winter camp trip planned to Frazier Park. That means Luke was going to get to play in the snow and Lilah wasn’t — not good. So the weekend before our trip, I took both Luke and Lilah to Frazier Park along with my friend Tyson and we had a nice time sledding and throwing snowballs.
The following week, at winter camp, Luke had an absolute blast as there was a platoon of dads assigned to making two tracks for the kids to sled down. Basically, a group of dads got together with shovels to pile and then tamp down snow to create berms and jumps. On the more advanced track, kids were getting airborne big time. Leave it to the dads to turn the mountainside into an almost Olympic-like atmosphere with plenty of hooting and hollering as the kids rushed down the track at break neck speeds. Luke must have gone up and down the run at least 100 times in the day and a half we were there. That’s a lot of climbing as there are no ski lifts involved in this operation.
Luke definitely overdid things a bit though because by the end of the day he had a headache and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. He went to sleep just before 8:00 PM and luckily got up rearing to go again the next morning.
The Family Gets a New Car
The big highlight of the month was the new car we purchased on the day before Valentine’s day. Last November we had done a bit of test driving with the kids. We test drove the Mazda CX-9, Toyota Highlander, and the Ford Flex. At the end of the day, everybody fell in love with the Ford Flex, for it’s roominess, quietness, flexibility, and its “un-minivan-ness.” Our goal was to keep our family car for at least 10 years and we were only a few months short of that. We sped up the buying process when our friends asked if they could buy our old minivan in preparation for the arrival of their first child. Well, Cathy and I thought about it for a while and then we decided to go for it. Actually, I sped up the process more because I asked my brother in-law if he could use his broker to get us the car by Valentine’s day. That’s all I had to say and within 24 hours we were driving off in our brand new Flex with big smiles on our faces. If any of you are looking for a new car, now is a good time to buy as dealers have all kinds of incentives. And if you’re looking for a stylish, comfortable family car with plenty of room for all your knick-knacks, I would definitely recommend the Flex.
More next month….