Adventures beyond NY

Here are the updates from our more recent adventures. First up:

Goodbye Old Friend; Heh-looow New Friend!

When I came home from NY to triple digit temps (that will probably last us through October!) it was clear the time had come for a change of pace. Though J-rod had been toughing it out driving the Camry for over a year without A/C (crazy to do in the "are you kidding me?" heat of an AZ summer), the time had come for him to give it up! We'd been "looking" since February for a new car and had pretty much known since our first weekend of "looking" what type of vehicle we wanted, however it wasn't until recently that we felt ready to actually "take the plunge" of a car payment again.

After nearly eight years of driving us to, from, and within six different states, having been transported cross-country twice, maintaining it's original engine and transmission with 200,000 plus miles...it was time to say good-bye to this OLD friend (the Camry was a '95.)

Minus a temperamental A/C, this car still ran well!

Body damage sustained coming off the transport from NY to AZ...sigh.

So...a week after I came back from NY, J-rod found two great re-sale deals online and off we went with the intention of just looking at them to compare. By the time we reached the second dealership though, it was pretty clear we wouldn't be going home without having made a major purchase. After wheeling and dealing for what seemed like forever, we were the proud owners of an '07 GMC Acadia—a new-ish crossover vehicle that seats seven passengers--that we absolutely LOVE! Since at the beginning of that day we hadn't planned on coming home with a new car we hadn't taken the Camry with us with which to make an actual trade-in, so even though we just signed our life away…we drove home without the new car.

Saying goodbye, is never an easy thing to do!

After picking M up from school, the boys got in their swim trunks and headed outside to help J-rod fully clean out the Camry inside and out in preparation for taking it back for the big trade. Once it was nicely cleaned and made presentable, we took pictures of the boys saying goodbye to the old white car. I couldn't go with J-rod and the boys to make the trade because I had an evening meeting to get to and so missed out on what was apparently quite a moment of drama with my tender-hearted M. J-rod said that as soon as they drove up to the dealership, the tears started rolling down M's face and didn't stop until they returned home in the new car! You see, the old Camry had been our faithful family car since before M was even born so…no wonder he was so attached! : )

We've now had a few weeks to get used to our sweet new ride and have found that it suits us just fine! We love it so much, we've decided that rather than making the expense of flying to J-rod's family reunion this July…we'll just drive! : )