Summersaults and Minivans

Hello Friends!

Well I have to say it's been a busy September for the Christensens.  I'll just start at the beginning and work my way through the month!

School for Jack had been off to a good start in August.  Since it was now September, I guess we felt we could throw more at him.  So he started Religious Education (Sunday School) classes this year.  And because he was going to be there anyway I volunteered to teach a class too.  My first "real" teaching job! I am in a 3rd grade classroom. Luckily I only have 5 kids. Well the benefit or peril of that remains to be seen.  So far I feel as if I'm doing OK. I'm pretty glad I have an aide though.

Also in September, Jack started taking Gymnastics as an outlet for his high energy. So far he loves it and always wishes it was Gymnastics day. Uh oh, I may be doing this for a while! It's a great class because they use real equipment, or miniature versions of real equipment. Here are a few photos I took through the windows.

Stretching (Jack is the black outfit with white hair)

Jumping at will. See why he loves this?

Blurry. He's about do do a back flip down the ramp.

Phew. That was a lot for September. But wait! There's more! After our August trip to Elitch Gardens it kind of started to dawn on us we were stuffing a growing family into a little clown car. Don't get me wrong I love my little Vibe. Actually, I loved my little Vibe. That said, Vibe really didn't love my double stroller. Or TVs. Or taking grandparents along. Or providing windows for short folks to look out. Or more than a minimal number of groceries.Or toilets (once we bought one but it didn't fit so we returned it)

So...after doing some pretty detailed research (thanks Robert for the tips) for about a month, agonizing, losing sleep, distracting me during the day.  Well you get the picture.  We finally used our bank, USAA's car finding service. And we found a minivan.  Yes, that's right folks, a minivan. I have arrived (as a friend told me). Actually, it's pretty sweet:

The Silver Surfer...in the 'burbs.

Room for the kids AND grandparents (or a toilet!)

Are you sure it's a driver's license not a pilot's license?

As it turns out, we were pretty much at a sweet spot for getting a decent trade-in value for our Pontiac Vibe, while still being able to afford a used car with minimal mileage and a not too distant past model year. Too much more delay and our Vibe would have gone down quite a bit in value just based on it's model year.

Anywho, if you're still reading you want to know a bit about it. It's a 2007 Hyundai Entourage SE and it only had 42000 miles or so on it. Basically it's just like a KIA, both of which had been given good reviews most places we looked. They only produced for Hyundai for two years, but it's a pretty neat car. And the kids can see out the windows which they both loved. Anyway we're still learning all about it but so far we are already glad we made the deal. Just the fact it's easier to put the kids in was enough for us!


Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time...