Life in Lochlanland

Day 2 & 3 & 4?!?!! Really?? Why Does Vacation Go by so Quick!

Day 2... this was more driving.  We had breakfast, left Golden and drove to the Enchanted Forest where much fun was has by all three of us.  It really is a neat park - there are all these little building that are child sized and, even better, kids are allowed to play in them.  Lochlan LOVED it.  For more evidence... check out this photo album:

So then we headed to Sicamous, had some lunch and continued on our way to Kelowna.  Where we found our condo at this terrific little resort - we are SOOOO coming back here again.  It's not stupid expensive, it's not huge, but it has a pool, a park BBQs, and is close to Kelowna and close to wineries.  It was good.  We expected to meet up with Cheryl and Paul, but they got going later than they expected, so we found a local (yummy) italian place for dinner since Lochlan said he wanted spaghetti.  Dinner was great - then we headed back to our condo (see the slideshow) and got some rest.

Day 3 we met up with Cheryl and Paul, did some grocery shopping, played at the park, had BBQ for supper (we found and M&M meat shop - yummy BBQ!!!).  It was pretty lazy, but we were on vacation and none of us were up for much.

Day 4:  Really!?!  Suddenly it's Day 4?!?!!  We did a couple of wine tastings today.  We went to Quail's Gate and had some lovely wine and bought a Merlot for me and a Tawny for Darren.  Then we had a super yummy lunch, went on a tour of the facilities - which was pretty neat, had another tasting... .it was all good.  Lochlan had enough at that point, so we took him back to the condo.  Darren and Paul stayed behind and Cheryl and I headed to the Mission Hill winery - it was really nice.  Both Quail's Gate and Mission Hill were a tad on the pretensious side, and the wine wasn't super cheap, but it was good and the grounds were beautiful.  Quail's Gate was very lush and gree, Mission Hill had stunning architecture.  It was a really good day.  We're going to check out the smaller wineries later in the week, that's where you find the good cheap stuff.

Then I took Lochlan for a swim before bed - he loved it and has fallen asleep with no troubles at all!!  We might do this again... although it was a bit chilly.  It's warm in the water, but a bit chilly out of the water.  However, it wore him out and he was out like a light.

Tomorrow will be more low key - I think we're going to hang around the resort, explore a bit more, go to the park, go to the pool... it will be good. 

I *really* like being on vacation!!!

Day 1: Golden

Well, Golden isn't exactly the most fascinating place on earth.  It's famous for being a convenient stop point on your way from Alberta to the Okanagan Valley.  However, we figured a three hour drive the first was was best rather than a 5 hour trek to Revelstoke.

Anyway - we arrived yesterday afternoon after a lovely drive full of construction along Highway 1!  I love the scenery around here - the mountains, the trees, the itty bitty little lakes that pop up everywhere...  The drive to Edmonton always makes me sleepy, but this on was much better.  There was a lot of construction, I'm feeling for our friends who are travelling tomorrow, it's going to much more congested on a weekend!

Lochlan did great - we had him in a pull-up just in case he needed to go pee and we weren't close to something.  And sure, enough, about 5k into a 28k construction project he said he needed to go pee.  We told him it was okay to pee in his pullup, but he was quite insistent that he needed to pee on the toilet.  So he managed to hold out until we got to Lake Louis and then we took a break.  I was really proud of him - my little snuggle-bug!!

Then we continued our trek to Golden - I was amazed at the traffic.  Speed sort of ranged from 80-100 km/hr - there are a lot of curves and hills.  However, at every climbing lane we came to there were always these SUVS that were gunning it up the hill, only to run into the next car that was going 80-100 km/hr.  I was glad that we were more relaxed about it - we had an enjoyable drive, and were probably much less stressed out!! 

So we arrived and we have a nice hotel room, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and then Lochlan and I went for a swim.  It was fun... until he got so cold he lips were blue and he was shivering.  However, he refused to get out of the pool.  He insisted he wasn't cold... sigh.  I gave him the choice of going in the hot tub or going to the hotel room and he didn't choose, so we left and someone had a massive tantrum.  (Lochlan - not me!)  Then that same someone had a massive tantrum at bedtime, poor kid.  It's rough trying to settle in new places, and hotels are especially hard because we don't have separate rooms.  Oh well, tonight will be better at the condo.  I hope!

We're also slightly annoyed at ourselves - we got Warcraft running on both laptops, brought accessories like mouses and headsets, only to discover that we left the authenticators at home.  (Key fobs that generate a random number used in passwords on our WoW account...)  So unless Cheryl and Paul got our email to pick it up... we'll likely have to find other ways of entertaining ourselves!

Shouldn't be too hard - I brought the entire Harry Dresden series with me... that should keep me entertained!!

On to day two... Revelstoke, Enchanted Forest and Kelowna!

Time to Get Away!

Yup - it's vacation time, and this year we're actually going somewhere!! 

We're leaving tomorrow to head to BC, we'll likely stop either in Golden or in Revelstoke, depending on how Lochlan is doing, and spend the night.  Saturday morning I want to take Lochlan to the Enchanted Forest.  I think I went as a kid and while I suspect it will be super cheesy, I also think he'll have some fun and it will break up the drive a bit. 

Then we're heading to Kelowa where we have a condo on the beach booked for a week.  It should be lovely - there's a pool, a toddler pool, a beach, a playground, a BBQ, a firepit... it should be excellent!  Then since we're in Okanagan wine country, we'll look at a couple of wine tours.  It should work good.

See - I like wine tours, or I think I would.  Darren, however, doesn't.  And Lochlan?  Well, he's three.  I somehow doubt that would go over well.  Since I'd rather not go on my own... I'm dragging my best friend and her husband along with us!  We're staying in different places - after all, they don't have kids which means they would like prefer to sleep in while on vacation.  These are luxuries parents of early rising children don't have!!  And our Lochlan is, well, loud.  So it's not like someone sleeping in the same unit would be undisturbed with him in the room.

At any rate, it should be a good combination of hanging out with good friends and getting in each other's way.  I'm looking forward to it.

We have wireless internet at the condo we'll be staying at - so I'm going to try the travel diary thing.  Cause I know you're all fascinated with our vacation to the exotic Kelowna!!

This Truck Really Gets Around

Now Lochlan's Purple Truck is gone.  He thinks it's in the jungle.  So you have to be QUIET because it's hiding.

Lochlan has a cat - it's brown and it's name is McQueen.  The cat was in the tree but then it left.  It went to the jungle to find the truck.  But it could get into the truck so it had to find a ladder.  So now there is a ladder at the truck.  The ladder is also used to fix things on the truck.  It's pretty special.

Oh, and Clifford is a big red dog.

Don't you love the stream of consciousness that comes out of three year olds!!

(I might almost forgive him for waking up waaaaaay to early this morning.)

Purple Truck Stories

Some children have imaginary friends, mine, however has an imaginary truck.  This truck is amazing, it has the Backyardigans, Wall-E and Eve, the Little Mermaid, all his music, his movies, balloons from Up, and cars.  It's purple and it has sparkles red, pink, blue and yellow sparkles to be precise. 

But it's lost.  Well, sometimes it's lost, so we need to get a new one, from the Purple Truck Store.  When I tell him I don't know where the purple store is, he says "I sink it's dis way, Mommy!"  Then points down the road.

His imagination cracks me up, somedays the truck is broken, somedays the truck's wheel came off, somedays the truck is at the park... It gets around this truck.  It's hysterical. 

I love three year old imagination!!

Taking a Breather

I guess it has been awhile... we're all okay, but trying to cut back on all the busy-ness that is our life these days.  Dealing with the accident, getting a new car and all that stuff takes its toll and while parts of it are exciting I still found I was mostly grouchy about the whole process because even though I have a lovely car that I really like... I wasn't ready to give up my Camry.  But I think we've mostly moved on, but it's been nice to just take some time to get caught up on all the stuff that fell behind.

So what have we been up to...  I've been taking a photography course over the last few weeks which has been great.  I'm finally reasonably comfortable with the manual features on my camera and I've been getting some great stuff.  I should probably put together a photo album for it... I'll get to it!!  The course has been good, but it has also made me realize that two evenings out a week is really hard.  I have my music lessons on Tuesdays and adding anything else means stuff starts to fall behind.  Which for a short course isn't a problem, but it does mean I need to think about these classes and make sure I don't do too much at one time. 

Lochlan's been... well... a three year old.  Three is really a rough age... there is the three year old hearing which means you can hear "treat" but not "please clean up your toys" "get off the table" etc.  It's quite frustrating.  Then add in the whining and oh.my.god.  some days would do almost anything for 5 minutes out peace.  All day long all you hear is "Mommmmmeeeeeee!!" with this tone that just drives you crazy.

Then there is the sassing... oy!  Some days are rough.

However, then there is everything else... the way he laughs at his TV Shows, the stories he makes up about his cars and trucks.  The way his entire face lights up when I come pick him up at the end of the day.  The joy he feels when I let him jump in mud puddles even though it'll mess up my shiny new car.  The way his kisses you better when you stub your toe, the way he sneaks into our bed in the middle of the night.  How happy he is when we go for walks or to the park. 

Snuggling in bed reading a book together, singing songs in the car... playing rock band... while there are definitely challenges to being a parent of a three year old, really I'm the luckiest mom ever because he is my son.  And I know it.

This weekend is pretty low key - just hanging out together and relaxing.  I like those weekends :).  Plus it's FINALLY nice out.  I love spring here... I just wish is lasted a bit longer.

The Final Decision...

I chose the Matrix - as much as my heart wanted me to choose the Mini, I knew that it's not the right car at this point in time.  The Matrix was fun, smooth, quiet, and had piles of space.  Basically it met all my requirements without a problem and it's well within our budget.  And Toyota had one in the right colour in stock!  (Yes, I'm going with that fabulous blue, I love it!)

So the financing is all arranged, I tried to get the plates of the Camry today and, well, coudn't.  They are rusted pretty solid.  However, the dealership will cancel them for me and get me a new set, so it'll work out.  I took some pictures - I'll post a link to those later when I get them uploaded.  The damange doesn't look as bad as I thought.  At any rate, I checked the nooks and crannies again to make sure we weren't missing anything and then, well,  gave it a fond pat and said goodbye and left.  I *really * liked that car.

The I got back to my office and got an email from the toyota salesman.  My car has arrived... they're doing some prep work, but chances are it'll be ready by the end of the week.  Which is GREAT!

Except I haven't heard from my insurance company about the settlement yet.  Grrrrr.  Now I know my shiny new car is waiting for me, it's even harder to be patient. 

I guess there's not much else to do... it's been a week.  I have music lessons again tonight... life really does go on.

It's Down to Two!

I've test driven 5 Cars this week - The Mini Cooper and four Toyota models - Matrix, Camry hybrid, Prius and Venza.

The result is... uncertain. Sigh.  Well, I've narrowed it down to the Mini and the Matrix.  The Camry was a little boring, the Venza was HUGE, unresponsive and clunky, and the Prius - while kinda cute and full of snifty gadgets was a little slow to accelerate, not as cute as the Matrix and I have some concerns about the traction control.

 So - the two remaining contenders are...

1. Mini Cooper

I *really* liked this car - it was zippy and responsive and so much fun to drive.  It had lots of space for the driver and passenger, it wasn't cramped or squishy.  The console and controls were weird, but nothing I couldn't get used to.  I loved how it drove - it seemed really stiff, but it wasn't.  It was weird, it seemed o know where I wanted to go and I almost didn't need to do anything.  I really, really liked this car.

The drawbacks?  It was a little noisy and the ride was a little rough - although given that I'm coming from a Camry, this isn't a surprise.  It wasn't worse than Darren's Yaris, and I liked the Mini better.  The other drawback is cargo space and two doors.  There isn't much cargo space - there is enough for our daily activities and the odd weekender to Edmonton.  But not much else.  The back seat will also likely be rather cramped for Lochlan when he sprouts into a massive teenager.  Then again - I'm not sure any car would fit him!!  I was comfortable in the back seat with Darren in front, and Darren was fine with me in front, so assuming Lochlan say behind me - he should be okay.  The two doors is a bit of a concern given that we are still using car seats.  Lochlan can get in and out of his carseat on his own, but we still need to buckle him up.

So I'm going to test drive it again on Monday with Lochlan and see just how annoying it will be.  Then we'll see.

2. Toyota Matrix

I really liked this one as well - it was sporty, zippy, fun to drive and doesn't look like a boring sedan.  It had 4 doors, hatchback with plenty of space and it was reasonably quiet and had a nice ride.  On paper, it's the one I should get because the only thing I didn't like about the Matrix was that it wasn't the Mini.

It's cheaper, it's more practical, yet it's still fun to drive.  Gah!!  But it's not a Mini.  Damn.

Over the course of writing this post, I've gone from thinking I'll get the Matrix to thinking I really want to get the Mini.  ARGH!!!!  I'm not ready to make this decision yet.  Grrrrr... as much I as did want a shiny car, I wanted to figure it out on MY terms.  Not be forced into a decision.

In all honesty, neither car is the wrong choice.  They both have excellent safety ratings, excellent reviews, excellent maintenance records and are not costly to maintain.  With the stuff that really matters, they both win.  So really it's just which one do I prefer and which one will make me happiest.  I don't want to spend the next 10 years cursing the Mini for being too small, I also don't want to spend the next 10 years wishing I had bought the Mini.  So I'll do one more test drive of the Mini on Monday and then decide.

In the meantime I'm going to take the day off... hang out home with my boys, play some computer games and get some M&Ms.  This decision can wait another day.

*P.S.  The car has definitely been totalled, insurance called on Friday to let me know that.  In addition, the other driver's insurance will probably accept full liability, which is great.  I would be sooooooo cranky if I had to take any liability for this accident.  I need to phone the adjustor about a few things... maybe I'll leave him a message today.

*P.P.S  I am *trying* to enjoy this process... and mostly failing.  Darren tells me not to worry, I will be excited and happy when I have my new car and this is all sorted out and done.

*P.P.P.S.  Our insurance company has been great, we'll see if that continues with the offer they make me, but they have handled all the details and made this process as easy as possible. I think maybe we'll keep them!

*P.P.P.P.S  Now I am going to go watch TV or something... have a great day!

The Hunt Begins...

Part of what's annoying me, is I thought I had a few more years in my old car to decide whether I wanted to be all practical or whether I wanted the fun car that I've dreamed of for years and years. Now I have to make the decision in a few days, and I'm a little grumpy about it. However, conversations with Darren, the state of the auto industry and bank interests rates actually make this a pretty good time to be buying a car, so at least something is in my favour. Although, knowing my luck, I will do a bunch of research, fall in love with a new car and find out that the insurance company wants to repair my vehicle. It's not too likely - I mean who would want to make this level of repair on a 12 year old car? Probably no one - at any rate, the adjustor told me to start shopping. so off we go.

So what are the contenders? What are my criteria?

Well, I want something more fuel efficient than my Camry - not that fuel efficiency is a huge deal given I drive 5km to work, however I still would prefer to avoid a gas guzzler.

I don't want something big - I'm not a fan of SUVs, minivans, or super large sedans. Plus I don't think we could afford one anyway. I don't like sitting so high up, I tend to get car sick even driving these things and I hate how unwieldy they feel and how hard they are to maneuver. They work well for many people, which is terrific, but they are not a good fit for me.

I'd like a hatchback, one thing I have always hated about my Camry is that there is this teeny pass through spot in the back from the truck to the main part of the car. It means you can fit a Billy Bookcase from IKEA in the back - maybe two, but that's about it. I'd like a car where when the seats are folded down I can actually use the space. It's super annoying to have a massive trunk that you can't fit anything into.

So the contenders are:

1. Mini Cooper - it's small, it's adorable, it's good on gas, it's a hatchback. did I mention it was adorable? I've wanted one of these for years and have never managed to make it work. The cons? It probably has a small trunk space and it's a 2-door car. Which could really suck with Lochlan. Or it might now. I just don't know. Then again the coolness and the cuteness and the joy might supercede all that. However I've never driven one. So I have a test drive scheduled for tonight, so we'll check it out and see. if I hate the drive, that answers that question.

2. Toyota Hybrid - Prius or Camry Hybrid. The pros? REALLY fuel efficient, and perfect for the daily driving I do. They both have decent trunk sizes and the Prius is a hatchback, this might rule out the Camry. Plus the Camry doesn't come in any really nice colours. They're all very understated and beige. Not really a lot of fun. These cars would have the space I need, the fuel efficiency I want and would likely be fine for those big trips. They have 4 doors. etc etc. So very practical. The Cons? It's not a Mini Cooper. Again, I really need to do some test drives and see how things shake out.

3. Toyota Matrix - these are almost as cute as the Mini's, a bit cheaper, but not as fuel efficient. They also have four doors, hatchback and are a little bigger so the storage room is dealt with. The pros? Not that great fuel efficiency and it's not a Mini Cooper.

Hmmm. are we sensing a theme here?

So the plan is to test drive the Mini tonight, then test drive a Prius, Camry Hybrid and a Matrix and see which one I like the best.

Then the insurance company will call and tell me they're going to fix my old car :P

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This is Why Driving Sucks

You do everything right, you don't speed, you watch where you're going, you take off slowly from green lights, you try to let people in. and despite all that you're really at the mercy of everyone else.

This was made obvious to me last night when an elderly woman ran a red light and broadsided me and Lochlan. She hit the driver's side - managing to miss me almost entirely - and spun us around so that my rear bumper hit the traffic signal pole and the rear passenger wheel broke off. Fortunately, Lochlan and I were okay.

I'm dealing with insurance and rentals cars and dealing with the likelihood that my car is totaled. I liked my car, I don't want a new car, I don't want to shop for a new car especially since we don't have the money to afford the car I really want, so I'm stuck buying something that will do until we CAN afford what I want. I dunno. we'll figure it out.

Then if the car isn't totaled, how comfortable will I feel driving it. will it even drive the same with so much damage. I don't know.

The important thing is that Lochlan and I are okay. I have a bruise on my knee and a scratch on my neck, Lochlan has a bit of seat belt burn on his collar bone, but given how much he was chattering, I think he's okay. He was a bit freaked with the accident first happened, but recovered faster than I did.

The other driver was okay, too. Still. one scary evening.

Hopefully I don't have to do this again. Yick.

NOTICE - This communication is intended ONLY for the use of the person or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient named above or a person responsible for delivering messages or communications to the intended recipient, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that any use, distribution, or copying of this communication or any of the information contained in it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone and then destroy or delete this communication, or return it to us by mail if requested by us. The City of Calgary thanks you for your attention and co-operation.