For Valentine's Day earlier this year, I gave Jennifer a pair of concert tickets for Casting Crowns. I was hoping that she would decide to take me with her. The concert was on the Friday evening before Spring Break. When I purchased the tickets, I did not know that A1 would have Little League practice on Friday evenings and that A2 would have dance on Friday evenings. Fortunately for us, the Grandparents came to the rescue. Jen's mom took A1 to dance. A2 tagged along. After dance, they met my parents for dinner. Luckily for them, rain earlier in the week caused the cancellation of A2's practice. So, my parents took over child watching duties after dinner. After the kids went to sleep, my parents were able to go home since Jen's Grandmother was staying with us. It was a team effort. Thank you.
Thankfully, I had recuperated enough from my stomach virus to attend the concert. The venue was about 50 miles from our house and we left two and a half hours before the concert started. It was a good thing. It took us well over two hours to make the drive. A helicopter would have been nice. Thankfully, neither one of us was hungry, so we did not need to stop for dinner. The concert was great. Casting Crowns put on a very good show. Strangely, there was a 30 minute intermission in the middle of the Casting Crowns set. It was for a great cause, World Vision. Using donations, they feed hungry children all over the world. It was just strange to stop the show altogether. In previous concerts, the band would talk about whatever cause they were promoting for a few minutes and then resume playing. Not this time. The intermission nearly put Jen and I to sleep. We tried to get online on our iPhones, but so did everyone else. We managed to make it through and enjoyed the rest of the concert. We left just before the end of the show and made it home in good time. We still had the rental car so I was not concerned about gas mileage.
The following day, A2 had Little League practice in the middle of the day. I used the time to walk around the Toyota dealership that is right next door to the fields. I had found out a few days earlier that my Camry Hybrid had been totaled in the accident. The cost to fix the vehicle was over $23 K. One part in particular, a power inverter had been damaged and the part alone was $5900. Wow. So, I was in the market for a new car. I looked at the new Camry Hybrids and I liked the small changes that had been made to them in the past year.
I was still a little nervous about the unexplained acceleration problems and the recalls. I did some research and found out that the Camry Hybrids had not ever been a part of the gas petal recall. Additionally, the recall that they were a part of, the floor mats, was just ridiculous. If the floor mat is left installed with the clips that Toyota uses, the mat will not move. However, if the owner removes the clips or even worse, adds additional mats on top of the factory mat, those mats can slide forward and get in the way of the petals. This is true for EVERY vehicle. Toyota was recalling thousands of vehicles to shave down floor mats so that stupid owners could have room to stack additional mats on top of the factory floor mats. I was not planning on stacking floor mats, so my concerns about the safety of the Camry Hybrids was alleviated. I did look around at a few other vehicles, but we ended up buying another Camry Hybrid. Same color, same options, just a year newer.
A little later that afternoon, Jen hosted a baby shower for her sister at our house. By all accounts, it was just the type of event that you would expect from Jen. Very well decorated, planned, and executed. Jen throws great parties and showers.
Only two days down, more to come later.
Thankfully, I had recuperated enough from my stomach virus to attend the concert. The venue was about 50 miles from our house and we left two and a half hours before the concert started. It was a good thing. It took us well over two hours to make the drive. A helicopter would have been nice. Thankfully, neither one of us was hungry, so we did not need to stop for dinner. The concert was great. Casting Crowns put on a very good show. Strangely, there was a 30 minute intermission in the middle of the Casting Crowns set. It was for a great cause, World Vision. Using donations, they feed hungry children all over the world. It was just strange to stop the show altogether. In previous concerts, the band would talk about whatever cause they were promoting for a few minutes and then resume playing. Not this time. The intermission nearly put Jen and I to sleep. We tried to get online on our iPhones, but so did everyone else. We managed to make it through and enjoyed the rest of the concert. We left just before the end of the show and made it home in good time. We still had the rental car so I was not concerned about gas mileage.
The following day, A2 had Little League practice in the middle of the day. I used the time to walk around the Toyota dealership that is right next door to the fields. I had found out a few days earlier that my Camry Hybrid had been totaled in the accident. The cost to fix the vehicle was over $23 K. One part in particular, a power inverter had been damaged and the part alone was $5900. Wow. So, I was in the market for a new car. I looked at the new Camry Hybrids and I liked the small changes that had been made to them in the past year.
I was still a little nervous about the unexplained acceleration problems and the recalls. I did some research and found out that the Camry Hybrids had not ever been a part of the gas petal recall. Additionally, the recall that they were a part of, the floor mats, was just ridiculous. If the floor mat is left installed with the clips that Toyota uses, the mat will not move. However, if the owner removes the clips or even worse, adds additional mats on top of the factory mat, those mats can slide forward and get in the way of the petals. This is true for EVERY vehicle. Toyota was recalling thousands of vehicles to shave down floor mats so that stupid owners could have room to stack additional mats on top of the factory floor mats. I was not planning on stacking floor mats, so my concerns about the safety of the Camry Hybrids was alleviated. I did look around at a few other vehicles, but we ended up buying another Camry Hybrid. Same color, same options, just a year newer.
A little later that afternoon, Jen hosted a baby shower for her sister at our house. By all accounts, it was just the type of event that you would expect from Jen. Very well decorated, planned, and executed. Jen throws great parties and showers.
Only two days down, more to come later.
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