A big Saturday in Virginia

Yesterday we headed to Virginia early in the day (we were on the road around 7:30 which is pretty darn good with a 2 year old and a 5 month old) for our nephew Brandon's birthday party. The party wasn't until 2:00 but we went early to hang out with family. And we did hang out a little, but then decided to take a trip to Target and then to a car dealership (just for fun) while Andy's parents kept an eye on the girls. At the dealership, we checked out vans. We've been wanting a van for 2 years now- right before Kaitlyn was born we tried a bunch out, but no good deal came along so it wasn't the right time. Apparently yesterday was the right time. After leaving once because we didn't think they could do what we needed, Andy thought about it a little more and made a couple of calls. He decided it may be worth it to go back in and talk some more, so we did. Blah blah blah, talk, wait, talk, sign papers, and we were out of there in our shiny, dark blue 2008 Chrysler Town and Country.


Our new van, only ours is a dark, dark blue.

Well, that is after cleaning out all of our crap from the old car (good-bye Taurus). The van is the newer styling, so it looks almost like a van/SUV cross over which I love. It has pretty low mileage. And I am SO excited!! It will be so much easier to travel places for a weekend now. We can finally easily bring everything we need (or think we need?) If we ever buy something large like furniture, it will be much easier to haul it home. There have been times in the past that we've had to put off purchases until my parents were in Duluth with their truck for us to bring things home in.

After finally getting out of the car dealership, we headed to the birthday party which by now had been going for 45 minutes. It was a bummer to be so late, but it's not like we were out walking the mall or hanging out at the bar - we were making a major purchase. Even being late, we got to enjoy some good food, cake, and watch the birthday boy open his presents. Kaitlyn was having an absolute blast with her cousins and a couple of other kids. It was great to see her interacting so well and having so much fun!! She could have cared less that mom and dad were back - she was too busy with all of her little friends -running around and around, playing, screeching with joy... She also charmed the crowd with some of her great verbal skills. She got right in the middle of all the action, including birthday boy Brandon opening up his presents. She went around and sat on people's laps (even people she'd never met) and talked to them. She had ice cream and cake - although she much preferred the ice cream. Brandon made out with some fun presents including Lego sets to last a lifetime. It was a fun party...next is Kaitlyn's turn. Her party will be 2 weekends from this one. Just a "small" family party this year. I can't wait...my little girl is turning 2 :-)