5 Months Old

Here is Isaac at 5 Months....for more pictures- see his blog

Goodbye Saturn...

Way back in February of 2006 we bought a new car. Charlie commutes an hour each way to work and it was time for an upgrade in transportation. He got an Acura TSX complete with leather seats, navigation, etc. It is a great car and has actually now become my car (or the family car). I was driving a 2-door Honda Accord which wasn't very practical for loading a car seat in and out. So now Charlie drives the Honda and I have the Acura.

The Saturn

We had planned to trade in Charlie's old car, but as it turns out, the Acura folks weren't too crazy about our Saturn and gave us a ridiculously low trade in offer. We decided to hang onto the car and sell it ourselves. Easier said then done. The Saturn was a nice car. It was a 2002 and fully upgraded. It was clean, ran well, and looked nice. But no one in Orange County wanted a used Saturn. It was listed on Auto Trader for over a year and we never received a single phone call. Same story with Craigslist. CarMax gave us the same low offer that the Acura dealership had made. Finally we took it to the Irvine Car Fair, and after about three months and a few price reductions... the Saturn is sold!!! So 22 months later, we sold the car for about half of it's Blue Book value. And we were both a little sad to see it go.

Hello...

Now what to do with that extra cash? We had been making plans for months of what we would buy when the Saturn finally sold. First on my list was the bed frame that goes with our bedroom furniture set . It just happened to be on sale last week, and now it just happens to be sitting in our bedroom!


Charlie had been wanting a new refridgerator. Our kitchen has new stainless steel appliances, except for the fridge. We have an old beige monster that the previous owner left for us. But not for long, because our new fridge will be delivered at the end of this month!

Cayucos

We had a nice relaxing trip to the Central Coast for New Years. We left on Saturday morning and stopped along the way in Solvang, which is a cute little Dutch town. It is full of shops and bakeries and tourists! We were surpised at how crowded it was. Cracker was the hit of the town. We must have heard at least 30 comments about our cute "weiner dog" as we were walking around town. We bought some pastries, fudge, and fresh pretzels with cheese. Yum!

Charlie & Cracker in Solvang

Isaac in Solvang

Cayucos is a small beach town about 5 miles north of Morro Bay. We chose it because of their dog friendly hotels. We've taken him with us to hotels before (Shhh! Don't tell anyone!), but we always had to sneak him in a bag and we could never leave and go to dinner or anything because someone might discover him while we were out. Anyway, this place was full of dog lovers (even crazier than we are) and they welcomed Cracker with open arms. When we checked in they gave him a nice cozy blanket and a treat. The room was even equipped with a doggie peep hole. I felt a little slighted that there was no special welcome treat for the rest of us.

Cracker's previous hotel experiences

Cracker at the dog hotel in Cayucos

It was a pretty low key trip. One day we drove further up north and saw the elephant seals. These things were enormous! They can weigh up to two tons. At first we didn't realize how many there were and just thought there was a lot of big rocks out on the beach. But the beach was covered with huge lazy seals. We only saw one or two of them actually move the whole time we were there. I think they have a hard time getting around because they are just so big.

Charlie, Isaac & the Elephant Seals

Carrie, Cracker, Isaac & the Elephant Seals

We walked around town and got ice cream one afternoon. We also walked down to the beach a few times and let Cracker run around in the sand. It was very windy though and Isaac didn't like that too much.

Charlie & Cracker on the beach

On New Years Eve we went down to the beach and watched the sun set. We had planned on going to a little diner in town for dinner, but it was closed so we ended up driving through Taco Bell instead. Cracker was out by 8:00, Isaac finally went to sleep around 10:00, and Charlie & I lasted till about 11:30. Close enough, right?

Carrie & Isaac on the beach

Sunset on New Years Eve

Happy New Year!