(ABOVE: Jaden on Christmas Morning! Merry Christmas!)
Okay – so I apparently can’t tell time – or read a calendar either! Has it really been 3 months since I updated this site? Well a lot has been going on and we’ve been keeping busy – we’re now trying to get through some seriously COLD weather here in Minnesota. I do believe that this Saturday’s high temp is supposed to be 1 with a low of -19 and a wind chill low of -45 … UGH! Why do we live here again? Well how about I start where I left off – that is if anyone out there is still reading! HI MOM!
My Car Trouble back in October resulted in a night mare. My 2000 VW Jetta with 80,000 miles on it was having trouble. After a week we took it in to get fixed – after all it still had a 100,000 mile warranty so it would be covered – right? WRONG! It turns out that a LOT of stuff was broken in the engine – we had a really WET October and with all the moisture some things went haywire and other things shortened out – my car was ready to die. We said go ahead and fix it … it’s covered. Well apparently the warranty we paid EXTRA for back in 2000 was a 100,000 mile warranty OR 7 YEARS – whichever comes first … well the 7 years were up in March of 2007! I was so annoyed! The car was already in pieces … had other maintenance scheduled to get done … what we thought would be a $500.00 bill turned into a $1700.00 bill. I was crying, angry, yelling – you know me! Well Jason said when we go to pick up the car let’s see what they’ll give us for a trade-in on the Jetta. I was okay with that! Well they offered quite a bit on the trade-in and we test drove a 2004 VW Toureg with 32,000 miles on it. It was beautiful – red – leather – heated seats – huge back seat … yeah I was in love! We got a GREAT deal on the Toureg and drove it home that night. Well on day 4th day of owning the new car Jason noticed some pooling of “stuff” on the garage floor. Well it was coming from the Transfer Case for the All Wheel Drive. That wasn’t good – so the next day we set-up another visit to the dealership for the new car to be looked at. Well they said they couldn’t get it in until the end of the week. That was NO GOOD since the 5 day/500 mile satisfaction guarantee was up that day. After a lot of discussion we decided to give the new car back and get my Jetta back. We just weren’t feeling right about what was going on – the salesman was a jerk and too busy – the service technician didn’t have the time to talk about the problems – the Manager was no where in sight … so we got the Jetta back – with ANOTHER bill for $600.00 … seems that the Jetta needed a little more work done so we angrily and reluctantly paid the bill and left! UGH! What a nightmare! We were all pretty bummed out!
Fast Forward to the weekend before Halloween … it was Friday night and I had an appointment with a Mitsubishi Dealer to look at a new car there … Jason called me from Apple Valley Ford saying he was looking at the Ford Edge. I wasn’t getting my hopes up either way so we met each other at home – ate dinner and decided we’d drive over to the Ford Dealership to look at the Edge. We found one we liked with the bells and whistles we thought were ‘just right’. The saleswoman was great and came along on a test drive with us. We decided to head inside to see our ‘options’. We went home and slept on the thought and by noon on Saturday I was the new owner of a NEW 2007 red Ford Edge! Yeah we all love it and we’re glad we didn’t jump into this one … it was time for a new car for me – Jaden is getting way too tall for a sedan’s average back seat … she eats her knees for crying out loud! Well for some more ‘car humor’ … on the 5th day of owning the Edge – Halloween to be exact – I was driving home from Jaden’s school Halloween Party and some ABS light came on my dashboard. I freaked – called Jason – he freaked – called the dealership – they said bring it right in – I said “umm, it’s Halloween” … I picked Jaden up and headed to the dealership. After a little test drive and diagnostics the technician came up to me laughing – yeah – why are you laughing? He asked if I lived on a gravel road – I said, umm, no – he then showed me a handful of gravel – where did that come from? Ahhh Haaa – they are resurfacing the highway on the way to Jaden’s school and it was covered with tiny bits of gravel … that is where the gravel came from … Well the tech then said that I should play the lottery because the chance of the right size gravel – at the right speed – at the right angle – just so happened to sever my ABS Sensor Wire … yup! What great luck we have huh? Well it was fixed – for free and we haven’t had a thing happen since … KNOCK ON WOOD! Oh and after a bit of complaining and being the B*%$H you all know I can be I got $300.00 back from the Jetta’s additional repairs … just a few threats to corporate made that happen!
So not much else has been going on here – we made it through Thanksgiving and our annual Black Friday Shopping and it was fun. Jason and I enjoy doing that with each other and we actually had almost all of our shopping done! Christmas came way too slow and was over way too fast but it was a fun time. We always put our decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving and this year Jaden loved putting all the ornaments on the tree. She asks who gave which one to who and when … she oohed and aahed a lot of the time and when we were done the lights went off and we watched the twinkle lights … We spent Christmas in Minnesota but she was spoiled a ton by family in New York – I am pretty sure Santa didn’t even have to come … but he did and she took an hour to open presents on Christmas morning. We celebrated Christmas 3 times … once with our friends Rose – Andy – Hailey and Hannah … then Christmas Day with Jason’s family – then the day after Christmas with Jolene – Jeff – Hannah and Katie. It was a ton of fun and we finally just took our decorations down and put away all the gifts – what’s next … SUMMER Jaden said!
We spent New Year’s Eve with the Bonneville Family and a little sledding with Jaden, Hannah and I! I haven’t been sledding in about 15 years – it was a ton of fun and all three of us loved it. Well, until the girls flipped their sleds, bumped theirs heads and lost their hats! HEE HEE! They were good sports though and said they’d go again but they were getting cold. I think we’ll head to Buck Hill soon for some tubing … well once the deep freeze ends that is!
What are we doing next? Well not much – January is a month full of Birthday’s here … Jason turned 35 yesterday and we celebrated with some friends Saturday. Jaden got daddy a new T-shirt covered in skulls (she LOVES skulls) and then we surprised him with the VERY HARD TO FIND … Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero III … yeah – Jaden and I have been booed already but Jason loves it and we surprised him which I love. We surprised him again yesterday with a cake after dinner! On January 18th we will all head to a ‘fancy’ restaurant with more friends! Jaden’s birthday is coming soon … can you believe last year we were heading to Florida … mmmm, can we do that every year? That would be nice huh? This year – now that she’s in kindergarten we are planning a school friend party around March 7th and then a family party around Easter weekend – March 22nd or so … my mom and dad come for her Birthday and when they come I want to make sure she is on Spring Break so they get to spend 100% of the time with her. Not sure what/where/when exactly but we’re working on it! This summer we are heading to Ohio/New York/ New Jersey for a road trip week … we will head out August 1st for Cedar Point and the Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony. We’ll be staying at the Great Wolf Lodge and then drive to New York for a week and then to New Jersey for a few days for my cousin Niki’s wedding on 08/08/08 … then drive back to MN but stopping in Niagara Falls and maybe Chicago … should be fun in the new car! Well I have blabbed for way too long – I will be back to post pictures tonight!
Love ~ The Clark’s ~ Jason, Rebekah & Jaden TOO!
No comments:
Post a Comment