YAYs and ICKs abound.

Since my last update, I've gotten the van back. YAY! But to get it back, it cost $1900. ICK. But at least the transmission didn't need to be replaced, just rebuilt. YAY! Because the drum inside simply exploded. ICK. But it didn't explode on the way to Louisiana. YAY!

UGH! Enough of that!!!

Friday morning, our niece flew in from Louisiana. Not just flew for the first time, but flew for the first time by herself. She was so proud and happy, and I was proud of her too. Kids are all ecstatic...my niece thinks the sun rises and sets at Eva's command, and Eva's just eating it up. We're having a grand old time; we did the Atlanta Zoo on Saturday (more on this in a moment), Downtown Atlanta yesterday, and Stone Mountain Park today.

Now tell me something. Why is it that it costs less to go to something for a WHOLE YEAR than it does to go one time? It just blows my mind. The zoo would have cost $83 for a single visit, but a family pass for a year was $79. HUH? Still, the zoo was great. I was a bit miffed that the train and the carosel cost extra to ride once you get inside, but then, they weren't integral to the whole zoo experience.

Downtown Atlanta was fun. We rode the MARTA, our version of train-based metro transit, and visited CNN Center (which we couldn't tour because my youngest son isn't old enough, natch), Centennial Park (from Atlanta's recent Olympics) and Underground Atlanta, which included The World of Coca Cola. The last was really fantastic, and the most reasonably cost of any of the paid attractions that we'd been to (I don't count MARTA as one of those.) At the end we got to taste not only the Coca Cola products from the US, including interesting regional variations (Try the Birch Beer! You'll love it!) but we also got to try some rather odd international flavors. Some I was familiar with already, having lived in Europe for over four years, but most were brand new. I fell in love with the lychee flavored soda, and the ginger beer could have kicked someone in the rear end and knocked them to the floor. There was an apricot-flavored soda from Japan that was awful, and the Raspberry Fanta was too sweet and too flat for my taste. But someone, somewhere, drinks this stuff and loves it...otherwise Coke wouldn't make it and sell it.

Today was Stone Mountain Park, starting with the skylift and the rain. We sheltered from the rain most of the day but it really didn't dampen the trip much. We didn't do everything we wanted to, though, which leaves things for next year!

We don't have anything planned for tomorrow (actually, today, by the time this makes it to post) and I'm going to take the day to relax a bit from my sore legs.
posted by Steph at 12:24 AM[edit]

AARRRRRGH!!!!

It was turning out to be a pretty nice day, what with the temps dropping a little lower and the smog washed away by yesterday's rain. Sure, John had been at the computer all day, so we didn't do anything as a family, but hey, that's okay...he has a paper due and he has to do it sometime, right?

Anyway...I went out to go get John's Father's Day gift. Yeah, yeah, I know...shoulda gotten it a few days ago, but still. I know exactly what he wanted and it would have been cake to get it. Alright, so I get down to the intersection at Fielder Rd. from my neighborhood, stop, wait for the car to pass, and turn into the street.

POP.

All of a sudden, my car is running but going nowhere. The gas pedal is a squished marshmallow beneath my foot and there are cars coming. They stop and honk. Still trying to go forward, nothing. Shift it into reverse...hey, that works, but there are cars behind me now. More honking ensues. A car filled with boys pulls over, realizing something's wrong, joined almost immediately by a biker, and they were kind enough to push me onto the shoulder. The boys leave, the biker stays and looks under the hood. He figures a cable got snapped since I can still go in reverse.

Call John, get him there. Biker leaves. Call the towtruck, call a friend who knows cars. I describe to him what happened, and he tells me that it sounds like catastrophic transmission failure. ::sighs:: And then consoles me because 1. it's so rare, 2. it's only repairable by having the transmission replaced, which is 3. very expensive.

So after two hours, the towtruck finally gets there from McDonough and carts it off to the dealership where we get it serviced. Of course, by this time the service department is closed, so we won't have the van for three days at the very least. I'm very glad it's summer....I'm even gladder this happened 'before' the Louisiana trip and not during. That would have really sucked.

Anyone got a couple thou' to lend me?
posted by Steph at 11:55 PM[edit]

With June comes steamy temperatures and thunderstorms you can set your clock by. Strangely, the time of day isn't around 4pm, like it was when I was growing up in muggy Louisiana, but around 10pm here in muggy Georgia. I'm not sure what the difference is but it's nice in its way. No storm to disrupt your daytime and errands; but it plays hell with my online schedule. Still, I'm assured that most people that know me understand. Real life comes first, right?

It's been a quite relaxing couple of weeks. I sleep until I wake (or until one of the kids wake me) and I can decide my schedule for the day. Or not. We can go out and do fun things, or we can stay home all day. Everything's nice and easy and calm. Or at least as calm as it can be with three kids in the house.

Speaking of kids....I am constantly amazed at the ability of a child to make a mess with whatever he happens to have in his hands at any given moment. I shampooed the carpet yesterday, which of course, is a magnet to a little boy. So now I have a clean carpet with a peanut butter trail. Out comes the carpet cleaner again tomorrow. ::long sigh::

Clean house or happy kids? You know which I'd choose....
posted by Steph at 12:47 AM[edit]