Michelle and I have discussed this before. What are practical ways to take a large family places? Certainly you can do what my friend, Paul Swope (father of 8) does and have a 12 passenger van. Some buy the likes of a Ford Excursion SUV. Brainstorming a bit, Michelle and I wondered what if you bought a used limousine? Amazingly, you can. For example, there are plenty to choose from at limos4sale.com. Everything from a reasonable 10 passenger Lincoln to a seriously bad Hummer Limo. I have no idea whether to take this seriously, but the laughter it inspired was great. You have to admit, you'd turn more heads pulling up to the YMCA in a used limo than a new Ford Explosion SUV. (grin)
Michelle and I noticed those new TV ads for The Gap. Perhaps you've seen them? Twenty-somethings dancing around singing, "People all over the world...". What we can't get over is that the women are wearing what we have termed "Britney Spears" sweaters. I mean, come on! A long sleeve sweater that still shows your midriff? I can't speak for the rest of the country, but at least in New Hampshire I'd think that would be about the most stupid thing you could do to a sweater. In Chicago (where winters are even colder) I'd find it hard to believe they'd sell outside of Madison Avenue. Who wants a blast of cold air shooting up their torso? Besides, in winter you tend to dress in layers. So do you want to show the shirt you're wearing underneath that B.S. sweater? I can't imagine that this trend will last, but fashion has surprised me more than once.
Today was a quieter day. We went to Mass this morning and stayed for coffee and donuts. I took the kids outside late this morning because it was rather temperate. The kids played while I tried to clear out any remaining ice on the driveway. We had a surprise snowfall a few days back and some of it got crushed by car tires before it could get cleared away. Michelle did a little more Christmas toy shopping early in the afternoon while the boys and I took a nap. Late this afternoon we took the family for an early dinner at Wendy's. When we got home we gave the kids a bath. As a special treat for Claire we let her bathe in our tub, the one she was eyeing a couple of days ago. She seemed to be in nirvana.
Throughout the weekend we've been watching a bunch of the classic Rankin Bass era Christmas specials with the stop motion puppet animation. Claire doesn't seem to get into them or understand why Michelle and I find them so nostalgic. We grew up watching those during our Christmas holidays. Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey, the Little Drummer Boy, etc. Many thanks to Will for lending me a bunch of DVDs with these classic Christmas specials. TiVo has been capturing a lot on the ABC Family channel as well.
I just noticed in Consumer Reports that the Honda Pilot seats 8. So does the Dodge Durango, but who wants to get GPM instead of MPG?
Posted by: Mr Russell at July 22, 2003 10:59 PMHi Russell!
I'm starting to see those Honda Pilots a lot. I'd have to see how entry and exit is. A lot of times when a three row vehicle seats eight, it can be a real bear getting in and out. Michelle used to have a friend who drove a Durango. She found loading up the kids to be rather difficult compared to her Odyssey.
Abby is patiently waiting for me to finish so that she can play a game of Dora the Explorer. She says "hi Mr Russell". ;-)
Posted by: Scott at July 23, 2003 10:27 AM