Prepping for a driver

It occurred to us that Kayda is only a few months from getting her driver's permit.  It was kind of a surprise actually.  We'll get her signed up for driver's ed ASAP so she can start driving right away.  Daddy and I were fortunate enough to be given a car when we turned 16.  We got one a little early since it was a stick shift.  That was the intent for Kayda. 

We want ALL the kids to start with a manual transmission vehicle.  You get to know your vehicle better, you have better control over the car, it's a valuable thing to know and it will help discourage texting and driving.  It won't make it impossible but it will be much more difficult to do.  

That being said, we also recognize that we both drive BIG vehicles.  Kayda decided on a Jeep years ago. Since we know finding the right used car, at the price and age we were looking could take a long time, so we started looking. 

We have Eric, a super awesome neighbor and priceless resource.  He and Bruce were willing to help us vet the cars.  Eric is familiar with engines and knows what to look for generally but Bruce is the golden ticket.  He was the lead mechanic for the southwest region of WSDOT so he knows his crap.  Add that to the fact he has owned something like 8 wranglers... it's perfect.  They went to see one being sold by a pro-volleyball player.  It was her first car and she'd outgrown it and moved to Europe.  Eric was ready to leverage that big time.  Young girl, first car, plays volleyball.... Unfortunately, the condition led us to a price too low for the owners so it was a no.  We watched and watched and another came up, but it had some giant red flags.  We found another but Daddy went and saw that there was some concerning stuff.  It kept getting harder to find one meeting the criteria as Kayda decided what she did and didn't like.  A few months after we started looking she found one she was interested in.  Of course she found it on 4th of July.  We took off to South Dakota on the 5th after arranging for Daddy, Eric, and Bruce to go see it.  

They all went to look at it and were super impressed.  The original price was more than we wanted to pay but Daddy was able to negotiate it down into our budgeted amount.  

Kayda was on the road with me, watching the time for when they would be going to see the Jeep.  She was very frustrated because she knew that Daddy probably would mess with her if he bought it.  Trying to convince her he didn't get it.  Sure enough...that's exactly what he did. 

Of course she had to wait 11 days until she saw it for the first time in person! She's in love.  Bonus for having it early....I get to drive it sometimes!  It has already been really helpful to have.  I do need to get different tires.  These are brand new but they're the fatter tires and make it handle funny.   We got it early, we live in an area where there are little to no cars...so we let her start learning to shift early. 

We spent about 30 minutes going up and down our cul-de-sac so she could learn 1st and 2nd.  Stop, go, stop, go, turn around, repeat...  She was doing fairly well by the end.  Though her arm and leg were tired.  

She was going to show daddy real quick and the boys HAD to climb in (only because the top was off).  Ozzi also REALLY likes the jeep.  Even when the top was still on.  He'd climb in and you'd have to drag him out. 

On her third time out I was really having a hard time getting a specific idea through.  Eric saw us driving and did his typical "slow down!" that he texts every time we drive by.  I tell him to get his butt outside and help my kid since I was confusing her.  He used to teach driver's ed so it's handy.  In the next 30 minutes he had her shifting smoothly and going all the way up into 4th gear driving down our roads back there.  None of them are roads that get more than a few cars during the day.  I just hung out in the back seat and watched and listened.  Since then she's driven us to the end of the road before we switch and I take us onto the main roads and into town.  She's learning shifting, maintaining speed, reverse and turn signals.  By the time it's actually time for her on the road she'll be a pro!

South Dakota!

July 5th Kayda, Carson and I started our drive to South Dakota.  The drive went really smoothly. I drove 12-13 hours then stopped to stay the night at a hotel.  I couldn't sleep so I got the kids up at 5 and we got on the road.  I could've driven farther the night before and was more tired the following morning than I was then.  So that was a bummer.   

Since we left so early, we got to Grandma and Papa G's before lunch (when I thought we'd be there).  We were very careful coming up their driveway knowing that Dillon may be squirrel hunting. He was.  So once I was sure he saw us we came up.  Almost immediately Carson and Kayda are shooting at targets.  I'm always excited to go to their house, but I was extra excited this time since Dillon went home with them in June.  I missed my kid!

Since we needed to do ALL the things on the first day.  We ended up going out in the side by sides.  I rode with Dillon, he drives a little too crazy for Papa.  Kayda drove everyone else down the road.  Later Carson was given the chance to drive but we had to get to the atv trails first.

We came over for a work trip this time around.  Since their contractor fell through we wanted to help wrap up some projects.  We all worked hard and managed to get a decent chunk done.  Not as much as I wanted since people ended up sick.  

Grandma and Dillon told us about an overlook you can go to but it was a little steeper than they wanted to go at the time.  This intrigued me of course.  So Kayda, Papa and I headed out to find it.  We were hoping to get there in time for sunset but we just missed it.  The hills were steep, but they were fun.  I drove the razor so I could drive.  Papa rode in "Terry" with Kayda.  She drove up and down on her own, I thought she might switch and have Papa drive but she didn't. 

Another evening we decided to go do the wildlife loop.  We started by the airport then met traffic.  That you could see stretch all the way up the hill and around the corner.  We talked about turning back because it wasn't moving.  We're so glad we didn't.  We ended up driving through a bison herd again.  They were moving in the same direction as us so they'd weave around and between us.  Unfortunately for me the traffic jam was uphill.  The jeep is stick shift.  My leg got SO tired.  

We're driving along watching the bison walk beside us and we come to a stop again.  I feel a bump and turn to look just in time to see a bison licking the Jeep. It's head ended up right at Kayda's door for a minute.  Then it moved on and found the truck... They LOVED the truck.  They followed it for a few minutes, chasing after it when it started moving.  The calf thought about trying out a different car, then returned to the truck.  Eventually the mama gave up and got a little mad at the calf to get it to leave.  

The truck really enjoyed it's tongue bath.

We found the burros.  Unfortunately, when Daddy bought carrots he got a little bag so each kiddo only had two carrots.  Which disappeared quickly with the burros. 

We went to work and work we did.  We did siding and deck railing.  We got a couple REALLY good days in before everyone started getting sick.  Then it slowed to a crawl.  We'd get a little done but people just weren't feeling well enough to keep pace.  Papa and Grandma have more pictures.  I didn't take pictures working because I was otherwise occupied.  The kids were pretty low key this trip too.  They didn't want to go do ANYTHING.  I had to drag them out the door for the lake and the loop.  It was actually kind of frustrating.  

We knew there was a storm coming but didn't think it was going to be nearby.  So Kayda, Daddy and Carson took off to the overlook.  Trying to catch the sunset again.  They got there and they could see the storm.  They quickly realized that the storm was coming toward them.  Then it was a race home, driving through rain, hail and lightning.  The wind was blowing hard enough the they had to hold the doors shut.  Good thing they were in Terry so there were windows!

Dillon REALLY wanted to go golfing with Daddy so they took off one afternoon to make that happen.  It was only a 9 hole golf course so that was nice.  

Sunday Daddy was down for the count and Grandma and Papa were tired.  So the kids and I headed to Sylvan lake.  We lucked out with a parking spot but it was nowhere near the good swim area (by the rocks).  We were able to get a good spot to launch the kayaks and they had a great time paddling around.  Unfortunately, the kayaks were a blessing and a curse.  The kids and I had fun on them, but we didn't have a way to lock them down and go swim.  Our trip to the lake didn't last long.   Later that evening the kids and I went to try to find the burros.  It was a long, unsuccessful drive.  We saw ONE bison, prairie dogs, some deer and we saw prong-horns closer than we've ever seen them.  None of the really fun stuff though. 

The night before I planned to leave we took off in search of the burros.  Kayda, Carson, Grandma and I.  We drove past where we usually see them, then came upon the bison herd.  We weren't there for the bison though so we turned around.  Down one of the dirt roads we saw the burros!  So we took off with our giant bag of carrots to go visit.  

I held the bag of carrots for the kids and got swarmed.  They'd sneak up behind me and bump me wanting me to give them a carrot.  They'd try to sneak their head in between a kid and the little baby burros to steal the carrot.  We saw someone there with a bag of baby carrots.  She didn't get swarmed but still had a good treat for them.  We'll try that next time.  It was a fun last evening for sure. 

For the way home I decided that I wanted to drive straight through. I hate hotels...and I just wanted to see if I could do it.  It was a bummer because with that long of a drive you should be able to shave off a couple of hours just by going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit on the freeway...but we kept hitting construction and traffic jams from the construction.  I think we managed to take 30 minutes off the 17 hour 10 minute drive.  We made it...and I will NEVER do it again.  I was feeling pretty weird by the time we got home.  Getting out of the car I had the worst vertigo I've ever had. It was like getting off a treadmill but SO much worse.  I was spinning and felt like I was never holding still.  It was making me nauseous. It took me 3 hours to get settled enough to sleep and it turned me into a slug the entire next day.  

July 4th

This year was pretty mellow.  We hung out at home and played.  Then had some fireworks (without Dillon since he went with Grandma and Papa G).  The neighbors joined us for lighting off the fireworks.  

We spent most of the day on the patio enjoying the new cover.

The traditional "tank wars"

 

I didn't like the blueberry yogurt popsicle...Ozzi loved it.