New Car

As many of you know, we Rowes recently purchased a new car and traded in our old buddy, the 2001 Toyota that Ethan and I bought shortly after we were married.


Our dear old Corolla


The new Rowe household vehicle


Last night, our brand new car was ready for pick-up, after being transported to the nearby Kia dealership and going through a routine safety inspection. So the Rowe family headed out on an evening road trip to pick up our new car. The girls were SO excited about the whole ordeal. Julia, especially, has been anticipating the arrival of our car, telling everyone she knows, from her Sunday school teacher to our baby-sitter to her friends' parents that we were getting a new Kia. I expected the kids to be sorely disappointed by how unexciting the whole car pickup was going to be; Ethan and I knew we would spend most of the time at the dealership signing paperwork and getting instructions on how to operate the new vehicle. Happily, the girls surprised me with their eagerness over absolutely everything about the trip to the dealership. From their delight at the life-sized, cutout cardboards of various famous people, to their fascination at the idea that there were actual cars inside the dealership lobby (Julia spent a lot of time theorizing the various ways they could have fit the cars through the dealership doors) to the fact that they got to eat bag dinners of grilled cheese and baby carrots while we waited, it was truly a fun and exciting adventure for both kids. Best of all was the fact that Ethan and I brought along coloring books and little mini-marker boxes to keep the kids entertained. Even Madeleine, who, as you know, does not like to sit still, was transfixed in her seat the entire time Ethan and I were in our dealer's office. Every time we would peek out to check on the kids, they were happily coloring away, books on their laps, focused on their artwork. Who ever would have guessed!?!

The biggest moment of excitement was the chance to finally see - and get into - our new car:



From the backseat, the girls joyfully pointed out all the new features that our car has, from book (or coloring book!) pockets on the back of the two front seats to cup holders built into the backseat doors to the CD player (something we have never had the luxury of experiencing in our previous cars.) Madeleine's mood took a temporary turn towards distress when I had to get out of the passenger seat to let our dealer sit beside Ethan in order to teach him how to set up the Blue Tooth feature. Sobbing uncontrollably from the backseat, Madeleine seemed to have come to the dismal conclusion that not only were we getting a new car, but we were also getting a new, male version of mommy who would be my replacement for the drive home. Once I climbed into the backseat to comfort her, she wrapped her arms around my neck in a death grip to make sure I couldn't go anywhere without her consent. All was well as soon as the dealer hopped out and I took my rightful place ("Mommy, can you sit in your OWN seat?") up front in the passenger seat.

Upon returning home from last evening, Julia buoyantly declared, "Mommy, that was SO FUN going to the car dealership!" So fun, in fact, that the first thing she said to me upon climbing into my bed to wake me this morning was, "Mom, do you think everybody at school will notice that we're driving a NEW CAR?" As it turns out, nobody at school did seem to notice, but that didn't phase Julia. "That was SO FUN riding to school in our NEW CAR!" she announced as she hopped down out of her seat. Man, talk about an adventure!

Madeleine, too, has been talking nonstop about the car, although when I tried to take a video of her thoughts, she was too interested in the video camera case to want much to do with me:



I suppose we should be thanking Santa for his very generous gift.