Transport

We must be one of the only remaining families in this century who are surviving on 1 car?
We just haven't been able to justify getting a 2nd car yet! It is not the cost, although that is an area of thought against getting one, but more the fact of we are able to live life without one at present.

We are lucky enough to have everyone have to be in the same place, more or less, every morning at roughly the same time and everyone finishes at the end of the day at about the same as well.

However, we just became a 2 car family for a small while. As I am studying, I have needed to travel to get to my weekly lecture, however, the day for the lecture is a busy one for us and not suitable for me to take our one car and leave the rest of the family to sort themselves out, too many activites etc would have had to have been cancelled just for my study. Now I am not against asking my family to adapt to something I am doing, but every week for 6-8 was a little unreasonable.

So we approached my mum and asked if we could borrow her campervan that was sitting around having a quiet moment. She was more than happy for this, although she decided that in fact she had use for the van for a couple of weeks, so therefore lent us her car instead.

So have we used it enough to warrant getting our own 2nd car?

Yes and No.

Yes, in that it has made life easier when there is something happening at work and one of us will be staying late. Yes when we have a judo night, saves Steve having to come with us and having to eat dinner at judo if he doesn't manage it before we leave. Yes it makes it easier so Steve doesn't have to run us all back home and then turn round and race back to judo so he can do his session, as his session finishes about 9pm and I can't leave the boys asleep in the house whilst going to get him......or can I? He also then manages to attend the whole session of judo and not have to always miss the first 20 minutes.
Yes, when there are things to do on the weekend and then you can both go different ways and get things done quicker. Also a yes for when I am on call and then if I get called Steve still has a car to be able to do things with the boys, like shopping etc.
A yes that I can see in the future is sports with the boys. Ben is just starting soccer this winter. With only one car then either everyone goes and endures the games or the family is split and 1 person takes Ben and the rest stay at home not managing to get any chores done outside of the house.
Another yes will be when I am on call for the weekend, about 1 in every 5, soccer will cause lots of hassel that weekend, because if I am called to work, everyone has to stay put whilst I have the car to get me there.

A big No, is the fact that apart from sports and the convenience of having it, mum's car has sat in our back garden collecting dust!
We can actually manage to go 5 straight days without using it, although we have just gone through the school holidays and so wasn't as necessary as during term time due to no judo etc, although when away over Easter, I did manage to go to the caravan a day before Steve because he didn't have as much time off work as I did.

Now I know when I was younger people did manage with just 1 car, but at the time activities did happen to be close by, mum's didn't work as much as mum's do now. Lots of other factors as well.
So are we getting a new car soon.......not that I can see. Yes we will have to bite the bullet very soon, but everyday we can manage without is another day that we don't have that extra cost

Car

This is the car we have been driving for the last 10 days.

It belongs to my Uncle and Aunty.

It is a lovely Ford Escape that nicely seats 4 people.

That is the reason why we have it. Our car is a Mazda MPV and nicely seats 6.

They are currently in Tonga on a family holiday and needed to get 6 people to Auckland to the airport, so borrowed our car so they only had to pay 1 lot of petrol and 1 parking fee at the airport.

The Escape has been different, slightly higher than ours, also smaller than ours.

It would be a lovely car to have, say in 4 or 5 years time when the boys are bigger and we don't have to take so much stuff with us when we travel. It would also be a nice car if we didn't have 2 carseats to accommodate as well.

Can't really complain, it has not been a difficult 10 days, and our car is back tonight.

Carseats

Alex is just at that point where the current carseat he has is still just suitable but at the same time the next stage of carseat would be fine too.

So today I finally sucumbed and went and checked out what the local shop had to offer.

They had a lovely next stage seat that in fact will cover the next 2 stages. A booster seat with a back and then the back comes off to make a big boy booster seat.

In fact I was so taken with the seat I decided to get one for Ben as well. His booster seat is ok, but it is very rigid and cheap and I really don't feel it was giving him adequate support and safety in the car.

So we came home with 2 seats, one blue and one grey.

Alex is still wearing a harness in this new seat, but it won't be long before he is just using the regular seatbelt like Ben.

The seats that they are coming out of are not ruined, they are in fact still in very good condition, but I do know some people are set against buying 2nd hand carseats. I know I am, I always prefer the boys to have brand new, then I know what has happened to them and how they have been treated. Not been involved in an accident or anything. Although at this age it really doesn't make any difference. But when they were little then it was a biggy with me.

So I put both seats on Trade Me, New Zealand's answer to Ebay.

I gave as much description about the seats as possible and I made sure the price was sensible, because after all, Alex's seat is in fact 7 years old. Most literature will tell you that you shouldn't buy a carseat that is more than 10yrs old. There is nothing actually wrong with a seat that is 10yrs old, just wear and tear could have affected it over that amount of time.

So in fact I was very reasonable with where I priced Alex's seat, so much so that compared to the others being sold at the time, ours was a scream. That was proved by the fact that it sold within 2 hours of being listed.

And they want to pick it up tomorrow!

Talk about not having it hang around the house and garage for several weeks before listing it! I haven't even had time to ensure it is clean!

Supercars

In 2 weeks time Hamilton is going to be huge.

The V8 Supercars are coming here to race.

They have changed all the roads, caused total mayhem and everyone is sort of excited.

The V8's will be racing on everyday roads around the city.

We have huge grandstands of chairs dotted around the city, the pit lane is just awesome to drive down, so wide.

The grid markings are now on the road and it is obvious that something is happening.

If only the boys were a little older, then I would so look at getting some tickets to some of the racing, maybe not the main V8 part but at least some of the test races etc, just to get the feel for it.

Sick Car

So here we are running all over the house on Sunday morning, trying to get it looking ok for the open home. Our hearts are really not in it and the boys are driving us mad.
We have got the Real Estate people coming at 10.30 with the new owners who want to do their building inspection prior to the open home and at 9.30 I am ready to cancel the whole thing.
I have got ants running up the wall in the kitchen, seems there is something they like about the kitchen window which is attracting them in droves, wish I knew what it was as the place is spotless and they seem to be out looking for stuff rather than actually finding anything and sending out the troops.

I can't believe we manage to pull it off, but only just, I am still on my hands and knees cleaning the floor as they arrive to inspect the place.
So while I finish off Steve puts the boys in the car ready for us to just nip to the supermarket for the little things we have forgotten for the party today.
All ready and set to go, we say bye and jump in the car.
Real shame the car doesn't actually want to go anywhere!!!

So there we are, someone walking up the driveway to see the house and us sat in the garage cursing the car.
So plan 2 comes into action.
Again I jump into Grandma's car with a child and go to the supermarket and yet again Steve calls the Roadside Rescue and waits for them to come and visit us.

Out arrives the same man as last night, who then apologises for not checking properly the night before. Does the little check he should have done yesterday and annouces that sadly we need a new battery.
Funny thing is this doesn't shock us, as there is something about the car that hasn't seemed right for a week or 2, but with the service due next month we just thought it was getting ready for a good tune up.

All this and then it starts to rain! Wouldn't mind except we are meant to be going on a train ride this afternoon.