On to the Next Big Thing

Five years ago, give or take a couple weeks, a younger Devin and I spent the day with our younger Hallie and Hanna at a car dealership. We were trying to decide which Mazda 5 to buy.  It was a big gulp for us to drop that 20 some thousand dollars, but our little family was growing and it was time to upgrade to a second car and a bigger vehicle.  The next day we drove past a different car dealership on our way somewhere else, and saw a beautiful sight - a slightly used Mazda 5 for half the price we had been planning to pay.  We squealed a u-turn, marched in, and dropped a fat check on a shocked salesperson's desk.

It was a happy five years, 100, 000 miles, and a million memories.  That little car drove us to Utah, Texas, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.  It knew our little section of Lincoln like the...backseat of... itself.  And then, in the way that you know things that you know, it was time to let it go.

Our family had grown again, and that little micro minivan was getting tired.  You gotta know when to put them out to pasture, I guess.

This is Hallie posing in the driver's seat the day we got the Mazda.
I know, I know.
I KNOW.

Hallie posed for me in the Honda Odyssey we brought home today.  Hanna jumped in too, of course.  Now that she's old enough for such things and such.

 Here's a shot of the "new" additions to the family since that day five years ago, Heather and Hazel:

We just call Hazel "The Bigness".  Mostly as a reminder to myself that she isn't my tiny tiny baby anymore, but she's all big now and doing her stuff.

That's what they call "smoky topaz" and I call "dark grey" and Devin calls "charcoal"

Did you catch Hazel in the reflection? Hi baby!

One last shot, the odometer showing 2 miles driven.  

Here's to new beginnings, new adventures, and new memories.
And, ironically enough, we are back at being a one vehicle family.
That's irony, right?
I don't know.