"Key tax?"

I’m reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is buying a new car. After agreeing on the price of the car, the salesman starts adding on numerous surcharges, including a key tax. When Jerry questions this, the salesman simply replies, “How are you going to start the car?”

We bought our minivan used and it came with only one key. Our salesman said any Toyota dealer could make us another key. We’ve had the van for four months now and having just the one key was never a problem until two weeks ago.

So, on a Thursday, I go to the Toyota dealership. I tell the Parts department I would like another key. “Do you know the key code?” I have to call Toyota Canada to get the code for the key. I give them the VIN and all of the information they ask for, but for security reasons they can’t just give me the code over the phone. The superiors at Toyota Canada need to review my case and if they think I have honorable intentions they will give the key code to the dealership. Everything is in order so the code is given to the dealership after only 1 day. I then have to show all sorts of id to the parts department so they will actually cut the key for me. They cut the key no problem, but lucky me, my key has a transponder in it for extra security. After tax this key costs me $48 and it’s now Friday. “You’ll need to get the Service department to program the transponder for you.” You see, a cut key gives you access to the car, but you can’t actually start the engine until the transponder is programmed. The next available appointment with Service is the next Thursday. So off I go with my $48 key that unlocks the doors lets me listen to the radio. Sure enough it won’t start the van. The radio never sounded better, though. The security built into my key is very reassuring (I remember being able to start my dad’s truck with the key for my mom’s car, and you could get a key made for $3 at the hardware store).

Next Thursday finally comes around and the Service department is able to program the transponder. The kicker: the $48 I gave the Parts department doesn’t include the cost for programming. The sad part: I wasn’t surprised. Another $33 and I have a key that will actually start the van. Eight days and $81 for this key. I should mention this is for just the key, if you want another fob that unlocks the doors remotely, that’s another $200 for the Parts department, I don’t what the Service department’s cut would be.

Let’s see, when you buy a new vehicle, you get 2 master keys with fobs, and a valet key. The valet key would have a transponder in it so you’re looking at $643 to start your car. Key tax indeed.

10 hours gone long....

We finally made it!!

Grant and the girls picked me up from work at noon on Friday, and we headed East for a family vacation. We opted for a noon-time departure hoping the girls would nap and get us through Montreal before making our first stop.

Boy, were we wrong!!! We got on the highway at 12:20 and as planned the girls fell asleep shortly after, likey around 1:00pm. Unfortunately, we had to make our first stop, after listening to Jaida scream for 15 minutes, at 1:30pm. Turns out she was NOT hungry, but just angry at having to be in her car seat! At this point, Maya and Natasha woke up from there nap, and then began the "Are we in New Brunswick yet?"

15 minutes later, it was time for a pee break!! By this point we were almost at Hudson/Oka, exit 17. We all got out for a quick pee/feed, (30 minutes) and headed off, hoping to make it incident free through Montreal.

Montreal...well, let's just say, was a LONG drive. We were stuck in stop and go traffic, for a long long time. Thankfully, Natasha and Jaida had a little nap through all the traffic.

By the time we hit the sign that said 35Km to Drummonville, we had been on the road for 4.5 hours!!! It was 5pm and time to feed Jaida, so we decided to stop for dinner and playtime. We found an Irving Big Stop with a great play structure, where the girls played while Jaida had her supper. Then we had our little picnic, more play and bathroom time, and headed out. It was about 6:15. A good long stop, for the kids to burn some energy and tire themselves out for the next leg.

Our next stop was not until Montmagney, which marks the half way point. We stopped at Tim's there for a pee break and a coffee for Grant. When we left it was 9:30pm. By this poing it had taken us just over 9 hours to make it half way!!! We were exhausted and a little frustrated.

Thankfully the girls fell asleep quickly and stayed asleep most of the rest of the drive. With only the occassional wake-up and crying from Jaida, I was able to get some sleep while Grant drove.

Anyways, we finally pulled into the driveway at 3:30am ... 14 hours later!!!

Bad News: We are exhausted, and Natasha just threw up in her bed...

Good News: We made it to the market in time for delicious smoothies, orange juice and samosas. And, I bought myself a new peice of excerisize equipment...and it's pink!!

Ahhh...the joys of vacation!!

What a way to start the summer....

What a wonderful week-end!!

Saturday afternoon, organized courtesy of Jako's parents, Dave and Julie, we went to a picnic at Vincent Massey Park, to celebrate with Maya and her classmates "surviving JK!!!" Not sure if the surviving was geared towards the parents or the students, but in any case we survived!! I personally found the beginning of the school year quite challenging, trying to keep up with what was going on and what I was supposed to be doing. (I vaguely remember Cristal mentioning something to this effect when Iona started school) Thanks to Mrs Wong, Maya's wonderful teacher, for being a great teacher and making this year so much fun for the kids, and really, how do you control ALL those kids??? fyi...Maya used to refer to me this way, but very quickly once school started, it was "Mrs Wong is the smartest person I know!!"

The picnic itself was great. It was so nice to chat with the other parents, while the kids ran around, and of course stuffed themselves with sugar...Maya commented later that evening that she "ate too much junk at the picnic". (Our deal was if she had a good lunch at home (barley vegetable salad) she could make her own choices and I wouldn't try and control her eating at the picnic)

This picnic gave us the perfect opportunity to get out for our first family bike ride this week-end. We pulled out our tandem, had Maya on the rear seat, and Jaida and Tasha in the Chariot, and headed out. It was a short trip (17Km round trip, I think) but a good start for the year. I had forgotten how much fun it was to ride together.

We arrived back home at 5:15pm, with 3 sleepy girls, got Maya to sleep for an hour, got Jaida and Natasha to my mom's and got ourselves cleaned up for Matt and Alix's wedding.

This was a fabulous wedding. I personally loved the music and the live band!!! We brought Maya with us, where she had a chance to see what the 'big kids" do. She had a great time hanging out with 'adults'. I am not sure what she enjoyed best, but she was certainly mesmerized watching the people dance and paid particular attention to the Macarena...especially the moves courtesy of Dana, Jody, and Tanya!!! If she tries any of these moves, Grant will be knocking on your door!!

Thanks to Matt and Alix for including us and the kids in your celebration and for providing great loot, to keep them entertained, the jewelery was especially sweet! ;)

Here is a picture of me and Maya...courtesy of Darcy (if anyone else has any good pictures, send them our way, since we forgot our camera and have no pics)




Sunday morning was EXHAUSTING!!!! I made a BIG parental mistake, and ended up waking up hours too early, but the day was saved by having breakfast at my mom's and going to a nice bike ride along the river. This time Grant towed Natasha and Jaida, and Maya rode with me on her Trail-a-bike. Again, not a long ride, 14Km return, but it was really nice, and a good distance for Maya's first 'long' ride.

Following an afternoon nap, Jaida and I headed out to dinner for some planning for Jenny's wedding.

All in all, and exhausting, but absolutely enjoyable week-end... 2 family bike rides, a class picnic, and a fabulous wedding!!!

It's what I don't do that matters

Things are still going good on the father front; although all of our activities (teeter tots, playgroup, story time at the library, swimming, and dance lessons) are ending for the summer. Maya will be out of school next week too so I'll have to start entertaining more. I picture sitting on the back deck while the girls entertain themselves with the turtle pool and the newly built play structure!

Last weekend Maya gave me a Fathers Day present that she had made at school. It was in the shape of a mens dress shirt and in the front pocket there was a piece of candy, a standard black comb, and a carpenter's pencil, all good stuff. Opposite the pocket was a typed poem proclaiming me to be the "Best Dad in the whole world." Under the poem there were a few lines where Maya could add her personal thoughts. With her teacher's help she wrote:
- he does good things
- he doesn't yell at me

Half year update...

Well, we have been a little delinquent in keeping up to date for the past several weeks. There certainely has not been a lack of activity, perhaps just lack of time.

Jaida is 6 months today! Wow, how time flies. At her check-up on friday she weighed in at 13 lbs 8 ounces and 25 inches. That is about 8.5 pounds and 8 inches larger than birth. She is doing great! She ate her first food today!! Oatmeal cereal.




She seems to really enjoy it, even whimpered when I took a little break from feeding!

Natasha is 2 and a half now. She is so silly and fun. Apart from night time, where we are really close, she is out of diapers.



She is doing great! Not a single pull up used, and knock on wood, no accidents outside of the house! She is still a little shy of letting non parents know when she needs to use the facilities, instead she holds it, and cries!! We are working on that, but at least she holds it! She has managed to keep her night time cloth diaper dry most of the time, we are working on getting 5 nights in a row. For now, we have been checking out all the public washrooms, even if, for just a drop of pee!! :)

Maya is almost 4 and a half. She is loving school. On a recent trip to Lake Placid, (More on that in another post) we were going for a little hike in the woods. She took my hand and said "Amma, I really miss my friends at school. Do you think they miss me too?" It was only Saturday, and we'd left home on Friday!! She did have a great time on our trip, but was very happy to get back to school and tell all her friends of our close encounter with a snake!!

Maya had her first ballet-jazz dance recital. It was really cute, and if I must say, apart from the really tiny kids who were absolutely adorable, her class had the best performance! Crazy parents would just about sum up that whole experience for me. With 3 girls, I wonder how many more years of this we will have?

As you can see the girls are doing great, keeping us on our toes. They are truly amazing, they bring so much joy and laughter into our home.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Wherever I go, with my three girls in tow, people are constantly telling me two things: how beautiful my children are ("Yes they are, thank you, they look just like their father don’t you think?"); and, how I must have my hands full. And when I say constantly, I mean to the point of being annoying. I had to make new plans after story time at the library. Usually, we go to the nearby mall and have our lunch in the food court. But this mall seems to be very senior heavy at that time of day. I realize you’re probably lonely, but if you think my hands are so full, why are you interrupting our lunch to tell me about your grandkids?

Anyway, my hands can’t be that full since I’m usually able to hold a cup of coffee in one of them. Why is that? Well, I’ve been to grocery stores, play groups, the library, food stops, and numerous coffee shops, and I’m convinced that I have the best behaved children in the history of children, seriously. When we’re out, if I ask them to do something, they do it. They make it that easy for me. Notice that I said, "When we’re out", at home it’s sometimes a different story.

Less laundry and less garbage...

Since Jaida was born, it seems as though we are constantly washing, drying or folding diapers, on top of that the amount of disposables, though we don't use that many, makes up the majority of our weekly garbage.

So, last week we decided that Natasha would be done with diapers (during the day). We made a considerable big deal about it all week, colored in the calendar so she knew the day was coming. I also laid out 12 pairs of underwear, hoping it might last her 2 days, and made sure I had lots of clean clothes.

Friday morning came, she herself said "No more diapers for me!" So, that was that, she is done.

She did have many accidents on friday, but since then she has been really good. We took a trip to the bathroom every 15-30 minutes, and by Sunday afternoon she was pretty good at letting us know when she had to go. She still has some work to do in the #2 dept, but yesterday she was almost accident free there as well.

Natasha continues to impress us...we went out for dinner last night, (to and Indian restaurant...yummm) In the 3 hours we were out, we made at least 6 trips to the bathroom, mostly on her request, and she did manage to get a trickle out each time, and each time coming out of the bathroom saying very loudly "I pee'd on the toilet!!" The last time she came out running, and almost yelling "I had a BIG poop!!!"

So now, we have saved ourselves a couple of loads of diapers a week, though I am sure there will be more of her clothes to wash for the next several months. As of last night, I still had 6 pairs of clean underwear!!

We will tackle night time once she gets comfortable during the day, but for now during the day, as Natasha says "NO MORE DIAPERS!!!"