Living in America....... summer 2010!

[redflipflops]

So.... new thread.... please join me

introductions:

redflipflops - California (central Coast)

Who here has a car that seats 3 little ones in car seats across the back, that they also use for going up and down mountain tracks and is safe in the snow? We are looking to buy a new car and wanted some advice please.

Can't help you on that one. I drive a .

I drive a Mazda 5 at the moment - the biggest I have ever driven! It would be such a struggle to crawl through to the back row to do up car seats! Have you had a good weekend bucket?

i drive a honda crv. completely unexciting, but has AWD & i think it would prob fit 3 car seats (never tried), after all, this is america, everything is bigger.
plenty of boot space & we get a lot of snow here, so it's ok for that.

the most boring car i've ever owned, but it does the job it's meant to & i've noticed a lot of them around (sometimes can't remember which one's mine in a big car park) so they must be fairly functional.

Well I had a Fiat Punto before we moved to the States so I can't really comment on boring! Had a lovely little Suzuki jeep when I lived in Cyprus. A previous owner had obviously immersed it in water as you had to take the fuses out overnight otherwise the dew would somehow make the lights come on and flatten the battery! It was great for getting through the snow and to out of the way beaches - sometimes on the same day!

DH's aunt died this weekend. I guess she told her sister that she was done, went to bed, went into a coma, and was dead less than 24 hours later. It is sad, but everyone is happy that she didn't go through extended suffering like DH's mom when she died of cancer.

Kickass, a Honda CRV is my dream car. Well, it is my dream car that has a chance of actually being a reality car someday. My dream car is a fully tricked out Lexus. I drove a Kia Optima before DC's, and we inherited the minivan that had less than 2000 miles on it when DH's mom died. I've never, ever wanted to own one, but it IS great for hauling around all their extra stuff, and when we have extra children to take with us (which is becoming quite a regular happening.)

Sorry to hear that Bucket. Some people seem to know when their time is up. I hope you have a chance to really celebrate her life.

sad news, bucket, although it sounds like the kind of peaceful ending that we all hope for.

sorry for your news bucket, but it does sound peaceful and thank heavens it wasn't drawn out :(

we don't have a car over here

I had DH's other aunt (who is one of my best friends) come up last night, and we went to Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

That sounds lovely bucket! I like a bit of culture...

climber saw your thread about the ILs the other day, but can't find it now - we face similar issues. in fact, until a few years ago mil barely remembered that we existed. now she's getting older & facing the prospect of a lonely widowhood, we get all sorts of emotional blackmail about how she needs us so much.

it drives us seriously mad - at one point she moved house (and not spontaneously, it took several months) without telling us. now we get tears & tantrums if she doesn't see/hear from us enough. tbh, we preferred being ignored.

we're about to go home & this will be the first time dh has seen his mum in nearly 2 years - there were NO tears on parting when he said good-bye to her, he's happily never see her again.

bucket, I'm so sorry to hear your news. It does sound as if she passed in her own way which is some comfort.

Cars...maybe one of those 4WD Suburu outbacks?

In-laws can be a delight, can't they? I'm not sure mine approves of me having a third child as she still hasn't asked me much about it. They were concerned though, when it was a possibility he was in trouble, so that is an improvement. I hope your trip goes well kickass and if she is a pain, spend longer shopping!

The Outback is really popular here Jabber but I don't think a booster seat, a car seat and an infant seat will fit across the back. It leaves us looking at really large cars, which, considering I drove a Fiat Punto back home (smaller than the new Fiesta), scares the living daylights out of me. I mean, how do you reverse park!

MIL was not happy when we told her I was pregnant. Turned out DH had said he never wanted kids (about 10years ago, like all men do). Just an example of how they talk, but don't IYSWIM. Funny thing was he was one who wanted them and I wanted to wait a bit longer. DH was quite upset about her reaction, but I did know she was just too worried to show she was excited as well. She's harmless enough, but has set ideas about how babies should be. She sent a very concerned letter about how worried she was about DD not sleeping through (bearing in mind we lie about how bad it is) and that we should go see the doctor. Both hers slept through from 6 weeks and were FF.

She just struggles to connect emotionally and worries inst

instead. hence wanting DD on their own.

I can't believe she moved house without telling you

Got to go to bed now! I was just waiting up to chat with dh after he had his breakfast in Germany!

yep, they moved house, job, district, had no phone line (renting), no email, and forgot to tell us for FOUR months.

she also had cancer and didn't tell us for about four months as well.

so it is hard to believe she's genuine when the tears start and 'i miss my only son' comes out.

i'll shut up about her now, but as you can imagine there's LOADS more that i could say!!

fwiw, i'd let ILs take your dd for as long as you feel comfortable with, climber - even if she gets a cat's bum mouth, what can she actually DO about it?

trips home can be great, but they sort of pack all the fun and all the angst of family lives into one undiluted week or so!

kickass

Dh's mother passed away years before I met him. And from what I have heard, she was hell on wheels so I missed out on some MIL nightmares. His dad was soooo wonderful. I only knew him for 2 years and we miss him terribly.

Poor dh has to put up with MY crazy parents! Lots of stories there.

crazy parents can be v entertaining ... so long as they're not yours! the pil moving without telling us is quite funny really, unless you're the child who was forgotten.

What's everyone doing for thanksgiving.

Think I'm going to take advantage of the long weekend and do a bit of sleep training with LO. She's hitting 9 months (another regression) and I don't want to feed her each time. Exciting times :)

Having dinner with parents and both siblings although we may have to do it on Friday b/c of one brother's plans. But at least we don't have to travel as my parents live in the same town.

dd got upset that we would be missing tg.

i pointed out that basically, it's going to see the parents, then sit around & eat too much, which pretty much sums up next week. apparently, it doesn't count if we're in england though

We will pop next door to our Chinese neighbours (also dh's colleague) for dinner as dh is away. It won't be traditional but Jane is a great cook!