On Driving a Van.....

Again this summer is going so fast.  I think I've said that in every post.....but it is true!!!  I've got so much to catch up on....vacation, Cade winning Grand Champion Broilers at the Gold Buckle Gala, Cade showing the pigs, etc.  But I don't have any of those pictures right now so I decided to take a few minutes and talk about how much I love my van.

I don't know how Jay and I existed in our pre-van days.  It's kind of like once you have a kid you wonder what you did before they were born.  That's the way our van is....except I do still remember every uncomfortable moment in that car.  I texted Jay yesterday, after a trip to Sams, and asked him how we survived without it.  Yesterday I was able to buy a case each of water, gatorade and Dr. Pepper, a big box of diapers, stop at Wal Mart for some misceallneous purchases AND still had room for the stroller and my smallest child.  Heck - even the biggest child and Jay still would've have plenty of room.  IT WAS GREAT.  I even changed Camryn in the Wal-Mart parking lot in the back of it.  People kind of giggle when you tell them that you drive a van.....but that's just because they don't understand how awesome it is.  I will admit that I do look down on those in G6's now (I mean that I literaly look down on them from my van seat) and feel so sorry for them.  They have no idea how great life could be.....

Driving a much bigger vehicle has been a bit of an adjustment.  I think I've adjusted pretty well to pulling into parking spaces and backing out.  That was until yesterday at Ozark Empire.  I lived out that scene from the first Austin Powers movie where he gets that little cart stuck in a hallway.  I was ready to leave the fair and I could not get the van backed up.  I thought I was going to have to call Jay at the pig barn crying and ask him to walk all the way out of the main entrance and back it up for me.  The cars on either side of me were so close and there was a truck right behind me that I think was taking up more than its fair share of space.  Camryn was screaming for something, I don't even know what, and I lost it.  In a not so proud mommy moment where stress completely took over I screamed "can you just shut up for a minute."  I was sweating and backing and going forward and backing and going forward.  Finally I edged it out and headed down the road. There was an empty space next to the road hogging truck parked right behind me.  If it hadn't been for that I might still be sitting on the OEF parking lot.  I've never had any trouble like that with the van....for awhile I wondered if I had gone stupid since I couldn't seem to get it backed out.  I told Jay about it last night figuring he would laugh at me.  He said "where you parked in the lined main lot on the hill?"  As a matter of fact I was.  He said "Oh yeah, those spots are really tight.....really tight."  THANK GOODNESS!!  I was so glad to know it wasn't me.

The FFA parks cars at Farm Fest so Jay is somewhat of an expert of the OEF parking lots.  I now have more of an appreciation for what Jay at the kids and parents go though during those 3 days in October.  I also understand a little more of why the people they are parking scream and yell curse words at them.  I need to ask Jay to pay attention next year....it may be a mother in a mini-van who has a screaming toddler who almost got the van stuck between three cars.  If I had a high school kid say anything to me yesterday after that incident I might have cused at them to.  I'm going back to the fair tonight, but I'm staying clear of that parking lot.  I'll be parking the van in the livestock lot from now on. 

Also I'm sorry for any typos or gramatical errors.  For some reason I can not go back and fix them.  My mouse won't put my cursor in the correct spot.  So that is my excuse, at least on this post, for the errors.  Actually if you want to pretend that is what the problem always is with my spelling and grammer then please feel free to do so.