Asians, Trains, and Automobiles

March 21, 2015 - Alright, this post is intensely autobiographical, (emphasis on auto) which makes it astonishly awkward for me.

I bought my first car this week, which is something I'd been hunting for in the last few weeks:

Yes...Noah is the one in the driver's seat. :)

On top of already being autobiographical, I'm going to impose on you, good reader, to brag about my brother for a bit. When I was looking for a car, he did some research and watched some videos on what to look for when buying a used vehicle.  So, when we met up to check out the car, he went around, over, and under the car, poking and prodding for signs of problems.  

Then, he and I went for a test drive and he had me do a couple of things while driving, while he listened for any rattling, etc.  

At one point, I was told to take my hands off the wheel and pump the brakes, and that's when he noticed that there is a strong wobble in the steering wheel while braking.  

He said that the rattle was caused by the rotors.

After I bought the car, we picked up the rotors and he jacked up the car and worked until midnight to install the new rotors.

So, it's been awesome to see how all of his years of tinkering and experimenting are really beginning to pay off and he's of incredible help.

Doing some very detailed detailing

Ah, that was so nasty...

Noah and I spent the next day cleaning the car and fixing some minor issues.

That weekend I attended a meeting a couple of hours away.

This town was known for its engineering school, so when I was trying to decide where to eat for dinner this was my logic:

An engineering school means that there are a lot of smart math people

A lot of smart math people means that there have to be Asians

If there are Asian students means that there's got to be a sushi bar around

=

Not only was this my first time eating sushi, this was - believe it or not - my first time eating a whole meal with chopsticks.

So, it was a Saturday afternoon and I decided to go smell the proverbial roses.

I googled for some points of interest and found a park and this enormous Frisco train:

This should provide a comparison of the scale of this thing.

Now for some "photography" shots...wait for it...

And for some reason all of these are vertical...I wonder what I was thinking....

I took a quick stroll around the park and lake before heading home:

Well, thank you for your long-suffering dear reader as I end by brazenly imposing a selfie upon you!

There hasn't been too much to post about as of late, so my options were to either post this photo or a video of myself smashing my finger with a hammer while working.

New Cousin

Mom's Birthday Dinner

March 10, 2015 - After holding Keira for the first time, we all left the hospital to celebrate my Mom's birthday with a late dinner.

These are some "photographic" shots of the hospital on the way out out to the parking garage

Chicken fajita!

Tacos

Celebratory margarita

We all look pretty tired in this photo :)

It was a long day!

Meet The Newest Addition to Our Family

 

Keira, my cousin, and the newest addition to the family, was born this morning at 9 am. Today is also my Mom's birthday. We're so thankful to the Lord for answering our prayers and giving my aunt the safe delivery of her daughter who is in perfect health.
It's been an incredible experience and a remarkable day that I'll never be able to forget!

From Lisa:

The Lord has been more merciful throughout this pregnancy and birth than I have words to express.
My heart rejoices in the great kindness that He has shown to Bethany and her little family.  Praise The Lord!!

Thank you to so many friends who were lifting them up in prayer throughout! You are such a blessing to me!

 

 

More photos to come soon…

Car Scrapyard

March 7, 2015 - This afternoon we met up with the Bridges at the U-PICK-A-PART junkyard.  Benjamin needs a few parts for his new truck, so he was hoping to strip the parts from the scrap vehicles on the lot:

The piles of cars that have been scrapped and crushed were pretty incredible!

(Sorry, just had to throw in this Wall-E reference since its one of my favorite Pixar films)

They have thousands and thousands of cars, off the ground, with their hoods up, waiting to be scrapped for parts

Yes, my friends, it felt a bit like a playground for any car repair enthusiast

Now, unfortunately, I didn't get it on video, but these two reenacted the "Boys Are Back" dance number from High School Musical. (YouTube)

Okay, I'm totally kidding.  

It's bad enough that this scene even entered our minds...especially since none of us have seen HSM.

Oh well, it still might make fitting background music while you read the rest of this post: (Spotify link)

You know you've come to the right place when you have shop with a 50 pound wagon and not a  shopping cart

Uh yeah, they may have given each other wagon rides...meanwhile I acted like I wasn't with them...

This chunk of metal is all that remains of a Ford Ranger

Reading a notebook we found in it

Benjamin had a friend who needed a new sun roof motor, so we found a Mercury Cougar and pulled the motor out for him

Josiah in the back of a retired K-9 police vehicle

Okay, so we took a look in this prototypical "kidnapper van..."

...and saw this picture taped to the front dash.

Form your own conclusions.

Someone had repainted their car with this design on the hood.

Oh, and it was a Volkswagen.

We took a look at some older cars from the 60s-80s like a 70s Chevelle and a 1987 Fiero

Benjamin immediately jumped into this ambulance and had me send a text to Mom that said "Ben is in the back of an ambulance."

Yeah, not the nicest prank.

I'd already been texting her photos of us at the junkyard, that were actually stills from Wall-E.

♫♫ "It only...takes a moment..." ♫♫
Ah, I like that movie....

Yeah, two homeschoolers in a school bus - betcha don't see that everyday.

Jumping out of the emergency exit

Unfortunately, Ben wasn't able to really find the parts he was looking for, but we did have entirely way too much fun in the process. ;)