Travels with Winnie

Craig and I have had a lot of cars in our married life. Twenty-eight years this August, that we have been married, and in that time we have had mostly hand me downs, or well used cars. We did buy a new Hyundai when Bob was born (who is now of drinking age, that was a while ago wasn't it?) Hyundais, at that time, were almost as cheap as a used car-- and we were lucky with ours, it ran for quite a long time, unusual for an early Hyundai. After the Hyundai broke down, Mom gave us her old Cadillac- a 1977 Coupe de Ville, a real 'boat' and about as long as they come! We drove it until things started breaking down that we couldn't afford to fix. You could literally watch the fuel gauge move toward empty as you went up a hill, it was so heavy! Those were lean days, being a stay at home Mom and making it on one income. Macaroni and cheese days. Suave shampoo on sale days.
Fast forward to our lives now-- the kids are grown and have taken on their own responsibilities, Craig is doing very well as a Journeyman Electrician, and I make shiny horses for my friends. ;-) So when my nice little Nissan Sentra would be a good option to give to Mom to replace her old Honda (that she drives Gram around in, and it was getting old and cranky), Craig said that I could finally go and get the car I have wanted for TEN YEARS-- ever since they were re-issued- a Mini Cooper!! The Nissan would be right next door if I needed to drive Gram, and of course Craig has his truck for big hauling or driving four people, so there were no more excuses!
Meet Winnie:

She had nine miles on the odometer when we signed the contract! WHOO HOO!!! Brand new off the ship! (In fact, I already had her VIN# when she was in transit, and 'watched' the ship as it came across the ocean and rounded the Panama Canal, I knew when it arrived at Port Hueneme and when she was put on a truck to come to the dealership... it was awesome!)

Winnie is a 2011 MINI Cooper hardtop, with an automatic transmission, in Chili red with white top and bonnet stripes. Nothing fancy in her, except an iPod adapter, otherwise she is a basic model. I do plan to buy things for her (they call them 'modifications') but that is for the future. For right now, she is shiny and clean and slick and fast... and I just am over the moon happy!

She came home to live with us on July 2nd, and of course the family was all together, so everyone who wanted to, got to drive her. We put 200 miles on her over the weekend, just in test drives! The guys were impressed with how zippy and responsive she is, and the gals liked the mood lighting, the radio, and the overall cute smallness.

We considered putting her in the Fourth of July parade, but it was cool enough so that the dogs could make a lap, and neighbors had been encouraging me to be in the parade with them this year... now that we have the new Trike! Here are a few snippets from the parade:

Craig, Mom, and Gram. Not sure what Mom was reacting to! There are more people IN the parade than WATCHING the parade! This is our ninth year having a Terramar parade, and we all love it!

We're a surfing area, so of course we need a wave float! This year, the wave with Snoopy also had a surfer with moving mechanical arms! It was fantastic!

A couple of the neighborhood vehicles, with cheering and clapping going on.

The dogs and I. Yasha is in the foreground, Bear farther away, and Casper in the basket. They had already done a lap, pooped, and barked at EVERY DOG so they were tired to start with. We only did one lap, and then I put them in the nice cool house to drink and flop. It was great!