We added a new member to our family this week. I'm still swooning. It's not animal, vegetable or mineral. It is, however, a Volkswagen Passat!


Meet Merlot! (We name all our vehicles, and Merlot was an easy pick for this girl.) AJ says she's peppy, and fun. Now I just need to relearn how to drive a stick to see just how peppy and fun she can be.

Sadly, this means our big, blue Nellie has been put out to pasture. While I'm glad to have a new car, Nellie has been through a lot since we bought her in 1998.

We found her in Wadena, Minnesota, when we lived out thattaway. She came back to Ashland with us, and ferried us to New York (twice), the Twin Cities and to the camp where AJ's dad used to work. We put nearly 140,000 miles on her.

One of my fondest memories of the old girl is letting Cobalt out of her cat carrier on long trips to ride up on the big rear dash. Cobalt stretched out in the sunshine, and watched the world whiz by. Talk about a great way to travel!