Tag Archives: cars

Star Wars, Something Hit, and A Family Trampoline Trip

Going Mom made use of Memorial Day and extended the already extended weekend by taking additional days off to spend with the family. As always, time flew by, but it was well spent with lots of love from Mommy.

family, love, parenting

My wife loves making our home better and more “homey” and she constantly has a running list of 10+ projects to do. Mainly replacing light fixtures, hanging shelves and pictures, and painting. The project du jour for her time off was to paint every area where the walls were beige, another color. Oh, that’s about 75% of our house, by the way.

As if I expected anything less, she got right to it with the painting while simultaneously rocking motherhood. Avery had to be around everything Mommy was doing, and Going Mom would stop to read, play, and kiss boo-boos as needed. I’m ashamed to say I did not lay a finger on a paint brush, but for what it’s worth, I kept busy in the kitchen making good food for the family. Or I hope it was!

Since “everything beige” includes the ceiling, that will probably be left to a professional since my shoulder issue would make it hard to help, and it’s just not a fun or easy task to take on with a toddler running rampant.

One of the days, my wife took some time for a nice hair appointment, so Avery and I held down the fort by going on the longest ride she’s ever been on with her WOOM 1 Balance Bike. We ventured around the new construction in our neighborhood and said hi to the construction trucks we saw. Just as we made it home, the rain started coming down, so we took it inside for her second Star Wars experience.

family, star wars, daddy's girl, love

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. I can’t wait for the next one where she will see the Ewoks! I’m not sure, but I think she enjoyed watching with daddy.

daddy, daughter, family, star wars

For the last day of Mommy’s time off, we planned on going to Urban Air, a local trampoline park and stopping at Costco for our weekly store trip. We left home and stopped at our neighbors to celebrate the capture of the masked bandit killing their chickens, then took off for some jumping fun together. But something happened right before we could get there….

Subaru Front Driver's Side Damage

Yep, a freakin’ fender bender. Some smoker mom with her kid in a car seat in the back of her car dismissed a stop sign and pulled in front of me on a main road. That had me already not a fan of the lady, then, as we both entered a left turn lane with a yellow flashing yield arrow, she started to go since there were no oncoming cars. I proceeded to follow (albeit maybe a little close, but still), and then she suddenly stopped as she was attempting a u-turn instead of a left turn as I thought. A screech of the brakes and our bodies lunging forward later, and my poor “blue rocket” as Avery calls it, made contact.

Luckily, we were going pretty slow and hardly any damage occurred. Just some bent plastic and scratches. The woman made a huge fuss and her dad (who was not even there) decided to call the cops. We exchanged info and said we wanted to go, but she whined that we’d get in trouble if so. I left to drop Going Mom and Avery off so they could start their jumping fun, and then came back. After sitting around longer, it turns out, the cops never showed, and we finally parted ways.

Not sure what will happen with the wreck at this point. Most likely it’s on me since I rear-ended her. Damn. But, the good news is that I made it over to jump with my favorite girls. They were already busy, um…..jumping?

family, trampoline park, fun

Whatever it was, we ended up having a great time. I think we stayed a little too long as Avery wore herself out and started getting cranky by the time we made it home for lunch. Crankiness aside, we enjoyed having Mommy home and now we have her again for the weekend!

Have you ever been in an accident where you swear it wasn’t your fault but because of how the law works, it was on you?

Are you a Star Wars Fan?

Easy DIY Car Maintenance With Kids

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DotComDIY #CollectiveBias

Walmart.com-Pennzoil-DIY-Car-Maintenance

I’ve been against going to a shop for simple car services and all about performing easy DIY car maintenance for years. It saves time, money, and leaves you with a greater sense of satisfaction. Plus, it allows you to connect with your car. Yes, even if it’s a rusty ’88 Cutlass Supreme that rocks more than a boat in high winds, it’s yours, have some pride.

Before we had our daughter, diy car maintenance was easy. Just go buy everything I need, bring it back, and get to work on changing the oil and oil filter, replacing the air filter, checking tire pressure, replacing windshield wipers, etc. But now that she’s almost always by my side, it’s not as simple as just leaving to get what I need. Especially when there’s only so much time in the day to play! Now I know why places that offer simple car maintenance and inspections like the Sacramento smog inspection service are so popular. It’s literally a one-stop shop!

As someone who despises crowded stores and out-of-stock items, I’ve become an avid online shopper over the years and decided to search for my car maintenance necessities online. Knowing Walmart.com has a wide variety of items for all of our daily needs, I searched and quickly found everything needed for easy DIY car maintenance. Even better, they have many Pennzoil products on rollback for a limited time which had me quickly clicking “Add to Cart” to take advantage of the savings.

walmart.com, pennzoil, easy diy car maintenance

I added a few more items need for my car and checked out. No lines, no time spent lugging my poor girl around a crowded store, and plenty of money saved. When ordering online, you have the option of products being shipped directly to your home, picking up in-store or curbside assistance. Naturally, I chose shipping right to our home.

A few days later, my order arrived securely packaged. But the secure packaging was no match for my crazy kid little helper.

Walmart.com-Pennzoil-Kid-Opening-Box

She tore right through that orange tape to see what could possibly be inside. To our daughter, anything and everything is hers or she repeatedly claims that she wants something without knowing what it is. This is one of those times.

Walmart.com-Pennzoil-Kid-Box-Opened

“Oohhhh, it’s…..”

Walmart.com-Pennzoil-Windshield-Wiper-Blade

“……a long yellow…stick?”

She wasn’t sure what to make of the wiper blade, but I took the advantage of her interest in the new wiper blade to show her where it belonged on my car and explained its purpose.

The other box had more maintenance goodies including the other wiper blade,  oil filters, and of course the Pennzoil Full Synthetic Premium Motor Oil I order with rollback savings.

Walmart.com-Pennzoil-Motor-Oil-Close-Up

With PurePlus™ Technology which converts natural gas into a 99.5% pure base oil, Pennzoil full synthetic premium motor oil offers the best cleanliness and protection in its line-up. If you made the mistake of using lower quality oils in the past, never fear, Pennzoil helps clean out any sludge they left behind. With all of these benefits, it’s no wonder Pennzoil provides better protection from friction than other motor oils.

With the time saved by ordering from Walmart.com, I was able to spend it in the garage performing the easy diy car maintenance tasks with my kid close by lending a helping hand.

Walmart.com-Pennzoil-Tire-Pressure

Together, we changed the oil and oil filter (be sure to use standard safety precautions and refer to the owner’s manual for your car before changing the oil), check the tire pressure, and replaced the wiper blades. She even helped by reading the instructions.

Walmart.com-Pennzoil-Windshield-Wiper-Blade-Instructions

Not that I really needed them, I knew what I was doing the whole time. 🙂

There are many other DIY car maintenance jobs that anyone can do, but I wanted to keep it short and sweet for our toddler’s introduction to car maintenance. She may not be a baby, but baby steps are still required. Actually, that holds true all the way into adulthood!

To learn more about Pennzoil, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Afterward, head on over to Walmart.com for rollback savings on Pennzoil products along with a host of other items you need every day, shipped right to your door.