What First Class Should Be

With Adelaide graduating to a full-size car seat, it became just about impossible to squeeze her into the back of the Sebring convertible anymore, so we went car shopping this month. We got a great deal on a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with only 26,000 miles on it. This baby is pretty much fully loaded. It has all the power doors, heated leather seats, automatic climate control, "Stow N' Go," etc.

Abee and I both had Monday off, and so did our friends Jeremy and Brooke, so we took the Caravan on its inaugural voyage to Dayton to visit them for the day. I don't think I've ever seen someone more comfortable.

It was a very relaxing day. We all went to a nice little pizza place for lunch, and Jeremy and I continued our marathon Civilization IV game. Unfortunately, Adelaide was feeling a little under the weather, evidenced by this picture:

At around 7:30 p.m., after Jeremy and I thoroughly pounded the Malinese, and after a nice trio of Friends, Family Guy, and Scrubs, (and after Adelaide managed to pull my "tab" key from my laptop keyboard), it was time to load up the van again and head home.

The perks of being a dad continue to pile themselves on. The other day, I was dancing with Adelaide to some more Collective Soul, which I haven't been able to do much since she started sleeping in her crib back in November. I really missed this, and evidently so did Adelaide, as during one of the songs, she grabbed onto my arm, buried her face in my shoulder, and said "Da-da." Even with all the time spent in the frozen wasteland of Montreal last month, this was more than sufficient to melt my heart.