Conversations at home

Have been helping the little one with her school project. It is a timeline on Amelia Earhart which involves making a timeline, drawing pictures and doing a speech. 

She is using a 100 page book from the Biography series. Tonight we were talking about this at bedtime ..

LO : I really tried reading the Auto-Biography Appa. The first section was sooo boring. Only the last few pages were interesting where she sets records and then gets lost!

Me : It is not an "auto" biography.. it is just a biography. Auto means "self" as in someone wrote about themselves

LO : I could totally write an autobiography of 100 pages

Me : seriously?! 

LO : Yes. It is going to be awesome. It will be all about how awesome I am!

Me : Really?!

LO : It better be awesome if I am going to brag about myself for a 100 pages!

Me: !!!!!!

This is a very special girl.. 

Someday I really hope she gets to write her "auto"biography and all the 100 page bragging has some real stuff behind it.

Electric car facts

It has been almost 2 years of driving the Nissan Leaf!

So far it has lived up to its promise. A quiet ride in carpool lane for local commuting. 

Given my kids tell me that I drive like an old grandma, it is no surprise that the leaf has 5 miles/kwh. Leaf forums tell me that this is a pretty good record for a car that has since seen 15k + miles

One intersting thing is that the Leaf gives you an estimated miles left as you drive.. and that can sometimes be like the Windows File download or copy dialog box "time remaining" prediction!

You drive 3 miles and get back 5 more.. then you drive back 4 miles and lose 9! Net result is that the car was driven 7 miles and it shows 4 miles consumed. These numbers are also a function of recent trips and who knows what logic?!

One gets used to this after some time. Also if you remember which routes have roads that slope down vs. roads that slope up, you can optimize your mileage!

Only downside this year is that the Leaf is behind on the 10k mile per year we signed for in the lease. So far the dealership is getting a better deal. 

The charger is now fixed and the car is back on the road! These photographs were taken few weeks ago on a route that always makes me laugh when looking at the dashboard.

Here is to more fun!

Pumpkinography 2014

This year we did do the pumpkin carving with the cousins.. somehow all the travel made me miss out on a lot of posts. One can always catch up!

This years creations..

This one was Jr.'s. She wanted her own pumpkin to carve this year. 

This one was the little one's. She did the large pieces and I had to come in to do the delicate pieces. 

The lineup from this year.. the kids are all growing up and taking over the carving business!

Previous Pumpinographies are here..

This whole thing started with a lot of reluctance..  but now it has become a "tradition" that we all look forward to!