Spring time!

A brief history of the last few moths...

Abuela Romero visited us. She was here for almost a month. It wasn't too bad! V took her to do a lot of tourist things and places to eat, so I think she had a good time.

I ended up buying that bunny head. I figured I could were it at Halloween too.

We took a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island while Abuela was here.

Tormo continues to be a great dog.

 Penny found a little impromptu costume at the dollar store the other day.

 I also helped Ben replace his timing belt and water pump on his Honda Odyssey a few weeks ago. The job went smoothly except for the pulley bolt pictured below. That thing was VERY difficult to get off. We ended up having to get a guy with a 3/4 inch impact wrench and a better compressor with a 1/2 inch hose to come get it off for us.

 Finally, and I don't really have good pictures for it yet, I bought a 2003 Honda Element.  I had been driving The Judith's old S40 for a while and it was just very uncomfortable. The seat was too low and the interior was cramped. So I saw this Element on Craigslist and decided to go look at it. The guy was asking $3.5K, but I took it on a test drive and it has some issues. Mainly it was bucking when I tried to accelerate. I googled it and it seemed like it was a V-Tec oil pressure switch which wouldn't be too hard to replace so I made the guy an offer on it for $2.3K and he said yes instantly with a big smile on his face, so I laughed and said "I mean $2K" and he said "I'll do that too!" Then I got him to give me $100 back when he showed me that the key to the driver door doesn't work. So I only paid $1900. But, it does have 211K miles on it. Since then I've put probably close to $700 back into it. I've done....
Key-less entry from the junk yard $5
remote for key-less entry $27
interior passenger door panel from junk yard $50
new driver seat from junk yard $50
knock sensor (I don't know if this fix, fixed the issue though) $12
windshield washer fluid pump $12
V-tec oil pressure switch assembly $55
front and rear sway bar bushings $18
cabin air filter $12
wiper blades $17
stabilizer bar links $22
air filter $9
front and rear struts (not sure if I really needed to do them..) $315 minus a $100 rebate so... $215
shipping $55
new antenna and various parts from junk yard $2
new instrument cluster lights $35
So actually... more like $600.... but I am also going to put a bluetooth stereo in it. :)
The main thing is that I have a higher seat, and a more utilitarian vehicle. I couldn't really load Tormo and the girls up in the S40. Below is a before and after of the headlight restoration I did.

 KTP on Easter

Just a random picture that I think really captures Tormo's personality. 

Dave