Vehicles

We decided to get Buck donuts for his birthday breakfast. Since our van is being repaired, Buck had his car at work, the girls had the Nitro at their work, and that left the Caddy. Buck mentioned that it was doing something "new." A flashing parking break sign as you drove, but if you "stuck your foot up into it and kicked around a little" it would go off. 

"Will it beep?" asked Caelan. 

"Maybe for a minute," answered Buck. 

I think I've mentioned before that the parking brake release cable is not attached to the parking break itself?

Fast forward to our donut trip . . . we started up the beast with a VROOM like a jet engine launching. And as soon as we were in gear DING DING DING DING DING DING.

"Maybe it will go away," pondered Brennen. 

"I'll turn up the radio," I replied. Graysen just sat in the back, possibly covering his ears.

DING DING DING DING DING DING urgent flashing lights, it didn't seem good. So we made it to the first place we could safely stop and see what we could do to make the noise go away. I certainly wasn't putting my cream-colored cute shoes "into it to kick around a little." 

So, in an abandoned school drop-off zone, I tried to find the release mechanism, but failed. Brennen hopped out to look and accidentally dropped the parking brake lower than it already was. Well, that's not good. I found the youtube video I'd found the first time we had this trouble (in the driveway), Brennen watched it, then he crawled in and figured out how to release the brake completely! No DING, no angry light! 

I had him take a picture of it when we got home, and added an arrow, so the girls know what to do should they ever find themselves in this situation in the future :) Oh, and then my driver's side door wouldn't close! So, Brennen came back around and fiddled with the latch until it clicked in place once more. Quite the adventure to get the donuts!




In addition to this impromptu roadside fix, Brennen is taking an automotive basics course for school. His assignment was to pop a hood and practice taking all the vehicle's vitals. To Buck's surprise, Brennen discovered the car needed a wiper fluid refill. Such a helpful lesson for both :)



Speaking of lessons, we're still plugging away at drive-time hours for Gabby. I think we just passed 14 . . . we decided to borrow the traffic cones in our church parking lot (since nobody is there anyway) to practice parallel parking. Well, first we worked on 2-point, 3-point, and U-turns. Parallel parking proved its usual difficult self. Gabby finally said, "You do it, I'll watch." Well, I did, she did, I failed, and she was like, "Well, that wasn't helpful." :) Eventually she got three between the cones parking successes, and declared she will never parallel park, she will drive farther away and walk, every time. Ha! Good old driver's ed :)