It's a Jeep thing

Maddie and I drove over to visit Tomasen and Emma (and then later my parents) and we scoured the skies looking for telltale rain clouds.

"What do you think Cloud Seeker?" I asked Maddie.

She replied that we couldn't take the top down ... yet.  And it was cold out -- not even mid-60's -- so that was fine.   We stopped for gas and took the top down there (much to Maddie's chagrin, because she would prefer to go deep into the woods and do it without anyone to witness our antics) but truly, taking it down is no big deal.

We all four piled into the Jeep and headed for the coast -- our hair whipping in the sunlit wind, Maddie in the back, constantly scouting for clouds.  We then did the strip of Hampton Beach with the stereo blaring, cruising along the boardwalk ... being "those people."  I commented to Tomasen that I couldn't believe I was "being those people," and she just said I must embrace it.  And so I did.

As we extended our carbon footprint for the day beyond reasonable and customary use -- we did enjoy ourselves for every single minute!  We went beyond the piece of beach we were going to stop at just to continue driving.  It really is TOO MUCH FUN!

Then we went to pick up my mother, and I can't say for sure how bad it is, since I was in the front driving, but we had three people in the back and two in the front -- hair whipping all around -- Cloud Seeker pointing out big black clouds in the sky.  Like I said, TOO MUCH FUN!

Later, after dinner with my parents, we proceeded to put the top back up because it was cold at 9:30 p.m. -- and even I was a little apprehensive about an hour-and-a-half drive on the highway with no top.  But man, that thing is a pain in the butt to put up.  We struggled with the back window, the zipper wasn't right, then it was hard to zip, then these two plastic parts kept falling off.  SO FRUSTRATING.  Since we didn't buy it at a Jeep dealership, no one knew how to show us what to do.  I said I was headed straight to one today for a demonstration.

But then I got smart and found a video online showing how to do it.  It's really only a few simple things we didn't do right -- but the man said "if you do latch the front first, it will be very difficult if not impossible to finish up the job."  Well, he's got that right!

So now I am anxious to go out and try it again!  Oh -- and last night, while Maddie fought sleep, I couldn't get enough of the full moon in the sky.  And my first thought?  "Should have kept the top down!"

This really is the BESTEST vehicle in the whole wide world!