The addition of Grizzy

When we began planning for this year’s annual family vacation, we had a few things in mind: have fun (of course!), eat at a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives place in each town in which we stayed (Jim is a huge fan of that show), enjoy some historic sites (Bre loves social studies), and pig out on Chocolate at Hershey Park (that one is all Brooke).  My goal was to make the trip as comfortable as possible.  

To that end, I began discussing with Jim the possibility of renting a larger vehicle for the trip.  We were looking into costs and had decided we’d rent a mini-van.  Then, fate stepped in.  We found out we were pregnant… again!  Rather than spend the money on renting a car, we decided it was finally time to invest in a larger vehicle for our growing (in more ways than one) family. 

For some reason (because it lacks a certain “manliness”), Jim couldn’t picture himself in a mini-van.  We started talking about conversion vans.  Fate again stepped in one day when we were on our way home.  The newly-opened car dealership near our house had a conversion van sitting right there on the corner for us to admire.  We decided to check it out and discovered we could get a really great deal on it.  We took the plunge and added Grizzy to our family of vehicles.  He was happy to join Lulubee and Morrie in our driveway.  Lulubee and Morrie were not as happy to share the garage space, however.  I think they are still mad.

The name Grizzy was an easy one to decide on.  We specifically purchased this vehicle for longer family journeys.  Family vacations.  Road trips.  Immediately our minds went to the Griswolds.  This may be because I’ve been calling Jim “Clark” since our first Christmas together (the guy thinks you should have every square inch of a house and yard covered with decorations) or it may be because we tend to be a little “lampoony” ourselves at times… maybe it was a little of both.  At any rate, Grizzy it was and we completed the planning of this summer’s Griswold adventure with much enthusiasm.