A pretty big day

Yesterday was Braeden's half birthday.  I struggled with gift ideas because next to Adam and Emma, he is the least materialistic person I know.  He doesn't want anything.  Except books.  Boring books.  He got a Billy Joel song book.  Then he got the Aeneid by Virgil, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Histories by Herodotus.  He is in the middle of reading The Illiad right now so he said he's going to stop that and then start with The Epic of Gilgamesh and work his way through them in chronological order.  He was as pleased as he could be with his books.  That would have been a depressing birthday present for me, as in, "You gave me homework?!?"

That wasn't the only part of our day though, after his morning swim lesson shift, I took Braeden (and Emma who was filling the role of side kick) to the bank.  He deposited his first paychecks.  He opened a checking account.  He got a debit card.

We drove straight from there to pick up Loki.  The new car.  Braeden (maneuvering long legs into place) and Emma climbed in (which is why Emma wanted to tag along).

Braeden was so happy, he gave a genuine smile.  He forgot to pose:

Before driving away, Braeden lowered his window and said, "It's on empty."

Good thing we got that debit card.

I told him I'd follow him to the gas station, because I needed gas too.

At the gas station I said, "OK, you know what you're doing?"

He said, "Yes, but watch me so I don't mess up and accidentally sell my soul to OPEC."

He slid his brand new debit card, the gas started flowing and the numbers started ticking up.  Braeden watched with more interest than he ever has at a gas station.  As the numbers rose, I said, "That's one hour of work.  That's two..."

He sighed sadly and said, "That really puts it in perspective."

The advantage of a little car is a little gas tank though.  It wasn't too painful.

I had to snap a picture when we were stopped at a light.  It was just so surreal to be following behind my two kids.

Emma assured me that she got all the radio buttons set while they drove.

So that's a relief.

Once we got home, there was a phone message from one of Braeden's friends and he promptly drove himself over to his friend's house.  But before he left, I took one more picture.  This time he was sufficiently recovered that he remembered to be silly.

We ended the day with a youth temple trip.  Since Mark is gone (sniff) I was able to go too.

Being in the temple with my children is better than a new car.

(Although this morning, when Braeden needed to be at the pool at 7:00 a.m. and I didn't need to drive him, that was pretty great too.)