day of firsts

Carrie and I have been thinking about getting a new car for a while. It would be nice to have more room, and Aubrey gets pretty warm in the back so tinted windows and rear air would be great. We had been shopping / looking around a couple times already, so we knew what we wanted. On the way to look at another dealership today, I was driving Carrie's Infiniti G35 with Carrie, Aubrey, and Amanda. Going the opposite direction as us, a Ford Explorer turned left right into our driver's door. I saw that he was coming, honked, and even tried to turn out of the way, but he just slammed us. Aubrey's first wreck. This is the damage.

We were all fine. Aubrey didn't even cry or anything. Neither door on that side would open, so I had to climb over the center console to get out, and Amanda had to climb over Aubrey's car seat in the back. I climbed out and asked the guy if he was ok. The first thing he said was that he didn't have insurance. Great. A cop arrived shortly and was very nice. Turns out the other driver didn't even have a driver's license. The guy tried to blame it on me and said I had run a red light or something. The cop said, "Do you think I'm stupid?" He handcuffed him and drove him away. That was small satisfaction for having the side of my car bashed in and now having the hassle of going through the insurance claim and even having to pay the deductible. At least the car was drivable.

I have to compliment the G35. The outside of the door is all smashed in, but on the inside, you can't even tell. We were hit pretty hard, but not really jarred very much. The car deflected the force well. Well, we went on with our car shopping and found one we really liked for a little cheaper than the others we had seen. So we went ahead and bought it. (Aubrey's first new car.) At least now we have an extra vehicle until we get our other one fixed. We were planning on keeping the G35, and I would start driving it when Carrie got the new one because it's newer and nicer than my car. Too bad we weren't in my car that we were planning to get rid of.

Our new car is a Nissan Pathfinder. It has lots of room and everything we wanted. We'll post pictures when we take them.