"the" beetle.....

I fear that the summer has been zipping by so quickly, and we have been so busy with "other" things, that we haven't even thought about our little beetle, until the Firemen's Muster was just a few days away. Often the beetle has the honor of carrying the "Firemen's Queen - Miss Flame" in the parade. Being an convertible and red, it fits perfectly for this event. So, we took it's "blankie" off, dusted it off, and rolled it out into the sunshine. Like it does everytime, it started right up and seemed to be "ready for fun".

The beetle has it's own little story (as does everything I have!!!) and it goes something like this. When Ed and I first married, I told him that someday I would love to have a VW beetle - yellow in color and convertible of course. Every once in a while, we would go and look at one, but they always needed a lot of work, or didn't run well, or whatever. Since this was totally a luxury, we continued to look knowing that one day, we would find just the right one.

Early one spring, I was home with two little girls, running about the house and doing a million "mommy things". I don't remember now exactly how the day was going, but I do remember it wasn't great. Nothing awful, just typical trying to run a house and manage two small children. The phone rang.. it was Ed... "what color beetle were you looking for?" he asked. Thinking that was a silly question on a day like this, I said "YELLOW"... and he replied.."not red?, I found a really nice red one, maybe you would like to come and see it". Come and see it? that meant, pack up the kids, drive to where ever he was.. stop what I needed to get done, it seemed like "too much to do"... "No, I can't come right now". He was disappointed, "it's a nice one, good price, I don't think it will last long, you really should come and see it". I told him no again, and ended the phone call. Going back to vacuuming, I began to think .... "are you foolish, your husband just called and offered you a car that you have been wishing for, you're going to pass this by???" I called him back, "that didn't take long" he teased me. Needless to tell you, we bought the car, and no it wasn't yellow, but the red suits me fine.

It's a 1978, had only one owner before us, and was (is) in extremely good condition. I am trying to remember what year we bought it, and we think it was in 1996, so we have had it quite a while. We have had some fun with that little car. We always loved loading the kids in it, and taking rides on hot summer nights. Course the girls complained about being "cold" riding in the back with the top down. So, I made two quilts (one for each) that had "beetle bugs" all over them. We still keep the quilts in the beetle, just in case anyone who takes a cruise gets cold!!!

As I said, earlier,we pulled it out a few days ago to get it ready for the Firemen's parade. I wanted to get it down ahead of time because I actually needed my truck for the day of the parade. So, last week, I popped Abbie's car seat into the back, put Camille in the front, and we headed out. Abbie's first beetle ride!!!!! and another generation for the little car to give rides to.







Camille had as much fun in the beetle as Abbie did. Actually all our dogs love riding with the top down. The cockers ears flap in the wind, and they spend the whole time sniffing.










I am glad that this car has seat belts!!! Car seats weren't the things back in 1978. Fortunately Abbie's seat has a place for use with a lap belt as it's all the beetle has, but it worked. I will tell you, I just hoped that she wouldn't throw that "binkie" out somewhere along the ride, and she didn't!!!!








Even Chester has had a few rides. He seems to greatly enjoy them as well. And now that we have it out and about again, I hope for some warm sunny fall days, where we can still run around topless before the winter winds return.