It’s been almost two months since I last posted a blog. I’ve done a pretty decent job of writing most weeks since I started this project back in 2014, posting almost weekly for 8 years. But lately things have been hectic, I’ve been occupied with other hobbies and running the kids around, and I just didn’t know what to write about, so I stopped. In the meantime, several people have told me how much they enjoy reading my posts and I feel bad letting them down, so I’m pledging to get back to it now.

In 2019, I had just started working in New York City again, reducing my driving from around 60 miles a day to under 5. In a world pre-COVID and where I was in the office almost every day, my choice in car felt incredibly important. Tesla had finally become established enough that it didn’t feel like a huge risk for me to order one, and with my BMW 3 Series lease ending, it was time to try going electric.

Thanks to COVID, I’ve spent a lot of time with my youngest son over the last two weeks. My two year old had a COVID outbreak in his preschool class and ended up spending two weeks at home. Since I ended up getting it from him - at least he’s starting to learn to share - I ended up spending a lot of time with him to try to minimize his time with the rest of the family.

So picture this. I’m riding my brand new bike, must have been a birthday present because it’s the summer and I’m drenched because we live in Maryland, and learning to balance it as I coast down the sidewalk of a hill in our development. I never make it more than a few feet without touching the training wheels on the pavement, perhaps why it will take me a to this day still embarrassing near decade later to actually get to the point I can ride under full pedal power which I’m forced to do racing home from a friends’ house just down the street in our new neighborhood in PA during a rain storm.

There are simply too many interesting electric car options now, and all of them have way too long of a wait. There has never been a more interesting time to buy a car, and with my Tesla Model 3 lease about to end, I can’t make up my mind with what to get next. So instead, I ended up with four orders somehow between Tesla, Ford, and Rivian. After all of that, I’m still not even sure I don’t want to place an order for the Hyndai Ioniq too.

For years, I’ve been dreaming of the perfect family ski trip. Once we had our twins, I yearned for the chance to travel to the mountains and head out on the slopes with family. I pictured cozy evenings back in a cabin and warming meals in lodges together retelling our favorite parts of the day. We’d discuss our favorite trails and the best slopes. Of course we’d apres off of the slope together too.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise; there’s no right or wrong way to parent. It’s a common refrain that there is no parenting instruction manual, usually told to soon to be or brand new parents. But as our third child gets older, I’ve realized that even the things that worked for the first ones, the twins, don’t apply to the youngest, and we have to just make it up as we go.

My boys take hockey lessons and swim lessons weekly and we ski every single weekend. They’ve definitely skied more before they turn six than I had until they were born. The have probably skated a couple hundred hours now and played a few friendly games of hockey during their learn to play clinic. They’ve told me they want to be soccer and hockey players after just a few games. They’re already skiing Black Diamonds (though NJ ones).

Everyone understands that the past two years of the COVID pandemic have been tough on parents. For those with kids born right at the start of it, it’s been especially hard managing little kids without the normal help from family and other sources especially in the early days. It’s also hard not having the ability to see friends and fellow parents as often or to be able to get away for a break.

Back in 2019, a year before COVID turned the world on its head and before the EV renaissance kicked into high gear, I took my then six month old Tesla Model 3 (standard range) up to Vermont for our annual guys’ ski trip. At that time, it was the longest road trip I’d taken with the car, the coldest it had been, and there was still a lot I was figuring out with driving an electric car.