Introducing the newest member of our family

We are delighted to introduce "Ladybird," our new car. She is a 2010 Toyota Prius II (a hybrid). And as you can see, she is bright red, hence the name. (In case you didn't know, a ladybird is what European English speakers call ladybugs.) She also got the name because the first time we got into her, Sarah spotted a ladybird on her. We figure it's also an appropriate name because the car's namesake, Mrs. LBJ, was also a resident of Washington, D.C.


We've already broken her in well. We just returned from a one-day, one-night trip down to Charlottesville, Va., to visit Monticello. More about that trip later.

We went to the dealership in Silver Spring, Md., on Monday after work and purchased her. It was the first time Sarah had ever bought a new car (all her other cars had been used ones), and it was the first new car I had bought in ten years (we did have a car in Geneva, but we bought it used, and the car we drove in Nairobi was a "company" car). It was also the first new car of our marriage (I brought Lyla, the Saturn I bought in 1999, into the relationship). It is also the first time we've gone into debt since we sold our condo and moved to Geneva.

Saturns are fairly easy to buy, since the process does not involve haggling on the price. We didn't end up doing that for this car either. Since Priuses are very popular, the dealers can afford to sell them at their asking price. Nevertheless, the buying process was pretty painful, lasting more than three hours.

But we're pleased with Ladybird. At least we've passed that major hurdle in our resettlement process back here in the U.S., and now we can concentrate more on that house purchase!