I had wanted to spotlight the new Sienna’s “Easy Speak” feature, by loading up my extended family in the vehicle and taking a road trip to Birmingham for my son Jack to visit his best friend Sophie; as they recently met up at Opry Mills Mall to meet Santa, while we reviewed the Lexus: Dear Jack: Meeting Santa With Sophie At Bass Pro Shop (Lexus RX 450h Weekend).
Turns out, all the Siennas were booked for Christmas. So instead, I was given a 2014 LX 570 to review instead.
Imagine how nice and wonderful a Toyota Land Cruiser is. Well, this is the Lexus version… the $89,805.00 version, to be exact.
To say it was a privilege to be trusted with a $90K vehicle for a week; that would be an understatement.
Another change of plans occurred when Sophie’s parents had to work the day after Christmas, the day we were supposed to meet her family in Birmingham.
So since those plans got cancelled, I made sure our family still got to take advantage of the Lexus LX 570’s awesomeness, as you can see featured in the stories below:
Also, I made a walk-around video so you can get 360 degree perspective of the vehicle:
This is an 8 passenger vehicle with 383 horsepower, 403 lb.-ft torque, built-in DVD players, and even a built-in cooler in between the front 2 seats, which runs off the vehicle’s A/C.
Though I’ve been a vegan for more than a year and a half, a vegetarian for 3 years, and kosher (no pork, shellfish, etc.) for 6 years, I haven’t always held non-meat eaters in the highest regard.
Back before my gradual conversion that began in 2008, I used to mock the concept of vegans and vegetarians. I had them stereotyped pretty easily in my mind.
Then, as my eyes began being opened by watching Netflix documentaries like Supersize Me, Food Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, and Hungry For A Change, I began understanding the attraction towards an “I eat nothing from an animal diet”, but I chose not to participate because I wasn’t ready to make such a lifestyle change.
If you ask me, becoming a vegan or vegetarian requires you to live an alternative lifestyle.
I would know, since I live the vegan life 100% every day, no exceptions.
By the way, part of the lure to veganism is that it means your daily cholesterol intake is less than 1%; or in other words, 0%. While “vegan food” (veggies, fruit, grains, beans, nuts, & seeds) do contain some cholesterol, it’s never enough to register high enough to count as 1% on the food label.
So I thought it would be interesting to produce a collection of picture collages featuring what our family ate during the 5 day Christmas vacation we just came off of.
I must admit, I have a major advantage in my vegan lifestyle: My wife is an extremely good cook, and she loves planning and cooking our family’s meals. (That’s her in the picture above in the blue and back shirt.)
In the way I am passionate about blogging, she is passionate about making good food for our family.
One of her secrets is a website called Oh She Glows. The majority of the food you see today is derived from her plant-based recipe website.
Over Christmas vacation, we dined on sweet potato chili, spinach pasta with “vegan meatballs” (made with oats), vegan veggie pizza (vegetarian for those who eat cheese), vegan nachos (made with potatoes and avocado), and cashew sauce pasta, to name a few meals.
And thanks to my mom and my sister, we definitely weren’t short on vegan desserts.
My mom had a table full of vegan cookies and cakes, while my sister made vegan chocolate cupcakes, per my son’s request.
The biggest challenge was when we drove an hour to a family reunion near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
We wanted to be able to spend time with that side of the family, but we were unable to eat any of the food there; and I especially didn’t want to be a hardship to them because of our dietary limitations.
So here’s what we did: We packed the Lexus LX (the vehicle I was reviewing last week) with Larabars and water; which kept us full through the visit. We arrived 30 minutes early, to maximize on spending quality family time, before the food part started.
In total, we were there for a solid hour and a half, before they started serving their food, which is the point at which we left.
Fortunately, the Whole Foods was only 8 miles away; that’s where we had our lunch that day.
I admit I was a bit skeptical going into this holiday season how as I vegan, I would be able to participate in a feast of Biblical proportions. But my family made it happen.
Honestly, I don’t feel like I missed out on anything food-wise this holiday season. I ate very well and had a great time; just without the cholesterol.
For more on this kind of stuff, just click on tab on the upper left-hand side of the page: My Vegan Life.
And of course, feel free to ask questions in the comments below!
With Mommy and I both being able to take the day after Christmas off (Friday, December 26th), we were able to extend our official Christmas break to basically a 5 day holiday.
That meant that the fun wasn’t over just because Christmas day had passed. The morning started off with you trying on some on gag glasses that happened to stashed with some of my old toys there at Nonna and Papa’s house.
You then put them on Pandy and made him the teacher of the class…
Mommy and I decided to take you and Nana in the Lexus LX on a one hour drive through the mountains to a place called Flintstone, Georgia; where my own grandparents live, just a few miles from the Chattanooga, Tennessee city limit.
We filled up the built-in cooler with Larabars and water for snacks; and I made sure we had some DVDs for you to watch on the way there.
Of course we adults had plenty of beautiful mountain scenery to enjoy, as you sang to us…
We rarely end up visiting that side of the family during the holidays, so once we got there, I saw cousins I haven’t seen since before you were born.
To break the ice with them, and to help make you feel more relaxed, I took turns sneaking up to each one of my male cousins and pretending to punch them in the stomach; in the over-the-top style of the Power Rangers, or Marvel Universe Live that we recently saw.
“Punch the one with the white beard, Daddy!” you instructed me after you saw one of my uncles sitting on the couch.
Realizing that we had moved on from pretending to punch my male cousins to now my uncles, I “started a fight” with my Uncle Johnny (Papa’s older brother); who I would probably have to say other than your Papa, is most responsible for essentially teaching me to roughhouse at family get-togethers.
Once I “punched him” and told him that you told me to do it, he started motioning to you from across the room to “come here.”
He grabbed you by the foot and pulled you across the rug as you laughed hysterically.
Shortly after, my aunt Rosa (Papa’s youngest sister) asked you to let her take Pandy home and once you refused, she started swatting you with a roll of wrapping paper; like the way you and I played just the day before.
Horseplay really is the best way for a little boy to get to know his extended family, if you ask me.
Afterwards, I took you outside on the deck for some fresh air.
Then it was time was receive your gift from my grandmother, which couldn’t been any more appropriate for you:
A Captain America racecar and his nemesis Red Skull’s vehicle as well. You were so proud!
Before we left for a late lunch at Whole Foods, just 8 miles away, one of my cousins helped me load up Papa’s gift, a 3 ton jack, into the Lexus LX.
Once we got home, Papa showed you how the jack worked, in his shop.
And Mommy and I even ventured out and bought our new house’s washer and dryer at Gary’s in my hometown of Fort Payne, AL.
So yeah, the fun didn’t end just because Christmas day was over!
The way I’m wired, I just can’t stay indoors all day relaxing. I have to get out and feel the sun on my skin and breathe in the fresh, brisk air.
So while I definitely appreciated all the fun we had Christmas morning, I headed up a trip to Little River Falls, which is just about 5 miles from Nonna and Papa’s house, in Fort Payne, Alabama.
Papa had a sinus infection, so he had to stay at home. However, had he went, all 8 of us could have fit in the 2014 Lexus LX we were driving that week.
As we made our way down the walkway bridge to the waterfall, I realized something:
Your Uncle Andrew was the one taking care of you, while Mommy was taking care of your cousin Calla.
In essence, it was like Mommy and Uncle Andrew swapped kids for a little while. Like most little boys, you idolize the men in your life.
So while you and I do have a close relationship, I appreciate how much you look up to your Uncle Andrew, who has the mechanical skills I don’t.
We had a fun race back to the car. Of course, Uncle Andrew had a slight disadvantage since he was carrying you!
Over Christmas vacation last week (Saturday, December 27th, to be exact) my brother-in-law and I went geocaching, for the first time ever. If you’re wondering why we were driving around in a very impressive 2014 Lexus LX, it’s because I review cars here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog, as you see on the tab on the upper left hand side of the screen.
I had never even heard of geocaching before, so my brother-in-law sent me this video to help me understand it:
Basically, it’s using an app on a phone to discover “hidden treasures” by other geocachers. These hidden treasures typically just consist of trinkets or paper log-ins; just to prove you were there. Once you discover the “cache,” you are able to see who else has been there and how long ago. It’s sort of like an ongoing scavenger hunt.
For example, for the 2 caches we actually discovered, we left dog tags with our names and the date written on it in permanent marker.
It’s just a fun, innocent, legal, grass roots, ongoing pick-up game for people like me and my brother-in-law. We just like to get out and explore new territory.
Just to be clear, one of the requirements for a registered geocache spot is that the area has to be approved by whoever owns the land or in a public area.
All across America, there are these registered spots. Even in my small hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama, they are all over the place; and I don’t mean miles apart either. They are pretty close to one another.
One of the spots we decided to try out was at the bottom of Beason’s Gap, created a while back by a man named David Bait.
While dozens of other geocachers had already discovered it, we were unable to actually find the official cache there.
However, I thought I did, at first. As I ventured down the bluff just a little bit, I yelled out to my brother-in-law, “Hey! I think I found it! Come check this out!”
It was a clear, plastic sealed bag. But all that was in it was make-up, including Burt’s Bees chap stick.
However, there was no clue on the app to acknowledging this was the intended find; especially with the make-up bag being left out in the leaves.
Next to the make-up bag was a pair of newer sunglasses, in the case.
And next to it, was the big one: A purse with all official IDs and money removed; the exception being a folded up one dollar bill and an enrollment form for the Spring 2015 semester at Northeast Alabama Community College for a student named Sydney Noelle Pittman.
There was a heart drawn on the next line down, next to the name Cash; so I assume she might be romantically linked to someone with that last name.
I also found inside the purse a key for a Nissan vehicle with the name Gentry written on the tag; as if the vehicle had recently been in the shop.
However, I don’t understand why Gentry would be the name on tag if the girl’s name is Sydney Noelle Pittman.
As you can see in some of these pictures, there were long black hairs attached to some of the findings; which I assume is Sydney’s.
My theory is that at some point in not-so-distant history, Sydney Noelle Pittman had her purse snatched (maybe it was lifted after she sat it down on a counter or table at a restaurant) and the thief removed her credit card, cash, and IDs, then stopped at the pull-off at the end of Beason’s Gap to throw the purse off the bluff.
What that thief didn’t realize is that he or she was disposing of the evidence literally right on top of a geocache hiding spot; not the low-traffic random spot it would appear to non-geocachers.
Then, very innocently, a few days later my brother-in-law and I happened upon it; thinking it was the official cache. Only in hindsight did I really consider that unlike the other abandoned items I saw there on the bluff, Sydney’s belongings were apparently recent and possibly part of a crime scene.
That’s why I waited a few days to report it to the police. I am definitely new to this whole discovering an apparent crime scene thing.
I’m featuring this incident here on my blog because I want to help this girl at least get some closure with what happened.
Most of all, I hope she is alive and well. I already Googled her name, and found nothing, which I suppose is a good sign. After all, I’ve seen enough crime shows to know to look for a body, blood, or at least signs of a struggle; none of which were obviously present.
So in closing, 2 random guys (my brother-in-law and me) happened to be geocaching on Christmas vacation and became the 1st to discover a mysterious purse, which happened to be right where the coordinates pointed us.
I can’t know for sure it was stolen. For all I know she threw it off herself, after removing her money and ID, but that makes no sense to me.
Either way, I reported the mysterious purse to the local police, and within 15 minutes of my call, they had located it and picked it up, thanks to my very specific directions.
I also let the local police know not to be too surprised if they get more call-ins on this spot; since it is a registered geocache spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if more unknowing criminals think they are being clever by tossing their evidence off the bluff; which to guys like me, is instead a geocache site.
Granted, we had a lot of fun aside from potentially help solving a crime, as these other pictures demonstrate.
But the mysterious purse part of the story definitely gives this whole thing an edge. The next time we go geocaching, I’ll be ready for more adventure than what shows up on the phone app.
