As a growing family, we're in need of a new vehicle to cart ourselves around visiting family and such. We've been researching and debating ad nauseum for the past year or so, but we've settled on a Ford F150 SuperCrew as the vehicle for us. The new models have the option of a twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 that pushes mileage in those big trucks north of 21MPG. We don't want a minivan in any way shape or form, so the alternatives are an SUV or a truck, and (shockingly!) the EcoBoost F150 gets the best mileage out of the group of contenders. Plus, trucks are just cool vehicles. Cool + less harm to the earth is a great situation (reference minivan hatred above).

So this past weekend we ventured out to the local Ford dealership to try them on for size. We found one that had all of the stuff we wanted but didn't have the EcoBoost engine. Reluctantly, we passed on it and we're still on the hunt. But all of that is just premise construction for the actual content of this post (rant).

Lindsey's primary concern with getting a truck centers on her ability to maneuver in parking lots. As a result, a backup camera of some flavor is a requirement and as luck would have it the F150 has a decent rear view camera option. They come in two flavors: In the dash when you have the large navigation screen or as a small video window in the rear view mirror if you don't. Since I'm not about to spend $2-3k on an instantly obsolete in-dash navigation system, the rear view mirror option is the one for us.

The Ford system has the standard assist graphics overlayed onto the video from the camera. These lines show you where you're going and what you're going to hit and are great for hitching a trailer for towing. When I first tried it out in the truck this weekend there were no assist lines on the screen. I asked the salesman about it and he claimed it wasn't available on the smaller screen in the rear view mirror.

That just didn't seem right at all. Why would they make the distinction on such a helpful feature?

It took me all of 10 seconds to fiddle with the menus in the dash to turn it on which was met with an astonished "Wow, I didn't know you could do that!" from the back seat.

To be fair, the F150 has a lot of options and configurations. But seriously, if you're a Ford salesman there are two products you should know everything about: The Mustang and the F150. There is no excuse. This guy was a commercial salesman too, so he sells tons of these trucks!

Why on earth is it acceptable for product knowledge to be such a rare commodity in a salesman? They seem to train endlessly on methods of annoyance and the intricacies of prying money from their customer's hands. Talking intelligently about a compelling product feature is a good way to pry money from my hands!

We had a lot of fun at the 2011 Jalopy Showdown! Jake and Mary had a blast hanging out together and we got to see quite a few cool rods. The show was a bit smaller this year; perhaps the fear of apocalypse or the excess of mud contributed to the low turnout. 

I want to be sure to post this before I forget about it. This summer we took a plane ride to Dallas to visit my Grandparents and I was sitting next to Jake for the flight. He was seated in his carseat next to the window and looking out at all the stuff on the runway before we took off. He looked over at me and said:

"Daddy, this is a spaceship!"

There was a 7 or 8 year old kid in front of him that heard him. This kid turned to his mom and said:

"Mommy...this isn't a spaceship...this is an airplane."

Jake furrowed his brow a bit (as much as a 2 year old can) and said:

"No daddy, this is a spaceship and we are SPACE MARINES!"

I couldn't be more proud and shed a tear that day as if he had passed his first test.

"You're right, Jake. We ARE space marines!"

Here's a video Lindsey cooked up with some clips from this summer. Enjoy!

Ok, our summer travels have come to an end and I'm ready to post our first sandwich recipe. This one comes from Tyler's Ultimate on Food Network. It's called the Ultimate Steak Sandwich and it is a definite keeper. The cheese sauce sounds complex (what in the world is a bechamel?) but it's actually very easy and the leftover sauce makes a great mac and cheese. We heated it up the next day and added it to some penne pasta, topped it with some more cheese and baked it. Anyway, here's the link to the recipe. Try it out yourselves or request it next time you're visiting us - you won't regret it!

Ultimate Steak Sandwich

The song for this post is from the Black Snake Moan soundtrack and features Samuel L. Jackson playing a classic blues track. It's colorful - you've been warned.

I'm not going to try to excuse it. My blogging father responsibilities have been completely ignored. The good news is that I found a new hosting company for this little blog so everything should be a bit faster. I'm going to try to bring back the music player at the bottom of each post so watch for that. Today's treat is a little Schwarzenegger-themed brutal thrash. I also took some time to change to a different theme - hope you like it!

Lindsey and I kicked around an idea tonight of making one kickass sandwich each week and posting the recipe and review for everyone to see. We may wait a few weeks until our summer travel calms down but I hope it works out. If you gotta eat something there is nothing quite like a good sandwich.

Happy mom's day to all the mom's out there. Here's a quick video of Jake having fun with his new mobility skills.

Lindsey and I decided to give Jake some rice cereal the other day because he showed signs of being ready for solid food. Like we expected, he's a great eater!

Here's an impromptu video Lindsey shot tonight of Jake going crazy and trying to eat my brain.

This weekend the Fox family went down to Richmond to visit Granddaddy and Grandma Thompson on Saturday and some old friends from high school on Sunday. One of those friends from high school is expecting a baby in a few months and we got together for a little baby party. All around a great weekend. Once we got back and Jake got out of his car seat he was ready to play and his Mama was quick with the camera. We were able to get some good video of a laughing, happy boy and we thought we'd share it with the rest of the family. We hope everyone is doing well!