its been forever since i sat down to blog. i keep wanting to and then i dont know what to say - that or id rather watch tv;) what to share, what to share. . . a couple of months ago, we got new cars - 2 of them. Not just that though, they are 2 of the SAME car. The Nissan Leaf. They are all electric, NO GASOLINE. We recently had a pizza delivery guy here and he was driving a prius. He kept asking how many miles per gallon, or when do we need to fill up. . . it took a few comments til he got it. NO GAS! Prior to having two shiny, new cars, we had one for over a year. A 4 person family, and one car. We sold my husbands car in an effort to pay down debt with the money back in our wallets from the payment. We did well for a while, but something always seemed to come up, and we pushed that next big payment to next month and so on. . . We lucked out early last year when a friend needed someone to babysit her car for a month (!!!) that was a niiiiice month. still no car payment, but my husband could get himself to and from work. Being a one car family meant all 4 of us piling into the car to get him to work and from. Not an easy task wth 2 toddlers in tow. We were working towards a goal though, and this was part of the sacrifice we had to make. Over the summer, we borrowed another car while my sister was in Spain (lucky her, right?!) We had that car until December. My husband had been searching for cars and came across an amaaaazing deal on the Nissan Leaf. We saw an opportunity and jumped on it! Under normal circumstances, Id have never chosen two all electric cars. At least not yet. The deal was too good though, and between the value in my old car and the state rebate for leasing 2 electric vehicles, our debt has been wiped out!! New goal - KEEP IT GONE! Why wouldnt I get two? Simple - the same reason many people wont buy one!! The range on the Nissan Leaf is only 90 miles. That means, that if I charge my car battery completely, I can only go 90 miles. Then, I am stuck and need to recharge. A full recharge from a drained battery can take 20+hours. Sounds kind of scary. . . but when I really think about opur driving habits, these cars are just fine for us. A 90 mile range means we cant just pickup and drive to San Diego, or Vegas, or San Francisco at the drop of a hat. But you know, we dont anyway! If we make a trip like that, we plan it out. Yes, for now it means we will have to rent a car for a trip like that. Having an all electric car means having to plan things out, but as a parent of twins, I do that anyway:) It is definitely smaller than my Rav4. Smaller than the minivan I thought I would get. ALso, smaller than thew Honda Pilot I love. It DOES, however, carry my sons bike and scooter without issue. We would need to attach a bike rack for two adult bikes - but my rav would have needed that too! The cars are really fun and zippy to drive. Its a really comfortable ride and my boys have plenty of space in the back seat - 2 carseats included. We are still learning about where we can go. We alwayd check for charging stations around. Many areas, like Santa Monica, are installing charging stations everywhere. Most walgreens have a couple out front as well. iPhone apps like plugshare make it easy to check where we can plug in. Recently, we drove down to Long Beach, about 25 miles from home. We plugged in, for free :), in the parking lot at the Aquarium of the Pacific, enjoyed our day, and headed home. We will have these two cars for a few years. Im sure I will share more about the conveneicens and challenges of two electric cars. In the mean time, I love the push button start with customizable sounds - right now my car sounds like a bubble pop when I tirn it on;)