I Said I'd Never Drive a Minivan

I should have never said that! The saying "never say never" clearly applies here. Today we bought a minivan. And I'm ok with it so far. 

The decision to buy a minivan was really hard for me. I've had a hatred for minivans since I was a teenager. I'm the oldest of 5 kids so my mom has driven a minivan since I can remember. First we had a marroon Chrysler minivan. You know the one. Everyone's mom had the same one. Then we had the Toyota Previa, the minivan that looked like an egg. I learned to drive in that one. I hated that one. On top of the unexplainable egg design, it was also gross as a result of my siblings (3 brothers and a sister). I mean really gross. As in pop tarts smashed beyond recognition into every seat. This may be when I first said "I'll never drive a minivan." 

I also just bought a new car less than 2 months ago. I got a brand new Nissan Murano. I have always wanted an SUV and I absolutely loved it. It was beautiful. I thought I would drive it until I handed it down to Addison when she is old enough to drive it.

I have also never had a brand new car. This one had 8 miles on it when we took it home. Today when we traded it in, it had 2,500 miles on it. We really didn't have it long at all.  

I tried to protest the minivan decision at first. I wanted a large SUV, like a Suburban or even a Tahoe. But those don't fit in my garage. We have 2 separate garage doors which looks nice but really limits our choices for vehicles. We also live at the top of a steep hill so parking in the driveway or in the street is not an option. So I tried to convince Brian that a smaller large SUV, like an Acadia or Explorer, would be perfect. I lost. He was right. (Don't tell him. Maybe he'll skip this part). We wouldn't have room for strollers or anything else behind the back seat and putting 3 babies in car seats into an SUV would be a nightmare. 

Finally I gave in and agreed to look at minivans, but only Honda or Toyota (because my dad taught me to be a car snob when it comes to quality so it must be Japanese). That was the beginning of the end for my hopes of not driving a minivan. Brian marked SUVs off the list at that point. 

But then Brian worked his magic and found the perfect minivan for us. Well, perfect except that it's still a minivan. He went back to the dealership where we had just bought my car last month and had them look for a minivan for us. They found one in Texas - a 2011 Honda Odyssey EXL with only 30,000 miles on it! They also gave us a great deal on the trade in on my almost brand new Murano so we barely took a hit on that. The new van arrived today so we spent the afternoon at the dealership buying another new car. I highly recommend Northpoint Nissan if you live in Little Rock and need a new car. They took great care of us and everyone - I mean everyone - in the place said hi to Brian by name.

I like it (maybe I love it. I'm not sure yet). It has everything. Leather seats, rear entertainment system (just for Addison for now), Bluetooth, a backup camera, heated seats, a sunroof, power everything, and even a "cool box" to keep drinks cold. I can open and close the back doors with a button too which is really awesome and will come in super handy when I'm toting around 3 babies in carseats. And there's room in the back for the triplet stroller we will need (if you've never seen one it's worth a Google because it's ridiculous). It also fits in my garage (barely). 

Finally, Addison also loves it. 

So thanks to Brian we now have a vehicle that will hold all 6 members of our growing family.  He wants to get a license plate that says "MANNVAN" but we haven't decided on that yet. I'm down I guess. I probably need to own it now that I'm a minivan mom. It will be weird driving around in a minivan with only 1 kid for the next few months. But I know it's the best vehicle for us (again don't tell Brian he was right). And I've been officially welcomed to the minivan club. I guess I'll find out if that's a cool club to be in or not later.