Newest Addition To Our Family!

Yup, we caved!

Aren’t we the stereotypical parents. Have a kid and buy a minivan!

I have had thoughts of getting a van for a few years now (even without a child) because of how practical they are. Though really, I had no reason to get one, outside of the excuse of carting youth group kids around. So when we had Mazy, my “dreams” of having a minivan came true!

Before the van, our vehicles were a 2002 Ford Explorer with over 152,000 miles and a 2000 Dodge Intrepid with 188,000. The past 3 or 4 times we have driven to Michigan, we have had some type of “more-major” repair on our Explorer. We started to realize that the trips to Michigan were maybe not a good idea with the Explorer, considering our track record. So in having Mazy now, it gave us the push we needed to get a new vehicle – something more reliable and something we can haul LOTS of things in! We knew too, that with my family’s vacation in June, that we were not going to fit everything we needed (ex. Dan’s fishing poles) in the Explorer with Mazy, so just another excuse we found .

We have always liked the idea of a Honda or Toyota, but the price tag, not so much. We had a budget and we weren’t really willing to budge. We had been keeping our eyes and minds open to other ideas, such as the Town and Country, and Dodge Caravan, but we still liked the idea of a Honda or Toyota. We knew that even if we had to get one a tad older and maybe with a few more miles, we would be okay with that b/c it would last probably just as long as a Caravan. The reviews just made us want a Honda or Toyota that much more!

Well, on Memorial Day we decided to make the trek out to Minneapolis with Mazy. Longest car ride she has been on, but boy was she a trooper! Makes me confident that we can travel to Michigan a few times this summer! We stopped at a dealership on the way in and test drove a Caravan. We liked it, except that while driving we could smell syrup. Sure enough, when we pulled back into the dealership, it was smoking and it had a good coolant leak. We decided to pass.

Onto Minneapolis! That is where we found this gem – a Honda Odyssey! It’s a 2006 with 97,000 some miles on it, but in our price range. We test drove it and I don’t think we even ever had the “should we buy it conversation”. I think we both knew and just proceeded with the buying process. When we sat down in it, it was like “ah…this is it!” It is a WHOLE lot more “van” that what we need, such as a DVD player and navigation system, but that is not what sold us. In fact we weren’t looking for that either, but it was the comfiness we needed for us tall folk, the room we needed to travel, and the reliability we needed. (It also does have a sunroof, but Dan reminded me what happened the last time we had a vehicle with a sunroof – it almost killed us! Thankfully Dan quickly shut the fabric cover after the sunroof shattered all over us with the hail that came with the tornado we went through in 2012. Needless to say, after the tornado, our vehicle was totaled. We are now prepared though, if we ever encounter a tornado again!)

We are so blessed to have to expand our vehicle size because we now have a child. Never imagined it! Now I can drive a van without having to make a ridiculous excuse. My excuse is now Mazy. What a blessing!