The Big Blue Compromise

I swore up and down that I would NEVER, EVER, ABSOLUTELY UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES own one of these:
Maybe it was growing up with a mini-van. Maybe it was the whole "soccer mom" stigma. Maybe it was just the overall seemingly "uncoolness" of it all. I really saw myself as more of a Volvo station wagon kind of mom. Or if I wanted a third row of seats (which I did) as an SUV kind of mom. Not a mini-van kind of mom.

But that picture above? Yeah, that's parked in my driveway. I own it.

It all started when I had an extra carseat, a pack and play, and a stroller in my car a couple of weeks ago. And then I had to go to the grocery store and forgot all of that was in my car. And there was just NO ROOM.

Then I remembered our vacation to Hilton Head last year. We had a roof rack on our faithful Caliber, but we were still crammed into that car. It was not a very comfortable drive.

Then I got to thinking about having our next kid. No, I am not pregnant, yet. But we're trying. :-)

Which got me thinking about what I would do if Cate wanted to have a friend over.

Or what if one of our friends needed us to watch their kids and take them somewhere?

Or what about how every time my family comes into town, we have to take two cars to go out to dinner...or to go anywhere.

So I started shopping around for an SUV with that third row seat. I talked to my wonderful hubby about getting one. We priced them and realized that if we wanted to get an SUV with a third row seat that was within our price range, it would be about 5 years old and have tens of thousands of miles on it.

That left us with two options: a mini-van or wait.

We obviously chose the mini-van.

And are you ready for a confession. Come closer. Really close.

I like it.

It's got a ton of room. What was a full trunk in our Caliber isn't even half a trunk in the mini-van. It has dual climate control, hooks for grocery bags, stow-n-go seats, radio controls on the back of the steering wheel, cruise control, automatic sliding doors, a little digital gauge that tells me how many miles I have left before my gas tank is empty (I'm known for pushing it), and more.

It's comfortable to drive. It's easy to get Cate in and out of the car. And did I mention that it has a ton of room?

It's so nice to have a car to accommodate what we hope will soon be a growing family. A car that we can have more than 2 other people sitting in comfortably. A car that we can use to actually haul big things (we had to borrow my in-laws truck to pick up a futon we bought a few months ago). A car that will not be packed to the gills and then some when we drive to Hilton Head this summer.

Even if it is a mini-van.

The moral of the story: "Never Say Never."

~Melody :-)

PS... Cate approves.