Mini-Van Love...

I may become a blogging celebrity yet. First there was the quote on Parenting's blog page about homeschooling Now I've been quoted on Daddy Daze about mini-van love. Now, if only I could get someone to pay me for all my hard work...you know, typing, trying to be occasionally witty, reading blogs (oh the torture), telling people about the exploits of my band of rapscallions (isn't that a great word? And I should so totally get a check for using it in a sentence), and generally griping to the rest of the blogging world.



At any rate, the discussion of Minivans that began with the boys over at Daddy Daze, has inspired me to write about my beast...and maybe even host a short, prizeless contest.



When we moved to the country 4 years ago, I was sporting around in my little silver plum 1998 Saturn SW2 wagon. Husband and I bought her (Sadie) after he ran my pride and joy into a tree 9 days after our wedding. In Husband's defence, we were on the way to church, there was ice, I do not drive in it & made him take over, he hit a patch of ice, the car spun & the rest is history. I loved the dearly departed car. Her name was Carol Ann (after the Poltergeist girl) and she was a white '92 Plymouth Sundance 4-door hatchback. My first real car...because you can't really count the '77 Ford Laundau LTD that only ran for a month.



Shortly before we settled in the boondocks, Sadie began having issues. Turns out she needed a tune up, but it made Husband & me a little nervous. She was paid for & we didn't want a new car payment on top of a new house payment. So we waited.



After #1 Son was born, we realized Sadie was not exactly as family friendly as we thought. I wanted her specifically for the car seats I planned on strapping in her back seat. With 2 back there, it became clear that a larger mode of transportation would be needed if our family was to expand. As it stood anyone over 98 lbs could not ride in the car with us; they simply wouldn't fit between the car seats. I began my campaign for a minivan.



In my dreams I saw a red (it was cooler), brand new, Chevy Venture with fold and go seats, a 6 CD changer, a flip down DVD player, dual automatic sliding doors, captains chairs, leather seats, lots of storage cubbies, and possibly ghost flames painted down the sides (OK, so I knew the flames were a tad much, but I was dreaming after all). Finally Husband saw the same need I saw...at least in the size department.



We headed off to the dealership with a 2 1/2 year old BabyGirl & 9 month old #1 Son in tow. Before the day was over, we had looked at a few, driven one, hunted down specifics, cleaned BabyGirl vomit from the floor of the salesman's office, filled out enough paperwork to sell a kidney, used Daddy's GM employee discount, and came home with the promise of a new Chevy Astro in Dark Red (at least I got close on the color if nothing else). The Astro was bigger than the Venture (so technically not mini but midsized), sat higher than the Venture (a good thing when you live 1/2 a mile down a gravel road), sat one more than the Venture, and was much cheaper than the Venture (wonderful for a single income family). We picked it up a few days later & said good bye to Sadie.



When we drove it to church on Sunday everyone was surprised that we had picked out something so big. Husband joked that we only needed to work on filling it up with car seats. Little did we know that I was already pregnant with B.B. In fact, we didn't know it until we'd had the van a full month...and he'd been there since well before we went shopping to begin with.



I didn't get my DVD player. I can only put in one CD at a time. The seats do not fold and go. There are no ghost flames. But all four car seats will fit and no one can touch anyone else. That is a fantastic plus. She doesn't get great gas mileage, but we don't go very far very often. She is not little, so I am never worried about what Bubba refers to as, "Those psychotic soccer moms talking on their cell phones and driving like Cruella De'Ville" (no offense if you are one). I can change a diaper in the floor between the front seats & carry a little potty chair in the back. There are a few storage bins & enough cup holders to get us by. And if I ever get a portable DVD player, there are enough plug-ins to more than accommodate. In all, she's a good friend. A nameless friend, but a good one.



This is where the contest comes in: Name my mini-van...please. I have thus far been uninspired. As she is now 3 years old, I thing it's time to name the poor beast. I need your input on this one. I promise to give whomever picks the best name for her total bragging rights (not much, but it's all I got). Maybe I'll make a banner you can post on your blog saying, "I named Farm Wife's Minivan." But then I'd have to figure out how to do that. Perhaps we'll stick with bragging rights.




The photo is from the day of my wreck last summer (when I was hit by another woman in a minivan). The damage doesn't look bad in this photo, especially if you don't blow it up.