There's a sentence I never, ever thought I would write! So when we heard the news we were expecting twins, one of the first things that went through my mind after holy crap, and how can I afford two more kids was, we need a bigger vehicle!
Many may know that Justin and I have been anti-mini van our entire lives. In fact, I'm sure it was discussed early on in our courtship, and luckily we both had the same opinion regarding these "soccer mom" vehicles. Needless to say, we were going to have two more added to our family and needed a way to transport our three kiddos.
We initially started looking at the Chevrolet Traverse, a crossover SUV. We both liked the look of it and the inside was spacious with an option of captain seats for the second row or a bench seat. We knew we would likely need to use the captain seats for the twins, meaning AJ would be in the third row. This left very little room in the "trunk" (is it still called a trunk in a mini van?). Anyway, shortly after checking out the Chevy Traverse, I was placed on bed rest, which made car shopping a lot more challenging.
So we decided to poll family and friends about their likes and dislikes of their SUVs vs mini vans. Both vehicles had their pros and cons that we had to sort out. Since I had a lot of free time on my hands, I did my research and we decided a mini van was the way to go.
We narrowed our options down quickly to the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey. Their specs were pretty similar as were their prices. We loved the sporty look of the new Odyssey so that swayed us. Justin test drove one on a Saturday, bringing it home so I could at least sit in it and check it out. I've never made a decision so quickly before, but realized I didn't have a lot of time to shop around :). We decided to go with it, but the most important thing was picking out the color. Screw bedrest, I'm going to the dealership myself to pick out the exterior and interior colors! I spent way too much time on my feet that day, but finally decided on a perfect combination. Of course, we had to have leather-can you imagine cleaning up after two toddlers? I love how easy leather is to clean and the look of it. By August, our garage occupied our new minivan (which we didn't drive until it was time to bring the babies home), and Justin's truck got demoted to outside.
We've never regretted buying our family truckster and two brother-in-laws/sister-in-laws have purchased mini vans since us :), so others must have thought it was a good idea too. I love never worrying if we are going to have enough room for everything. In fact, we often over pack, but even when we do that, there is still room. It has survived two road trips to CO, with another in the plans for this month. All kids can actually climb into the van by themselves and love to play in there. Some times, we take out the middle console and let them hang out in the van (with their shoes off, of course). They love it. I never know what's going to be on when I actually turn the van on, (rear wiper, front windshield wiper, bright lights, hazard lights...) One rainy weekend day, we took the second and third rows out and they had a hay day. This was also a great opportunity to do some deep cleaning! I'm sure my vacuum sucked up at least half a box of Cheerios during the last deep cleaning.
So yes, there are many, many reasons why we are the proud owners of our mini van. Just don't go calling us soccer mom/dad!
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