The journey towards the mini-van

So, we used to be those people who were "never getting a mini-van". Then we had our first child... Roughly 3 months later, we were setting up our extended warranty at the Chrysler dealer.

Basically the cool factor was out when we had our first anyway. I mean, who feels "cool" on no sleep, no shower, and clothes full of spit up (and a charming assortment of other bodily fluids). Also, you quickly realize how difficult it is to jam any respectable car seat into the back-seat of a sedan. We started out "just looking". We had all kinds of criterion about what we would even look at. At least the color could be nice, it should be fully loaded, and we would have to get one that doesn't look too much like it could be used to take a first grade class on their field trip.

Well, we soon realized why all of suburban parenthood breaks down and gets one of these suckers - it becomes your second family room. You're gonna spend a lot of time in your vehicle over the next several years. You need that DVD player, you need those power sliding doors.. but most of all you need to be able to walk back there picking up Cheddar Bunnies from the floor and saying, eye to eye, "quit hitting your brother!".

All kidding aside, I don't know how we'd live without our mini-van. I mean, we fit three HUGE car seats in that puppy, and still have a little extra space. Ours will probably stick around until it becomes a "cool factor" problem for the kids.