Swagger Wagon

Well, we did it...or should I say, Jeff's dream came true. We are officially, completely, dorky. We bought a minivan! I can hardly even say it, or type it, or believe it. The first brand new car that I have owned is a Toyota Sienna.

Jeff was off work on Friday and suggested we just go "check out" and "possibly test drive" a mini van or two. After looking at them online and harassing me with emails that had links to minivans he found on CarSoup for the past year+, he was actually driving us into the lot of a dealership filled with minivans. Driving up and down the rows of them had me taking several deep breaths and shaking my head...

Me: Seriously? Seriously?!?! I'm not even 30!

Jeff: So! We have two kids and we need to the space.

Me: Exactly! We only have 2 kids and 2 kids fit perfectly in a car.

Jeff: I can hardly pack up the Jeep for weekends out of town anymore. A van would make it so much easier. Plus, you'd be able to get to the back seats more easily if the girls need you. And, when your parents are in town, we won't have to drive 2 cars everywhere!

Jeff had a whole list of reasons why buying a minivan was the best idea ever. All I had against it was the uncool factor and a sick feeling in my stomach.

Well, before long, we were talking to a super nice car salesman who just happened to live blocks from us. He was sympathetic to my feelings about the "van stigma" but quickly added another reason to get a van...

Car salesman: Jeff could drive around you and 6 friends for a night on the town! That would be a great way to break it in and make sure your friends saw how cool your new van was!

Me: Oh my gosh.

About 30 minutes into our visit to "check out" vans, we were strapping Olivia's car seat base into one to take it for a test drive. Of course the drive was smooth and the acceleration was great and the visibility was good and the back up camera was helpful and the XM radio was pumping... But I still felt kinda sick. We pulled over so I could take it for a test drive. My first feeling was that I felt really small behind the wheel of an 8 passenger mini van. But, I had to admit, it didn't feel SO bad. It actually felt good. And the new car smell was brainwashing me...

Once back at the dealership, we were pretty sure that we were going to be minivan owners before the weekend was over. There was a crazy lease deal through Toyota for the month of July that, with the Jeep as a trade in, meant payments of only $150 / month for 3 years with a fixed amount for buy out at the end of the 3 years.

This is, clearly, where I got excited. What a steal!! Only $150 / month for a brand, spanking new mini van with space for my whole family of 4 and another whole family of 4. All the sudden, I was kind of excited - it was a fab deal. We made plans to come back the next day when the dealership opened, hand over our beloved "cool" vehicle - the Jeep, and drive out of there in a 2011 Toyota Sienna LE with 9 miles on it.

We got home and I took the Jeep for one more joy ride to the pool with Emilia. I felt cool driving for the last time... I even saw our car salesman out mowing his yard and gave a honk and a wave! Ha! I told Emilia this was our last ride in the Jeep. I said the Jeep was going to belong to someone else and we were going to have a new van. She was a little sad to learn that we were going to have to give away the Jeep...then again, it's hard for a 3 year old to give up anything that "belongs" to them. Well, I was sad too...which is why I took a bunch of pictures of the Jeep before we said farewell.

Buh-bye Jeep!

I knew that the van was going to be a great thing for our family. With all of the out of town trips we make, I wouldn't have to "pack light" or pack 4 peoples clothes into 1 suitcase anymore! Woo hoo!

A week or so after the Sienna had made it's home in our garage (which I can barely pull it into as I fear knocking off the side mirrors), Jeff introduced me to this catchy little music video made by the creative marketing peeps over at Toyota, probably in an effort to make the minivan seem COOL to skeptics like me. Well, it worked. I love the video and the song...we actually have the MP3 so we can play it while we're "riding down the streets in our Swagger Wagon..." Emilia may be the #1 fan of the song. She sings "Where my kids at" while pushing her babies around in their buggy and went so far as to request this song be sung to her at bedtime. And you know what, I sang it to her in my "bedtime song" voice. Ha ha ha. Yeah, we're cool like that!