My minivan is cooler than your minivan

When Adeleigh and all her diapers and gear moved in, we concluded that we needed more space - immediately. So we rented a storage unit. But that didn't seem to be enough. Our solution? The more obvious fix to so many concerns new parents face - Buy a minivan.

It was the last car-shopping day of the month and we went to our family's most frequented used-car dealership in town, Markley Motors. Our intention was not to buy, just to shop, mainly because Phaeton didn't have me sold on the whole mini-van phenomenon. We met with our family's most frequented used-car salesman who showed us a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country, and pursuaded us to "just take a little drive". We ended up in north Loveland before we decided we ought to come back around. The whole drive, I was talking about how we just couldn't afford this, but it was nice to dream. "Thanks for the tease, Used-Car Man." 
We got back to the dealership and Phaeton decided to just "crunch some numbers" with Used-Car Man to see what we could get it for, if we were there to buy. The decided upon amount was too high. I, again, reminded the boys of how we didn't need that van. It'd be a luxury, and would possibly make us the laughing stock of the condo complex - and then I remembered our downstairs neighbor. We call her "Cherry" because 20 hours out of every day she sits in her minivan smoking Cherry-flavored Swisher-Sweets. Okay, this minivan is waaaaay cooler than hers. Still not sold. Then Used-Car Man had to pull the Baby-Card out. He said something like, "You may not need this van, but think of it this way - you'd be getting it for her [pointing to Adeleigh]. It's bigger, safer and it's a car she can grow up with."
Well, when you put it that way -
Sold. I stuck my hand out and we shook on it.
We drove away in our new Swagger Wagon (I stole this term from a youtube video, but the Wagon it's referring to is a Toyota). Click here to watch the official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4

We love our new ride. When the trunk opens, it beeps like a dump-truck so the whole parking lot knows something awesome is about to happen. When Used-Car Man pushed the button to close the trunk, he stuck his arm in the door and said to me, "I think it has a sensor so it won't close if my arm's here. Let's see if it works." I was standing there holding Adeleigh, afraid we were about to witness the inspiration for the next Saw movie, and threw my hand over my mouth. I gasped as the door kept shutting, gap closing in. It popped back open like there was nothing to it. The boys had to console me for a moment. At least that feature works.
The only hang-up is when I push the button to close the side doors, they are so hyper-sensitive that they bounce back open at least 6 times before I finally have to get back out of the car, use my flimsy arm muscles and shut them myself. Man, I'm so spoiled. When I took the van back to the dealership for them to look at and fix the problem, neither door acted up for them, even though they tried 60 times. Or so they claimed. How convenient.
But one of the many parts we love about our mini-van are the 3 DVD screens. Yes, that's right. There are 3 of them. One is located in the console between the driver and passenger seats and doesn't work when the car is in motion, for obvious reasons. The other 2 are for each row of seats, and can play 2 different DVDs simultaneously. Unfortunately, with Adeleigh still rear-facing until she's 2, she can't view what's playing. But Phaeton can, and frequently does. Star Trek the movie has found a permanent home in our car. When we go out to run errands with Adeleigh sleeping in her carseat, Phaeton graciously volunteers to stay while I do the shopping. "Take your time," he says. And I frequently come back to find him sitting in the back, headphones on, grinning from ear to ear.

We were showing off our recent purchase to our friends, Chad & Shay, and the boys spent hours messing around with the gadgets, admiring the video game console and of course - watching Star Trek, while we girls ate our Walrus icecream. One cool feature they found - the electric blue limo lights that line the ceiling. Shay, we should've just rented you a Town & Country for your bachelorette party! Another cool feature - the main console can download photos from a USB card so you can stare at pictures of your baby while you drive. Until we figure out how to download our own photos, we'll be staring at some little blonde dude frowning on the playground.
Needless to say, I'm sold on the whole mini-van enigma. There's so much storage space (which we need) and it seats 7 (which we will need). So there's room for the 4 other children we'll be having. ((Trying to decipher Phaeton's reaction....))