The Van

I think what Eric really wanted was a truck, but with two kids and all of their "stuff", we needed a family car. Eric already drives the "small" car to work and our lease on the Jeep was up so he came up with the idea of a minivan. It had to be the one with stow and go seating so he could fit large objects into it. I've never wanted to drive a van. Mostly because even though I'm a Mom I don't want to feel homely. Jeep to me = sporty. Van = not so much. But Eric with his persuasive ways convinced me by making some good points:

• When we have out of town guests we can all go out in one car.
  
• If (he used the word when) we have another child the other two won't be squished.
• We'd have plenty of room to tote the kids and their friends to school, sports, ect.
• We'd outgrow any other car in 5 years which is when the Jeep would have been paid off if we kept it.
• It's good for moving large objects (trips to Ikea)

With all that being said, the kids see the van more as a tent with lots of fun buttons than a car. They also don't care for the bucket seats, or at least Bianca doesn't. She says they aren't "cozy". So both of them sit in the very back with the middle seats down, which not only makes me feel like a chauffer but also brings other challenges. For one, I have to actually crawl into the back of the car to get them out of their car seats. Another example, we went through the drive through for food and I couldn't hand Bianca's kids meal to her, so I did the next best thing. That's right, I threw it back. Luckily it made it without any spills, the drink however would have to wait until we got home.
It's been a bit of a change to say the least but overall I'm happy with it. Here is a list of the pro's and cons that I've found so far:

Pros:

1. There is enough room to actually lay a child down inside the privacy of the car and change their diaper.
2. I can do the stow and go seats myself, really easy.
3. The automatic door opener on the key
4. The doors slide open so I'm not worried about hitting one of the kids in the head, or them hitting the car parked next to us with the door.
5. It's got a bigger engine than the Jeep did, so good pickup. It's really comfy to drive too.

Cons:

1. I can't get the kids out very easily.
2. The automatic buttons inside that the kids play with.
3. The inability to reach my kids if they drop something or I need to give them something.

So the pros outweigh the cons. But mostly I think it will be a much better choice for us in the near future when the kids can do/undo their seat belts by themselves.