New Swagger Wagon!

Last week Nick and I had a discussion about the longevity of our white minivan. She was special, that van, and she was probably not going to live a lot longer without requiring some $$ thrown into her, which neither of us felt she was worthy of. She was quirky. The parking brake light came off and on at will, as did the oil light every other time you started the car. She had a small leak somewhere in the air conditioner which meant the carpet under the passenger seat was always wet, and when it started growing mold I decided that was enough. So we discussed a budget and I began looking online just to see what was available in the area and if what we wanted was within the budget we set.

I had a few requirements for the next vehicle.
1-It had to be a minivan. Yeah, I know, I'm the same girl who swore years ago that I would never drive a minivan. I was stupid. Having a van is fabulous. I have all the room in the world, and it's so nice when 7 people can comfortably climb in and go without anyone having to climb over or into a third row.
2-It had to have rear a/c. I know poor Kate was always so hot back there in our white van. Rear a/c is a must for Texas.
3-It had to have stow 'n go seats. Our white van required you to remove the seats if you needed to haul cargo. That's annoying, so we never did it. I wanted the kind that flipped down into the floor.
4-It had to be the extended body style. Our white van was just a standard length, and the cargo space behind the back seat was limited.  Kate was also close enough to constantly push her feet into the back of my seat which drove me bonkers.
5-No leather. Leather seats in Texas? NO THANK YOU. It's 106 as I type this. I don't want to fry the back of my legs when I get in the car.

I didn't care about color or anything else. I began searching on cars.com for used vans under $10000. I found a few, and I found one in particular that really seemed to hit all the requirements plus it was under $9k. So I figured hey, why not go look at it?

The day after I looked at the van we brought her home. I asked Kate what she wanted to name her new car (At this point I should tell you that we own two cars: Daddy's car and Kate's car. Mommy does not have a car but I am allowed to drive Kate's car.). Kate said she wanted to name it "Kate", so we're still working on a name.  It's a 2007 Chrysler Town & Country.

 It's a loooooooooooong was back there to the back. I love it. And captain's chairs! Yay. No climbing. Especially if there's ever a second car seat in the van...in a large SUV, you can't just fold down the seats to get to the back when you have two car seats. I prefer the convenience.  The only thing this van doesn't have that our previous one did and I wish it had is a built-in DVD system. It was so much more convenient than the ones you buy to add in, but you know, it's a minor detail and we already have one of the other kind.

I promptly put my new Thirty-one consultant sticker on the back...and it was crooked. Oh well. I'll survive.