A New Van!

Well, it's not brand new, but it's new to us! I was so excited to get rid of what we had started to call the "buckboard" because the shocks were basically gone and every movement caused it to squeak like we were in the wild west. I had people jerking their heads every time I drove by because they were trying to figure out what the sound was. We even had someone in Wash DC yell to us to oil those shocks.

So we were basically down to a decision. Pay a lot in repairs (it was a 1999 minivan) to get it to pass inspection or bite the bullet and buy a new van. Four years without a car payment made us wait to the last possible moment.

That moment was yesterday. We had gotten the name of a used car dealership that many people were happy with and so we decided to take a look. They didn't have many mini-vans, but enough. I pretty much knew what we were looking for and what our budget was. We had it down between a, '05 Grand Caravan and a '07 Town & Country. The first was priced right but the second wasn't too bad. The thing that made the deal was actually the warranty. It can transfer on the '05, but not the '07. So we ended up with a light blue '05 Grand Caravan with stow & go seats (love those!), a CD player that will work, shocks that don't squeak, air vents into the back seats (Ben loves those) and the best one of all - a DVD player for the kids. They weren't too happy when I reminded them that it would only be used for trips of more than an hour one way - unless of course it was for school :) So now I can take advantage of travel time to show them all those videos that will help round out their schooling. I don't think they were too happy with that, but Mommy is :)