So Long to a Good Friend...

So, I hinted the other day that we were going to shop for a new minivan. We found one. But first, a little backstory...

We bought our 2001 Chevy Venture in January of 2002. Pregnant with our third child due in June, I declared that it was too hard to get my 1 and just turned 3 yo in and out of our Saturn SL. Besides, three car seats would never fit across the back seat!

I loved that van. It was so nice with a power door and all that room. I'd never driven anything so big and when I bought my Saturn after signing my first teaching contract my friends made fun of me for buying a four door. Said I'd never find a guy if I was driving around a family car. Let me just say that if I'd have known I was going to be driving that Saturn with 2 kids with a third on the way, I'd have bought the minivan as a single woman!!

So here's our 2001 Silver Chevy Venture- slick new snow tires with wheel covers, a remote starter, and aftermarket Sony stereo that will play our Rhapsody loaded mp3 players. Half power door (you can close it remotely but not open it any longer). Leaky head gasket. We've been faithful to service her every 3000 miles. Fixed everything including a bad back wiper motor. Exponentially growing NY rust on the side panels. You've been good to us trusty friend. But...it's time.

We bought it on December 23rd- our anniversary! Today we picked it up- washed, warmed up, filled with gas and yes...we took time for a picture. I have a picture next to every car I've ever bought. You've gotta do it. It only happens once every 10 to 15 years. Prayerfully, this will be the vehicle J4 learns to drive on!

Side by side- the old and the new and in case you are wondering I've never personally owned anything but a gray/silver or a white car. My first car was gray. My Saturn was white. The Venture was silver (a hot request at the time) and introducing The Odyssey- a light silver pearl. It's different enough and since used car buyers can't always be choosy, there it is!

It's a 2008 Honda Odyssey EX with 17,700 some miles on it. A dream.

It just needs a MOPS magnet.

I can hardly believe it! Here are some fun features:

• dual power doors- and they both function properly!
• heated driver's side mirror
• the middle windows open like the normal front ones do- very cool for getting air to the back.
  
• lots of pockets everywhere to store things
• very cool sliding middle seats to let people into the back of the van
• the seats in the back self store into the floor for extra cargo space
• the spare tire is inside the van not under it
• a cup holder console between the two front seats that can fold away and there's storage underneath it
• an 8th seat!
  
• captain's chairs in the second row
• aux input for our mp3 players
• amazing front console with a really BRIGHT display

Ok so it.is.amazing.

Rejoice with us! We are so thankful to find something we could get that is as new as possible.

Now...we are preparing to take our trip to Maryland in our Odyssey!

Merry Christmas!!