5.03.2012

vanaticism: fulfilled

so after MUCH deliberation and a few weekends devoted to due diligence, we bought the van that we had been drooling over.

we've had it for a few months now and are utterly smitten with the big blue whale.

and just in case you've never seen a minivan, here is what ours looks like:

obviously we strapped a georgia tech plate on our ride ASAP. rep them yellow jackets.


oh the spaciousness! those are 2 by 14' planks!!


they are so far away from us. its awesome.


she's better at reverse than me, so i let her back down the driveway.


sometimes i get cocky about the automatic sliding doors and will try to remote-open my driver's door even when the kids arent with me.


even when the 3rd row is up, there is a shocking amount of space in the way back.


of course they only want to sit back there. and extricating them from there when they are being stubborn is not the easiest...despite the ample room.

a few things we are experiencing: the DVD player is awesome. but how do you keep from getting the kids hooked on it? i do NOT want it playing every time we run to the store or to school, but i also dont want bleeding eardrums caused by their meltdowns when i know a movie would instantly occupy, calm and quiet them. a few friends recommended the 30 minutes+ trip rule, and it makes perfect sense, but i have sometimes broken this rule in the name of sanity. i dont WANT screen-monkeys who are addicted to media. help!

it's amazing how recalcitrant i was about a minivan all these years. when i would drive and pass by minivan-ensconced women, i would pity them at best, or think they were sissy faces at worst. they held ZERO cool points on my internal scale on judgement.

now, it's hilarious. there is not a single TRACE of van-shame. far from it. i literally feel like a mother flipping badass in my van. i'm passing hoes in crossovers and sedans, just shaking my head at those poor cramped fools. i'm rolling dirty with my 3rd row, spacious legroom and 16 cupholders. "look at me, world! my stress-induced cankers from lack of storage are gone and my old spice hasnt even activated due to the efficiency of my air conditioning!"

sensibility is the new big pimpin'. all aboard.

16 comments:

  1. you feel like a mother flippin badass because you ARE a mother flipping badass.

    duh.

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  2. You and Jesse should make a parody of this: http://youtu.be/ql-N3F1FhW4.

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    1. i LOVE these jokers and this ad series.

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    2. Somehow I missed your embedded link the first time. Either way, you and Jesse could definitely pull that off. Just let him do most of the singing. :)

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    3. you didnt miss it! you inspired it by reminding me how awesome and apropos it was for this post. totally worth an embed

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  3. I can't believe you let your baby back that thing up....her hands are not even firmly at the ten and two o'clock positions. This new generation has no respect for the rules of the road :)
    As far as the DVD thing, we do movies for longer trips (more than 30 min). For shorter trips, I sometimes pop in a DVD I made that has a photo slideshow of the peeps we love that I set to music. They enjoy seeing pictures of themselves and our family and friends, and the music is much more bearable. Think Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Michael Franti, as opposed to Elmo and children's choirs. After 8 years, my mama ears need a break.
    Enjoy your swagger wagon!

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    Replies
    1. OMG shannon...you win! brilliance and heartstrings and awesome smart.

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    2. That is the best idea!!! Love it! We usually save the DVD player for long trips too, but this is idea would be fantastic for a day with lots of errands or when you just can't take the kid music any longer!

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    3. We don't have a dvd player or a minivan (but we do have a kid), but I love this idea so much I'm going to red-flag it in my brain to come back to in five years.

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  4. I'm so glad you're in the tribe! I love my van more than any other earthly possession, and you'll have to pry its steering wheel from my cold dead hands when it goes belly-up.

    I can't give you great advice about the movie issue, as our DVD player is portable and therefore doesn't even enter the equation unless we're on a long trip. The kids forget about it inbetween times. Score one for the older Town and Countries! Around town, they're acclimated to NPR. Like the good little moderates we hope they become.

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  5. Minivan, here I come. I always said I wouldn't but we have no choice now... my kids think it's gonna be the greatest thing ever. I'm hoping I feel the same way ;)

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  6. We tried to win that mega millions jack pot a few weeks ago, and I told matt we could donate the whole thing, except for the cost of a minivan because I am dying to have one.

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  7. Ohhh I'm so jealous. I also said I'd NEVER, ever, do the minivan thing, and now every time I try to cram a double stroller in the back of my Honda Fit, I curse a little at the old me who understood nothing about life. I'm constantly trying to figure out how to make it work in our budget, but I think a pregnancy will be the only thing that forces us to do it, and then only out of necessity (we own 2 cars that don't come even close to holding 3 carseats....) And right now, if I have to choose between pregnancy and cramming in a tight space, I choose clown car.

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  8. Saying no is hardest the first several times. They eventually figure out fussing isn't going to get them what they want. We finally broke the DVD in car habit last winter. I had to change my participation from spacing out to having elaborate conversations with my four year old. Not as relaxing, but SO much more important.

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  9. SWAGGER WAGON. i still love it as much as i did three years ago.

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