Swagger Wagon

When we discovered Andersen was on the way we knew that a vehicle upgrade would be somewhere in the not-too-distant future.  While both of our vehicles still run great (despite their age of 10 years), neither is ideal for carting around three kids.  The Honda doesn’t fit three car seats in the back and the truck leaves no room for anything else inside the cab (like a stroller), not to mention the constant bickering having the oldest two right next to each other.  “Mommy, April’s foot is in my car seat!”  “No Abe!  No thank you!!”  Sigh.

Last year’s medical bills prevented getting a “new” vehicle before Andersen’s arrival, and then we wanted to wait until he was born to ensure there weren’t any medical surprises… like a trip to the NICU at two weeks old.  I’m very thankful that little hospital stay didn’t axe entirely getting a mini van this year, like I thought it would at the time.

On Easter Sunday I got an email from a friend in our small group that one of their neighbors was moving to India next week and needed to sell their 2007 Toyota Sienna, the very make and model van we had been wanting.  It was very low mileage and the price was right, so I emailed them right away.  On Monday we looked at it and drove it.  On Wednesday we had a mechanic check it out, and on Thursday morning we closed the deal and bought it!

We have now had it just over a week and I LOVE IT!!  It’s so nice to have with the kids.  Look how far apart they are!!  Isn’t it fabulous?!  Abe loves being in the third row and can now buckle himself in all on his own (in the truck the seats were too close).  April is excited to have her own window, which I never knew bothered her.  [Aside: She wants to have her window open all the time, but that is now banned until she's a little older.  On our way back from church on Sunday we had her window open; I turned around just in time to stop her from tossing her shoe out.  Oh, so THAT'S how those random shoes end up on the side of the road!]  Andersen, well, he doesn’t like the van anymore than the car or truck and mostly just screams anytime we go anywhere.

It also has some upgrades that are nice and I’m not sure we would have paid for if we had bought it new.  Like leather seats and both sliding doors are automatic power doors.  The only thing I don’t like is that it doesn’t ding if you leave the lights on and I wish the back hatch was automatic as well.  But I love having the radio controls on the steering wheel and many other luxuries that I had no idea I was missing out on.

We’re very excited about our Swagger Wagon – we feel that we got a great van at a great price!  Now we just need to sell the truck…