So if you haven't seen my posts or heard me say it... We, the Sanders Family, are now the proud owners of a minivan!! It's been a long time coming for us, but it finally happened on Thursday!
I almost feel guilty because of how happy I am to be driving around in a new car. I told a couple of friends, "A minivan should not make someone this happy," but I honestly think I'm happy for more than just materialistic reasons on this one. I mean, let's be honest, it's a minivan, not a sports car, but you have to understand... a minivan has been my dream car for a while now!! Putting all my dreams aside though there are so many reasons why this car is making me so happy!!
One of the major reasons being.... AIR CONDITIONING! The AC on our old car has been flaky for more than 3 years now. When I was pregnant with Landon, (July baby) it was like torture. I would get in my car after work and get so hot I would literally take my clothes off and drive home in my underwear and under-tank. Thank goodness I never got pulled over or in a wreck! For the longest time, Matt thought it was just my pregnant hormones. His mind changed when I went into labor and he had to drive from Daytona Beach to Winnie Palmer Hospital in the heat of a hot summer day. He was so hot and sweaty by the time he got there, he took a shower in my hospital room before Landon was born. We've had it serviced, checked for leaks, and replaced the freon like 5 times since then, but by the time summer roles around again, it's back to misery on wheels. Poor Landon has really never known what it's like to have AC in the car and Chandler is an entirely different story. The poor girl has the worst allergies and exzema that I have ever seen. Having the windows down during allergy season has been terrible for her. The girl has had a cough since February and we're hoping to see a difference in her soon. Her exzema has been worse then ever too because within minutes of getting in the car she's a sticky sweaty mess. We've pretty much been confined to the house unless it's before 9am, after 6pm or raining. Day trips that were musts, like doctors visits or grocery shopping was getting rough on the kids and becoming stressful for me. Now, I know that AC is a luxury (shoot, having a car is a luxury), but it is amazing how different all of us are now that we have it. Our moods are better, we're excited to go places again, I don't get stressed out when we're out of milk, and Chandler's skin is clearing up! Landon is still getting used to actually being chilly in the car, and Matt and I both just so relieved for our family! It all sounds crazy, but I'm telling you AC in Florida makes a difference! A HUGE difference.
Another reason we're so excited is space. It's been over a year that we've pretty much been confined to the kids, a driver, and 1 passenger. The back seat with two car seats wouldn't even fit the tiniest of booties (trust me, just ask my brother's fiance, Sheena). On top of that, having a hatchback limits trunk space. With at least 1 double stroller always in the back, fitting groceries, bags, or anything else was almost impossible. The space we have now is amazing. We can fit two strollers if we had to, plenty of groceries, and 7 passengers!!
Reliability and peace of mind is something else we now have thanks to our new minivan! The transmission on the car was slipping on top of the AC being out, and really, I'm sure there were so many other crazy things wrong with that car. Every time we got in it we weren't quite sure if we were going to make it to our destination and I-4 had become a no no! We couldn't go above 55 mph anymore because of the transmission issues and who really wants to drive on the interstate with the windows down... certainly not my 2 year old who would say, "mommy, the wind is going to blow my head off." In addition, to being able to freely come and go we also have a 6 year 125,000 mile warranty which means Landon will be 9 before that bad boy expires!
What a relief for our entire family! God has provided for us in a big way. It's something we've been praying about and saving for, for a LONG time and when we did our taxes this year, we knew we had enough to make a move!! It's only been 5 and 1/2 days and let me tell you, we have been enjoying everything about our new van! We did decide not to get all the luxury upgrades because we couldn't justify paying extra for something we didn't absolutely need. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to go with them, but for our family it just wasn't worth the extra bucks. What's amazing though is my parents just told us that they'd like to put in a DVD player in for the kids since we are taking a big trip next month! Landon is VERY excited about "having a TV in his car." Ha.
All in all this has been such a great thing for our family! We couldn't be happier with our newest addition!
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