Okay, now that the word is out, I have to talk about our new purchase. I haven't blogged about it yet because I wanted to get used to it first so as to have an educated opinion about it before I talked about it. We had to turn in our Suburban because we had leased it for 3 years and the time was up. Before that, we had a Durango which we loved, but had gotten a little crowded with the three kids (notice the pattern of increased seating ability?). We thought maybe our next vehicle would possibly be a passenger van after I had seen Serviam's wife's van and started to covet all that space for friends and stuff that all those kids come with. Now, if you know Butch, you would know that anything with the word "van" in it was strictly forbidden to talk about. At first, I thought maybe it de-manly-ized him in some way to have a van stuck in the driveway or that somehow it was "giving up" and admitting that kids have taken over your life and you are no longer in control. Now, though, I realize that it isn't the word "van" that got his boxerbriefs in a bunch, but the word "mini" that terrified him! So anyway, when we went to the dealer he surprised me by poo-pooing the 12 passenger that was the same length as the Suburban and liked the 15 passenger so much that we bought it! Although, he wasn't completely sold on the idea of a van I think until I sat in that thing and lectured him on his skeptical view of a van in the first place (in front of the very red-faced salesman), I said, "Honey, it is SUPER manly to have a van like this! When people see you in it, they'll say 'Holy CRAP, that guy must have a LOT of kids...I know what HE'S gettin' on a regular basis!!!" I argued that it would be so nice for the kids to NOT have to crawl over seats, fight over where each one got to sit, and that it would be easier to clean if I could climb right in and get to the messes. Plus, it would be so much nicer to invite 6 of our favorite 11 kid family to come over or go places instead of having to pick and choose maybe only 2 or 3 because we wouldn't have enough room.
So, we bought it and I love it. Also, now I know Butch's secret plan to fill that thing up in quick order and populate the world with little Butch clones to drive Laura even crazier than she already is (see, I'm writing in third person about myself, now that's just wrong).
Serviam, thank your wife for me for the advice on which van to choose and pat yourself on the back for being a good daddy and getting your wife a nice, big van to fill up (a little faster than us!) to the brim with lots of little ones and making us seem like the small family that's just getting started instead of the freak family who has "all those KIDS!" heehee. Also, I know where you can get a nice, 15 passenger van when you outgrow your little, puny 12 passenger...or maybe we could make a trade for a few years just until we catch up to you guys?
Oh, and the whole "now they won't fight over which seat..." yeah, they don't fight over which
seat they get to sit in anymore...now they fight about which
ROW they get all to themselves!
(Ours is not bright red, but a nice, subtle light grey...yeah, like anything that ginormous could be "subtle"!)
