Facebook and mini vans, oh my!

Lucas and I hopped in the car Friday afternoon for a quick overnight visit with my parents. He's the only grandchild and my mom needs her fix every few weeks (though I truly suspect it will be the same with the 2nd and 5th and 15th grandchild, too). Sometimes I'm so productive back in my hometown. There are two reasons for this. First, things are so much closer--nothing is really more than a 15 minute drive through no traffic. Second, I have built-in babysitters. I always wish I could just run to the grocery store or post office while Lucas is napping. Imagine how much you could get done with 1.5-2 kid-free hours each day! Yes, I try to be productive around the house while Lucas is sleeping (cleaning up, getting dinner started, blogging--well, maybe that last one isn't being productive but it is fun!) but it's those errands that take so much longer or are more of a hassle with a kid in tow.

All that's to say that Saturday afternoon my dad and I headed out to test drive a couple of mini vans while Lucas took his afternoon nap. Abel and I had been meaning to get out to do some test drives every weekend since January but it just never happened. In 2 hours, Dad and I hit two dealerships and drove two mini vans. It was great.

Then, I started some minor facebook hysteria by updating my status to read: "test driving mini vans. Anyone have one they love and want to tell me about it?" Well, of course, several people (0bviously NOT readers of this blog!) immediately commented "are you pregnant??" Beyond that, several more people said, "don't do it!" or "I hate mini van moms!"

Because I rarely get on actual facebook via computer and generally just update my own status via my phone, it was more than 24 hours before I could get on to clear the rumors and tell people that I was indeed, not pregnant. But by then my sister had posted another comment, this time saying, "If I find out that you are pregnant via facebook someone is in big trouble!" and my cousin (the original preggers commenter) wrote, "You'd better comment on this or we're going to start to think it's true!"

Too funny!

Not pregnant. But, we are indeed thinking of a mini van. First, we have seriously got to get rid of our Audi. We've been saying this for years. It was a splurge purchase when we decided that there was no way we were ever going to be able to buy a house in the DC market. Then we did buy a house. And have a baby. And as much as we both love love love love love driving the Audi, it just doesn't make sense. And, oh my gosh, we can. not. afford those fancy foreign parts and labor (Hey, do you want to buy an Audi? We'll give you a great deal!!)

So, even though right now at this moment, we have no need for a mini van, the hope is that in a year we will have two car seats and oh my gosh I never thought I'd say this but those sliding doors and that 3rd row of seating are so incredibly appealing.

We've narrowed it down to the Toyota Sienna and Hyundai Entourage. We each have our own favorite and are pushing hard for that one. And, let's note that Abel got to pick out our last two (read: only two) cars so really it is MY turn. And, I'll be the one most often driving this mini van so really, the Sienna is the obvious choice. Aren't you with me, Internets? Thx.