That's Right. I Got a Mommy Van.

With plans to bring home a third baby in a few months, it was time to get over my mommy van stigma and say good-bye to my beloved 4Runner.  After borrowing my mom-in-law's 2010 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited, with its soft leather interior, smooth wooden steering wheel, comfy bootie warmer and life-saving navigation system, I learned that this mommy van business could be quite... nice!

Unfortunately, I got used to driving the Lexus of minivans and after weeks of Craigslisting for a 2004 or later version of this van, as my mom puts it, I developed champagne taste on a beer budget.  While realizing that we couldn't get what we wanted at the price we were hoping, Colby started looking at other options and came across a listing for an old Toyota Previa like this one (except it had 22" Lexus rims??).  We had a good laugh as he went on about how awesome it was and asked me if I ever had a car that I felt uninhibited to beat the crap out of.  I had to remind him that it would be our family car and I wouldn't get to enjoy the... luxury... of hitting random objects as I felt the impulse.  The joke became less and less funny to me as I sensed him becoming more and more serious about the Toyota Previa option.  Previa... isn't that a pregnancy condition where the placenta blocks the birth canal??  I started to get a real sense of my own vanity as I envisioned how mortified I'd be to drive a bubble van, even if for only a year or so, until we could afford what I really wanted.  He tried to sway me with Dave Ramsey references, reminding me that this would truly be "living like no one else", but I didn't want to talk about it anymore.

By the following morning, I was almost completely over it.  I told Colby that if this was what he thought we should do, then I would go with it.  Of course I had a condition... I would need a Dave Ramsey bumper sticker or two as an explanation for why I was caught driving this thing...

But Colby said never mind.  He had changed his mind.  I give up.

That was when this van sort of fell into our laps.  Friends of the family offered this '99 Nissan Quest to us for only $3,350.  We couldn't pass it up and drove it away after seeing it for the first time.  We decided that, instead of spending $14k and settling, we would stick with this for a year or so and continue saving for my Lexus of minivans.  

This is the pretty side.  The other side has dents and, well, a bit of a hole in the bumper from the teenage daughters' driving lessons.  It's sort of like Two Face from Batman.  The inside is immaculate though.  Leather interior, clean as can be, with no evidence of raising kids in it, not to mention meticulous maintenance records.  The best part?  Being fully loaded, according to 1999's standards, it came with a removable console with a VCR... that's right, a VCR!  The console is about 1.5' x 10" x 1.5', while the color screen is a mere 5 inches, lol!  The kids think it's awesome...  and we think so too, in a nostalgic kind of way.  :)