Minvan Date Night!!

Date nights are a bit different now that we feel like the "clock is ticking" until the twins arrive.  Weekends are different as well.  Whenever we have free time we have been trying to utilize it to it's fullest potential.  We've been cleaning out the storage space we have, cleaning out closets, selling things on Craigslist, and now looking at cars.  Yes, as the reality of our situation begins to sink in we have come to the stark realization that our beloved 2007 Hyundai Veracruz will not fit a family of 5 with a large dog!  Yes, it has an optional 3rd row and has seat belts for 7 people, BUT car seats are a different matter.  The need for 3 car seats to fit into a car puts us in a unique situation.  We have tested multiple options of configuring the 3 car seats in our car in hopes that we would find something that will work but it is just not meant to be.  If we put all three seats across the 2nd row then the driver and front seat passenger have very minimal room to comfortably scoot their seats back.  With Myke being 6'5" we need all the length we can get for his long legs.  Two rear-facing infant seats take up a lot of room!  At first we thought we could use the 3rd row for one of the seats, but with the infant car seat bases in place, there is no way to easily access the 3rd row to put Chloë in her seat.  She would have to climb through the back trunk to get to her seat!  Anyways, it's just not going to work.  So we are now at the point of beginning to research car options.  From what we've seen thus far it would have to be a rather large SUV or a minivan.  At first I was a definite NO to a minivan but now I'm slowly starting to realize that it may be our only realistic and practical option.  Our parking space won't fit a Suburban so that's out.  Other options are the Armada, Tahoe, Sequoia, and a few others.

Soooo, to get to the point of the story, our date night included a impromptu stop at the Honda dealer so we could just look at what the modern minivan is like inside.  Of course they only showed us the 2011 version with all the bells & whistles.  Who really needs a Wii hookup in their car?!!  A backup camera, voice activated navigation, etc.  And it's NOT cheap.  That one goes for $42K!  Yikes!

You can see I'm not thrilled at the idea of driving the automotive equivalent of sweatpants.

(behind me is the 2011 nearly-top-of-the-line Honda Odyssey)

Myke is a bit more open to it..

On a side note/tangent- I DO NOT believe that minivans = soccer mom status.  Let me make myself more clear: I find minivans ridiculously dorky.  However, I have NO problem with the idea of being as soccer mom.  I played soccer growing up and loved it.  I would LOVE for my kids to play soccer.  I already plan for Chloë to be the next Mia Hamm!  I'll take her and the team a ziplock of sliced oranges at each game.  I'll happily be on the sidelines cheering her on.  I have no shame with that scenario.  Driving a minivan, though...the concept itself stills leaves me struggling with an internal conflict that I'm not sure I'm ready to face.

That said, a Honda Odyssey is still in the running.  

(and by the way, we did enjoy a nice dinner together on this date night as well...)