Goodbye, Grand! Hello, Van!

This is The Grand. It's a 1991 Pontiac Grand Am that Eric and I bought 12 years ago in November of 1995. It was affectionately named "The Grand" by some of Eric's co-workers when they discovered that the "AM" part of "Grand AM" on the trunk had fallen off.

We've had a lot of great memories with this car, our first big vacation to Yellowstone, trips to northern Minnesota, bringing our first baby Owen home, moving here to our new home (this picture was actually taken just before Eric and Duke our pug left to move here). It's been such a good car for us, and has actually been Eric's car for the last 5 years.

I've been driving a Buick LeSabre, up until a few days ago, when we got THIS!!!

We traded in The Grand and got a 2004 Honda Odyssey. I kind of felt sorry for The Grand, picturing it being cold and lonely out there in the parking lot of the dealership, missing it. I'm sure it was an emotional time for Eric, too.

But I LOVE this van!!!!!

It is soooo much easier to get the kids in and out. Right now I have both boys in the very back seat, that way if they are fighting, I can just kind of crank the radio way up and not hear them...hahaha! Emily is in the seat right behind me. It's so nice to not have to climb into the car and over a booster seat to buckle her in. I don't even have to bend over, the seat is right at my level. Today after swimming lessons I didn't hang around for 10 minutes waiting for a dressing room to open so the boys could change into dry clothes. I just had them change in the van!

And look!

I still have my pink fuzzy steering wheel cover! I kept it in the glove box of the Le Sabre during these hot summer months. I think Eric thought I forgot all about it and was hoping to be able to just kind of throw it away when he took ownership of the Le Sabre, but I remembered and immediately put it on the van's steering wheel.



Yeah, I love my van. I'm still getting used to parking it in the garage along side the other car (makes Eric a little nervous...my dad can relate I'm sure). It's a nice van for our little family, and I'm looking forward to seeing the kids grow up in it over the years as I drive everyone to soccer, baseball, football, dance, piano...