New Van

Stan and I (especially Stan) like to take our time in making big, expensive decisions.  Since we've been married, Stan's Jeep has been approaching the 250,000 mile mark, and what I consider, the Jeep graveyard.  We've know for years that it could "go" at any time.  We've been lucky that it has been holding on so long.

Since I knew that purchasing a new vehicle would be a big deal, I started having us look and discuss what our next vehicle would be for the past year.  After test driving many SUVs and Minivans (knowing that our family would only expand requiring a bigger vehicle), we finally found our absolute favorite, the Honda Odyssey.

Since Stan's Jeep was still hanging in there, we decided by looking and deciding now, when the right "deal" came along, we'd be ready to buy instead of having to buy at regular price when we were actually forced to replace his car.

Surprise, surprise!  That perfect deal came two weeks ago on ebay.

We bid low, not expecting to actually win.

When I saw we were the highest bidder, my heart quickened. 

Two hours later, the auction closed and we had won!

A 2009 Honda Odyssey Minivan.  

Silver,  36,000 Miles.  

In GREAT condition.

Bonus:  Built in Navigation and DVD player.

After a long and very stressful week of trying to acquire a loan for a portion of the sale price through Bank of America, I finally got smart and went back to our local bank and easily got the loan we needed.

Friday night we flew to Orlando.

My sister Sara picked us up at a very late 11:30 p.m.

She must really love us since she had to be up for work at 4:00 a.m. the next morning.

My sister Anna picked us up at our hotel the next morning.  We had breakfast at Ihop and she drove us an hour and a half South to Tampa to the Seller's house to see the Minivan.

After meeting our wonderful Seller, looking over the van, signing papers and paying for the car, we were off!  

Welcome the McBride's newest family vehicle:

 Stan and I had originally intended to spend that weekend in Branson, Missouri for our 4th Wedding Anniversary.  Since we had to fly to Florida to get the van, we spent the rest of the day in Tampa to celebrate our anniversary, while my loving sister Rebecca watched Miriam for us.

My favorite part was Clearwater Beach.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I'm still sad we didn't have time to actually go for a swim in it.

This is a guy we saw with a metal detector.  He must be pretty serious about his job.

 The drive home was so nice in our new van.  

I am enjoying it's wonderful perks like:

leather seats (I already spilled chocolate on it and it wiped right off!)

Sliding power doors (no more door dings!)

Putting Miriam in her car seat at waist level (no more bending down, ugh!)

A smooth, quiet ride.

So now we're trying to sell Stan's Jeep.  It's been good to him, but the time has come to bid adieu.  I hope Stan can handle it without too many tears.