New Van

Okay, so maybe some people wouldn't be as excited about this, but we definitely are.  Our 2000 Dodge Caravan was starting to go the way of the Dodo - the transmission was starting to have problems, mileage was getting high, etc... - so we've been in the market for something newer.  Amanda did a ton of research on car reliability/safety/etc...and we've gone test driving a little bit.  On Saturday, we were taking the kids out to do some test driving to see how different vans would work with the car seats and stuff.  Well, the van didn't start (not the best way to start out your trip to go test driving).  It turns out it was just the battery, so we got it jumped and started driving around to different dealerships.  We ended up at a dealership that had a beautiful Honda Odyssey with all the trimmings...but it was well out of our price range, so we test drove a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, loved it, and bought it.  We got a good deal and a decent trade-in on our old van.  It's nice to go from a regular Caravan to a Grand Caravan - there is definitely more room.  It has bucket seats in the middle instead of a bench seat.  And most importantly, it has a CD player instead of the antiquated tape deck that our old van had.  Oh, and it has lower mileage, better condition, more reliable, we can actually feel semi-comfortable taking it across Nevada, etc...