New car!

After months of research, followed by 2 solid months of Dave haggling every dealership around to whittle of every dollar possible, we finally got our new family car.

It was really hard to give up my Xterra. As we drove away, even now as I see it in the dealership lot when I pass by....it still feels like MINE. I loved that car completely and never wanted for anything more. It was the first car I went out and got on my own, and worked my butt off to pay for. It took us on all kinds of trips to IL and NC to see family. It was my car in college. It was my car as I was single. It was my car as I was engaged. It was my car as I was married. We brought Ryan home in that car...I still remember the incredibly inappropriate song that was playing on the radio when we pulled away from the hospital. I remember driving that car around with a 6 week old Grimm in my lap, with his head hanging out the window. It never ever failed me. I had it for 8 years.

With our growing family, we just needed more room. We take our dogs with us a lot of places, and 2 adults, 2 dogs, a stroller and a carseat would just barely fit in the Xterra if we maneuvered everything just right. There is no way another carseat would fit. And any time we had company, we always had to take 2 cars because 2 people would not fit in the back with the carseat. I know that in reality, we could have made it work just fine...plenty if people get by with much less. But with 2 kids under 2 years old, a certain level of comfort and convenience comes into play. And we have been scrimping and saving to put away a large down payment for the past year because we saw this coming. So, as much as we are against having debts, we were able to pay for about half of the car and finance the other half, which we hope to pay on for no more than 2 years.

It is a really nice car and fits our family's individual needs as perfectly as any car out there possibly can. We had the car custom built for us to make sure it was exactly what we wanted, since this is going to be our family car until...well, until it doesn't run anymore probably!

We named it "The Ni-Night Rider" since it is black on black and will see many a nap ;)

We wanted All Wheel Drive, since we hope to move somewhere with actual seasons someday, and the AWD will come in handy in the winter.

Dave really was sold on the captains chairs in the middle row - 2 buckets seats rather than a full across bench seat - they will be good for the kids to have their own space, and it makes moving around in the back a LOT easier.

I was set on having 2 sunroofs - a regular one in the front seat and a moonroof that doesn't actually open in the back seat - because I would have DIED to have my sunroof to look out of when I was a kid, so I wanted that for my kids.

The back hatch opens with the push of a button - something we thought was really unnecessary at first, but after grocery shopping with a squirming toddler...it is nice...really really nice to have.

There is a 3rd row seat, so that when we have visitors we can all ride together. And there is still enough room for a stroller in the cargo area when the 3rd row is in use. Or the seat can fold down completely so that the dogs can ride with us with no hassles.

The 2nd row of seats move in a lot of different positions to accommodate a range of situations that may arise.

I can use my phone through the speakers, and there is even a USB port so we can just keep the iPod plugged in at all times and play it through the radio.

It has heated seats...oh how I love heated seats.

We went with black leather interior, even though I don't favor leather, we thought it would be easiest with kids and dogs. Messes will wipe off a lot easier.

And we got this special exterior black paint color that has a little bit of shimmer or sparkle to it up close.

It has a tow package already installed for our future boat and/or jet skis ;) haha

I'm sure there is more...but those are the main things.

I am still getting accustomed to it. It rides a lot differently than my old car - its like your floating on glass rather than bouncing around in a doom-buggy! Hahaha! And its a lot bigger and wider than my Xterra. In the Xterra, I could reach everything a lot easier since it was a smaller car all around. And my old car was pretty manual - the radio buttons, the AC knobs - this car it's all different and just takes a while to get used to.

But we are enjoying our new car, even though I will always miss my old car, we are very thankful that we were able to provide our growing family with something that suits much better.