a parental milestone

i suppose if your family has less than three children, this milestone may not be necessary. however, we are pleased to announce we have now entered into the incredible world of minivans. practicality has officially trumped image...not that i ever thought about it that much before. we knew this day would come and we have been saving for the last year or so by way of adam doing a little moonlighting in the icu on his easier months. we found a great deal and had a lot of parental advice (and a little financial help until we can sell the subaru).
here she is: a 2006 toyota sienna (ended up being just the right combination of mileage, age, and basic model to make it affordable for us)

we will miss this good ol' girl...we are getting her cleaned up and ready to sell if you know of anyone interested in a 2000 subaru outback.

driving will be so much more pleasant...and my groceries will no longer fall out of the front seat and pax will have a proper place and we can travel more than 10 minutes without marit and graham fighting over the armrest and pinching each other and pulling hair...
before

ahhh...since i took the picture, marit got lonely back there so now both toddlers are in the back

she is sparkly now, but this will be true only too soon:

adam had today off...living it up with the kiddos