A Ride of My Own

Ahhhhhhhhhh........ In case you're wondering, that's the sound of the whole family. I've been remiss in blogging about a MAJOR event in the life of our family. We finally! got the loan and bought a car. We bought a Kia Carnival (called Sedona in the US) minivan. Many of El 3atal's friends were skeptical about it (okay in the past it hasn't been the prettiest of cars). We, however, were convinced. I will admit that part of the reason we were convinced is that there are NO Toyota Siennas or Honda Odysseys. So, our selection was... well... the Kia Carnival. So, since the purchase was made, we have been extremely pleased. In fact, we're finding things about the car that we like more than our old Sienna. Shall I list them?

1. The three seats in the second row, all of which fold and raise. This lets us have our entire family, HelperBean and GrandmaBean in the car at once.
2. The console between the front seats with cup holders and stuff folds. Easily.
3. Both the front seats have height adjustable armrests.
4. 4 seats with LATCH attachments.

So, I am very impressed. While the fit and finish (faux wood is VERY faux looking) is not as nice, overall the car is a gem and was a super great purchase. For those of you who wonder why we didn't check out the copious other vans in town, we did. Unfortunately, they all had the same problems that our rental car did. All three rows were cramped, none of them had LATCH (instant car seat attachments, for those who aren't familiar with them). Also, none of them had any trunk space. Seriously. We would have had to continue carrying groceries IN the kids' seats. Not a happy plan. So, now we're all happy again, even if ButterBean is disappointed that his car doesn't have TV!

Fahrvignugen (Pleasure driving)!