And so marks a new era in our "family". We said goodbye to the Civic a couple of weeks ago. After a LONG, LONG life with Brad, he finally gave her up. After a routine (and long overdue) oil change, the service guy brought Brad out to the car as it was up on the "thing" and showed him the separated CV joints that are supposed to be replaced when they are just cracked. He also mentioned that the Master cylinder needed replacing because the brakes were bad and there was little power steering. All this adding up to roughly $1000 and the car only being worth $1000 on a good day, finally sent Brad over the edge. He finally didn't want to spend anymore money on the "Lil Tiger".

So, there started the search. And if I had let Brad do it - we would now be driving a minivan! (I kid you not-he really likes the minivan thing-this tells you literally how practical he is!) I, however, do not think there is ANY practicality to me driving a minivan right now when we have NO kids and can't even seem to decide if and when we will have them. If we have multiples - fine-it really makes life easier and my sister's minivan is very easy and nice but - not until I have a litter of children. We ended up getting a Toyota Highlander instead. I really like it - it is super easy to drive which I was a little worried about moving into an SUV. It is practical for Brad as far as reliability and gas milage. It has a third row seat so I can fit all the kids in it for Camp MeMe-whenever that is-and it is black which I like. We weren't going to buy new, but when you drive a car 12 + years-you can go new b/c you are going to drive the next car that long too. Our "not-existent-children-that-we-need-a-minivan-for" can drive it when they get old enough!