For safety the law requires kids under 7 years of age to be in a car seat/booster. This means 1 car seat/booster too many for our little Vibe or Cherokee. We have struggled with three car seats on one bench seat on occasion and it is not something that we would like to endure.
So after some research, comparison and debate we decided to buy a mini-van. It came down to either a Dodge Grand Caravan or a Mazda 5. And the winner is...
Mazda 5
Pros
1. Fuel economy 22-28 mpg
2. 5 sp manual transmission (Aleena is humoring me in allowing me to include this as a pro)
3. Corners like a car (the one we purchased has the additional plus of some nice 18' rally wheels and tires that aid in its performance, along with some other aftermarket enhancements)
4. Fast/peppy
5. Cheap
6. Quiet and comfortable cabin
Cons
1. Limited trunk space
2. Only seats 6
3. Expensive tires to replace
4. Manual transmission
5. Can't tow... anything
We drove both cars and were just not quite ready to make the switch to a lumbering mini van. We decided on baby steps towards that end. The Mazda 5 gets good enough fuel economy that I can take it over in a few years when we retire Pontiac Vibe. At that point it would be nice to be able to afford a Tahoe/Suburban, or if not we will succumb to the full size mini van club.
We live a little over an hour from Muir Woods Beach and we consider ourselves lucky to have 65 degree weather in January so why not go to the beach!?!
Of course Daniel brought along a raft. The ocean doesn't have rapids like the river but he had fun in the waves.
Lea and Jonah got right into the sand and shallow water to make creations and have fun!
Jonah made a sand turtle (with a little help from mommy)...
And then he helped Lea make sand cupcakes.
Once Dan's raft was full of air and ready to go he set out to sea.
Aleena said Bon Voyage and stayed in her beach chair reading a book. How relaxing!
Dan went out in the boat by himself first to test it out, then Lea joined him and she loved going over the waves - the bigger the better!
Soon Jonah joined in the fun, but he told his dad he didn't like the waves.
Mommy was ready to greet them when they came back ashore. So much fun!
These are pictures of Dan flying a remote control airplane he got for Christmas. He plays with it all the time so I got a couple of pictures today.
My super cute 5 year old really wanted to get her hair cut and we love it! Super cute!
My cute little princess!
Lea loves to dress up and change her outfits like 5 times a day. Above she is a ballerina chef!
This is the awesome house that Lea built while waiting at the dentists office to get a root canal. Not fun but she did great and so far so good. She built a balcony in the back and a garage for the truck and fenced in a place for farm animals as well (it's on the other side so you can't see it). We love our Lea!
