Martha the Maroon Moose

Or, what I will do to avoid driving a minivan.

When I found out I was pregnant with Elizabeth and I had stopped crying hysterically about having to be pregnant AGAIN, one of my first thoughts was that I'd have to get a minivan. And then I cried hysterically some more. I just don't like minivans. I've driven them. I get that they are easy to load kids in and out of. I just don't like them. I don't know why, but I just don't.

I had almost reconciled myself to buying one. Almost, but not quite. Every time I thought about it, I'd just sigh, knowing that I wouldn't enjoy driving it.

So yesterday we bought a Suburban. And I.LOVE.IT. I can't believe that I do, but I do.

I've railed against people driving huge SUVs and their environmental footprint and how they are so big that you can't see around them in traffic. Blah, blah, blah.

Then I test-drove this one and started to change my mind a bit. I was worried it would feel like I was driving a huge truck, but I didn't. The thing handles really well, and the mileage isn't much worse than what I was getting in my little cross-over. Plus, since I drive all of thirty miles a week, I'm not going to suddenly have a huge gas card bill each month.

After much debate and discussion, we picked it up yesterday, and I immediately had to load four kids in and drive to far south Austin to take Ella to rock climbing. It was the best thing ever. I was able to get everyone in without rearranging car seats and pinching my fingers trying to get everyone buckled. I could see both girls in the rear view mirror, singing along to Jack Johnson songs, which did my heart good.

While driving to rock climbing the girls and I decided to name the car the Maroon Moose, mostly because moose is Campbell's new favorite word. We added Martha because it sounded good.

And the best thing of all? It's not a minivan!