New Van and Fruit Picking

Our beloved van started having some issues that John couldn't fix himself. The main one was the heater and nothing he tried got it working again. We researched cars back in February. We decided we needed a van with 4 kids in car seats and the only hybrid option was the Chrysler. We test drove them, but ultimately decided to stick it out a little longer with our old van. Maybe wait for fall when we'd need the heat again.

Then the prices dropped during the shutdown and we figured we should go for it while the price was right. Plus we did get a stimulus check that we figured should go into the economy like it was intended, so that helped with the down payment.

Since we already knew what we wanted, I just went online and found which dealerships had that model in stock, then called a few until I found one that gave us the price we were looking to pay.

The buying experience was easy other than a very pushy and dishonest paper signing/finance guy. We came home and refinanced with the company we have John's car loan with, so it ended up being fine, just annoying.

Cute little masked boys who were very patient and well-behaved waiting for that ordeal. Altogether it was just under 2 hours, so not too bad.

We traded our van in and it was so bizarre just leaving our car behind and taking a new one away. It was my first time buying a car from a dealership.

We broke in our new van going to pick blueberries and cherries. Jane was very antsy at the end of the appointment, then screamed bloody murder in the car. She crashed in the carrier and slept through the whole picking visit.

It was nice getting out and doing something as a family that felt safe but still mostly normal.

Perry always wears this shirt backwards.

Scott discovered he likes freshly picked blueberries despite not loving them from the store. Jonah already knew that about himself and helped offset the price of the fruit by consuming as much as he picked.

When we got home, John was setting things up in the van and Jane was happy to be out of her car seat.

I was feeling unsure about such a big purchase, but it's been so nice. The backup camera feels much safer with little kids around and it's great having everything working. With two newer cars, John will have more free time on Saturdays.

It's a plug-in hybrid, which means we get the state, federal, and power company rebates, plus the carpool lane stickers, and we won't need to use gas unless we go on a longer trip. It gets about 30 miles on a charge, which is perfect for all the around town driving I do in normal times. I told John our nice cars look out of place in our driveway, so we may need to get a new roof or landscaping done next.