New Wheels

I've been told there comes a time in every parent's life when they have to replace the dignity of their car or small SUV with...yes...you know what's coming next...a minivan.  Well, folks, that time is not here.  And if I have anything to say about it, it won't ever come at the LaFond household.

However, with the two new feet (and accompanying carseat) we are adding in (gulp) 42 or less days from now, we've been in the market for a larger vehicle that could actually accommodate all three of our kids and their bulky carseats.  While we did briefly consider mounting the third carseat in the storage area in the back of the Edge, we quickly determined that for safety (and to keep us both out of jail) we would need to take the plunge towards something with three rows.  For anyone who has driven up or down our new road/driveway you'll understand when I say another requirement was also 4WD and a smoother ride than the pickup currently provides.  After much research, that essentially left us with the full size SUVs out there and we finally narrowed it down to the GMC YukonXL and the Ford ExpeditionEL (we want the seating but also the ability to bring STUFF since apparently we no longer have any but our kids seem to accumulate quite a bit).

We test drove both last weekend and they actually seemed pretty similar.  CK said he liked the Expedition's ride a bit better but I couldn't tell a difference.  This was good news because the Yukons are a bit pricier for pretty much the same thing.  Anyway, CK (shocking, I know) has been researching online and keeping his eye out for a good deal as we were really hoping not to buy new but wanted something recent with really low mileage.  We had found a few great deals but of course they were in TX, NJ or 2WD.  Last weekend CK finally found one that looked too good to pass up.  A 2012 ExpeditionEL in Idaho with 11k miles and all the bells and whistles we wanted.  So on Wednesday CK flew to Spokane and drove home our new wheels.  Here they are safely in our garage

 Reese and Asher have a new row to themselves in the waaaayyyyy back

 That leaves 2 captain's chairs in the middle row for the new baby and an actual adult (yes, Mom, you will have your very own REAL seat!)

We haven't given up our beloved Edge (CK and I agree it's the best car we've owned to date) so our house currently looks like a Ford used parking lot (except I think even used car dealers keep their cars slightly cleaner than that...)  By the looks of the two navy blue vehicles perhaps you can see why we went with white for our newest purchase :)