This Post is Really About Our Van

It's finally Friday.  It's been a long week at work, but a good week.  The office bully was recently let go and so it's been pretty chaotic, but really good too.

This weekend is going to be really fun. We've got three birthdays to celebrate on Saturday night; Lincoln's, my mom's and my sister's.

Last night I did something SO stupid.  I was taking one of the seats out of our new NV.  And I do mean new.  Brand new.  You can guess I am sure... I scratched it.  More like gouged it!

Okay, I'll tell you about our beautiful beast.  We are a family of 9 and we used to have a Chevy Tahoe that had a bench seat in front so we had three rows of three.  We managed fine.  There were a few reasons why we felt we needed something bigger.  The first is the room... The kids would always have to climb over the seat to get in the third row and the bigger kids couldn't sit back there very comfortably because their knees were up to their chests.  We had to put the oldest up with us in the front because Ryan got pulled over for having a smaller child in the front seat.  (although he didn't get a ticket thankfully)  And that is problematic because the bench seat has like no padding and her knees are literally in the dashboard.  Also, there is very little room for cargo.   We could have gotten one of those roof mount things and it would have been alright, but still very tedious.  And finally, if we wanted any friends to come with us, we had to take two cars.  (i.e. like going to the drive inn, or a football game, or whatever).

We almost bought the NV last year, instead of the Tahoe.  And we should have, but you live and learn right?  We had already test drove the NV and loved it!  For being 20 feet long, it handles tremendously well.  It drives like you are driving an SUV but has a boatload of room!!

You can click here to check out Nissan's website. We got the NV Passenger SV model in Java.  V8, 3500 (so it's a full ton, like a truck), reverse camera, GPS, Bluetooth, on and on and on!  It seats 12 and they say that it has 324 different seating configurations!!  That's not true, in my opinion, but it's still very awesome.

The one and only thing that I am disappointed about is the seating configurations.  They rave that it has 324 different configurations, so I thought that we could maybe turn the second row around to face the third row... Not so.  And it'd be so much cooler if we could.

Okay, there are two things that suck.  One was the seat configurations, the other (which I am going to get repaired) is the rattle in the sliding door.  For us, it happens when it is hot outside.  It's pretty annoying, so I am going to return to the dealer to have them fix it.

The greatest things about it:

Back up camera... it's a necessity
All the seats have their own seat belt so there are no seat belts hanging from the roof
We are wired! Two 120V outlets and a couple of USBs and three 12V power outlets!
Storage, storage, storage!  The console is an abyss, plus under the driver's seat, and in the back.
There is a cell phone pocket in the driver's seat
Cup holders!!  a lot of them
Pull out side mirrors
Power
Air conditioning in every row
Sliding door for tight spaces (which every space is tight now!)
The back doors open completely (like 270 degrees)
Cruise and radio controls on steering wheel
And so much more!

The gas mileage isn't "rated" per sei because it 's a commercial vehicle, but I have been tracking it.  It's about 13 city and 14.5 highway. Keep in mind my vehicle barely has 1500 miles on it.  So maybe that'll increase a little as it "breaks in".

I have yet to register it and quite frankly, I am scared to do so!  It's going to be pretty expensive.  Oh-well.  I love it.

So anyway, last night, I was taking one of the seats out of the 3rd row to provide the three little girls easier access to the 4th row.  The seats are heavy and awkward and I was trying to do it myself.  I ended up making a pretty substantial gash in the sliding door.  Dammit.

Ryan kissed me on the forehead and said it gives it character.  I am still upset about it.

I want to get a decal and these are the contenders:

The Beast (Beauty is driving)
Maxi-van
Mini-bus
I know, right?!
Size does matter 

We definetly get a lot of stares and shock and awe when we come rolling up in our NV.  I don't mind that at all though.