upgraded

we bought this used mini-van about 3 years ago with a really sweet deal from byuh.  when we purchased it, we knew full well that it came with a few kinks (broken AC, old rotors and tires, etc.) but we were prepared to deal with all of that.  we were really diligent about getting the oil changed every 3 or so months, but you simply can't avoid normal wear & tear and rust when you live across from the beach.  the AC is broken, the radio doesn't work properly (because the antenna rusted and broke off), there's a hole in one of the tires, one of the tire rims flew off and went missing, nahe's peed on her seat more times than i'd like to admit, the paint is faded, the dashboard is peeling, and it squeals loudly with delight when you start it up.  not cute.

then saturday came around...and proved to be the breaking point for our poor, old van.  I was heading out to do some grocery shopping and saw my sister-in-law, ange, trying to walk home with SIX of my boo-boos (that means "nieces and nephews", in case you didn't already know...lol) in the drizzling rain.  i passed by them, but as soon as i noticed who it was, i stopped the van, put it in reverse, and went back to pick them up to take them home...and here's where things got sticky...
after all 7 of them crammed into my van, i put the van in park to help get stuff in the back.  the van didn't listen.  i tried putting it into drive - still not listening.  ARGH!  i began to panic because once i took my foot off the brake, it only went backwards!  so i turned it off hoping that would help.  negatory!!  the van will no longer turn back on.  so while i steered, my tiny 5'1" sister-in-law - all by her lonesome, pushed the van out of the way so it wouldn't be in the middle of the road.

long story short, my bro came to pick up ange and the now SEVEN kids (they took nahe home with them) and i waited over an hour for someone to come rescue me & the broken van.  my father-in-law and Brandon's two brothers drove down from kahuku to save me!  they towed the van back to my house just about a half mile away.  luckily, my mom has a few extra cars that we could temporarily use while our lemon of a van was out of commission.

so the next day Brandon and I made the executive decision that it was finally time to upgrade our ride and be done with dealing with taking our cars in and out of shops.  so we bought the van of our dreams....

 

 

 

...and we are in love.

 

this beauty gives us the peace of mind, reliability, space, style and comfort that we've always wanted!  oh happy day!!!