I am a soccer mom.

Hi, my name is Robyn, and I am a soccer mom. "Hi Robyn." Yes, we have joined the world of soccer/football/any other sport/multi children group out there and bought a minivan. The thing is like a house on a car body. The two middle captain's seats fold down into the floor as do the 60/40 third row seat that splits and each fold into the floor as well. Both doors open with the touch of a button on the key (think Mr. and Mrs. Smith), and I feel like a rock star in it. I truly do. Even better, Joe is extremely sad that he can't drive it to work everyday. You can tell that he is secure in his own skin. We went to "look" at cars today and went to this HORRIBLE dealership (Automax for you Texas gals) where they had us test drive a very used Town & Country that was just the base model. And, they wanted $17,000 for it too! The windshield made me nauceous b/c there was a defect in it, and I almost had to pull over to vomit. And, the sales guy had know clue about the car. He told me to run over the managers and when I laughed he said, "no, seriously." Hmm. Then, they wouldn't let us test drive a Dodge Grand Caravan which I wanted in the first place! So, I got pissed and left. I was yelling and screaming as we drove around the stupid loop of a highway, sorry frontage road, about how stupid Texas people were when Joe suggested that we stop at this other dealership. I was like "H*LL no!" But, he did anyways and upon further inspection, he found this minivan that didn't have a sticker on it. We took a picture of the VIN number, and he went to talk to a salesperson about it. Come to find out, they JUST bought it at an auction, and it hadn't even been inspected/cleaned yet. We looked at it and Joe said that he would take it away for $17,000 today. Mind you, this has 18,000 and another 18,000 left on the original warranty as the other piece of crap at AUTOMAX had 36,000 miles! The guy told us to bring his Camry back later, and we went home and got approved via USAA (amazing bank for the military) website. With the printoff of the loan approval and check, we headed back where negotiations started. After going back to the drawing board twice, the manager came out and said, "Congratulations!" So, we are now proud owners of a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT with 18,000 miles and a 5 year/75,000 mile warranty! We put money down (thank you bonus from Joe slaving away at the Army for three more years) and got $5250 for his Camry which needed a new transmission soon. So, all in all, with the extra warranty, we only had to pay $9453 for an almost brand new car! We bought Papa Murphy's to celebrate :) We pick it up either Monday or Tuesday when they have it all detailed/checked etc. Joe and I will now have to fight about who will drive it the next day! I may be 25 and have a minivan but darn if I don't have a SuperVan!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmro/
(The site won't let me upload my pictures here so this is the best that you are going to get!)