road tripping in a minivan

November 8, 2012


β€œThis is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Chrysler. All opinions are 100% mine.”

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Untitledon the roadon the roadon the roadon the roadon the roadon the roadon the roadOkay, so my birthday was coming up and we wanted to go on a road trip. Then, a possible collaboration with Chrysler to borrow their car came up and I figured it was the perfect opportunity… take a road trip in someone else’s car! Now why in the world would I turn that down?! Our car has so many miles on it from previous road trips that I thought it would be nice to give my car a break, so I said, “Sign me up!” Here’s the catch… I’m driving a minivan!

Yes, we are family of six and we probably should have a minivan, but we don’t. We’ve had our car when it was just the 3 and they all fit perfectly in one row. Now, that there are 4 of them, we popped up the third row in our SUV (it’s not one of those ridiculously large ones) and True and Brave are pretty squished in the back and the stroller only fits behind the driver’s seat. Our car is pretty tight, but we don’t want car payments, and our girls are pretty teeny, so we make do. Plus, I’m not ready to be a “mad mom in a minivan” just yet.

Here we are and I am borrowing a Town & Country for a few weeks and let’s see how it goes. We got the van and then 30 minutes later took off on the road. One of my first observations of the Town & County were the leather seats and after doing a little research found out that is standard. That’s kinda nice. My parents had a minivan, actually a Chrysler one and back then it was the caravan, and I remember how filthy those cloth seats got with 4 kids. My parents ran their van to the ground and they really got their monies worth. This little leather feature is nice because with kids, leather is so much easier to clean!

On the road trip, the van had so much more space. Ben and I just threw our stuff everywhere! It was nice to have a lot more space to place things and on our road trip we had plans to go to the flea market, so the extra space in a van is welcomed. Of course though, what stood out to me the most about the van was the large tank it carried, we only had to fill up once from L.A. to San Francicso, there is an economy fuel button that changes the way the car runs so that you get better gas mileage, and the music system (their U-Connect Media Center, if you want the technical term). That was our favorite part. It was touch screen and it easily hooked up to our ipod and I sang the whole ride up and the whole ride down. Oh and it helps that the car had Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Ben was especially excited to be able to listen to San Antonio Spurs basketball while on the road. The navigation feature is cool too, but it’s the easy way our music hooked up that was great.

We were pretty jazzed about the car during our road trip (and we went sans kids), so we were especially excited because if we found something large at the flea market, we definitely had space to bring it back home. Usually for flea market trips, we borrow my parents’ minivan for all our goods, this time we had our own! I was definitely glad to have the Town & Country to play with.

Now, it’s still a minivan and I just feel older in it. I think that’s why I have never been quite ready to commit to a minivan because it just makes me feel older. More grownup. I know having 4 kids is a whole lot of grown up, but still. The kids so far love it because 1) it’s new to them and 2) they love the little sun protector thingies that pull up for every window. That’s their favorite part.Β I must admit driving a minivan makes it a lot easier to tote around 4 kids and all the stuff that comes along with them. We get to use it for a couple weeks, so we are definitely enjoying the extra space the Town & Country offers.

18 comments on “road tripping in a minivan”

  • Hayley says:

    How in the world did you work out this deal??!! This is awesome. Can you share your secrets? Obviously, you have to have a popular blog but can you tell me, did you approach them or they approach you? Are you working through some affiliate program? I’m asking because I live in Virginia and we are planning a couple of trips home back to Alabama and I could SO benefit from this. I also love the idea of sharing good products. Thanks so much!

    • mycakies says:

      Thank you Hayley! Actually, I am part of Federated Media and Chrysler approached them to work with me. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to save a bit of wear and tear on our car and actually try out a minivan. Moreover, I am especially grateful for all of you who tune into Cakies because it is due to all of you who come and get the word out about Cakies that actually allow me these opportunities. I am honestly so so thankful for my readers!!!

  • Jennifer says:

    I never was a mini van person either, actually I swore I’d never drive one. Famous last words…..
    We had a Town and Country for years. LOVED it.
    BUT, now I’ve been forced to drive “The Silver Bullet” – a full size van. Our family keeps growing and with being foster parents, we just never know how big our family will be on any given day.

    ENJOY your ‘free ride’

    • mycakies says:

      A silver bullet?! That sounds hardcore. How many does that seat? I’m not sure if I could be a minivan mom just yet, but the extra space is wonderful.

  • Mona says:

    AArgh! I was looking for you at the antique fair on Sunday. I should have emailed you. Find anything good? My friend bought me a mid century tray for $25 dollars. She thought I’d like it. I looked it up when I got home and one had just sold on Ebay for $250.00. Heck yeah I liked it. Sorry I missed you.
    Mona

  • That is really nice that they gave you a mini van to try out! I feel the same as you about mini-vans!!! I refuse to get one and one of my best friends has one for her three kids, but she also nannied for two boys for about ten years on top of that until this year, so I guess I can understand it. We have a 7 seat Jeep that we use, but we only have our two boys at this time. I have time. haha. Glad your kids are enjoying the van while they have it! Hope you had fun on your road trip and that the girls helped the ride stay peaceful.

  • Susan says:

    I know how you feel about “feeling older”. When we learned that we were having our fourth baby, and knew that we would probably have at least one more after her, my husband and I – who have always felt “meh” about minivans, bit the bullet and purchased our Honda Odyssey. I love it. He loves it. The kids love it. Two years later, we have our fifth baby on the way already, but with the way this van works, even if I were to get pregnant again (no plans for that to happen at this time, but…), we still have room for one more!

    Now that we have the new baby’s car seat in our van “just in case” (she’s due in a couple of weeks), the hardest thing about having a van is that when our bigger “little one” falls asleep in her car seat in the back of the van… Oh! It’s so difficult to get her out without waking her up. I don’t feel badly waking her big brothers up (six and twelve years old), but the four year old… We’ve definitely done some wild acrobatics to get the kids into and out of the van while they’re sleeping! Ha ha ha. Totally not a third world problem, I know…

    Love to you – and yay for family road trips!

    • mycakies says:

      Actually we went sans kids, but was excited to have room to bring home goods from the flea market should we find anything.

      and I hear you about the waking them up part. That is tough when True and Brave fall asleep in the back and they wake up soooo cranky!!!1

  • erin says:

    i spotted you at alameda! unlike you guys i had all my kids in tow, and we were headed out, otherwise i would have said hello! (i’m the vendor you bought the umbrellas from out there so long ago). it was nice to see you in person!

  • sharyl says:

    I’m not a mom but i sure loooove my mini van! (we have the odyssey). people always make fun of me and my husband about having a mini van, but who do they call first when they need to be picked up at the airport or when they need to move furnitures? yup, that would be us. LOL! but seriously we just love all the space!

    You still look cool and hip in a minivan, ruby. you know you can always make it look cooler, just add some rims and maybe some spinners and a spoiler. hahahha!

  • Laura Herrmann says:

    I love that you don’t use a minivan!!!!! I will not drive one! I want to have my little car forever no matter how many people I’ll need to squish in. You really are awesome!

  • Jen says:

    How fun to get to try it out for a bit! I feel the same way about minivans… I drove my sisters for a week and felt like I was driving a boat! it’s just not for me. (though she’s a nanny and has leather seats too and sold me on how much nicer they are to clean!) We’re looking for a new car in the next 6 months…I’m trying to stay strong and not cave on the mini van!

  • Erika says:

    We are looking into a mini-van but we’re also having a hard time w/ driving a mini-van. Some good friends said to us……”the only reason to not drive a mini-van once you have kids is pride, and that is a pretty bad reason”. Agreed. So we’re getting one πŸ™‚ Happy travels!

  • jane says:

    two words: toyota sienna!

    three carseats squished in one row is not fun… swagger wagon looks pretty good! πŸ™‚ just have to really convince myself to crossover! haha! πŸ™‚ miss you!

  • jozen says:

    we have a honda odyssey and love it! never in a million years would i have thought i would utter such a statement… but it’s true! LOL

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