We didn't clean out the garage today.

Here's why: I can't remember exactly how much of our car saga I've posted, so here is a basic recap. We applied for and got a voucher from the Air Check Texas program, which gave us $3000 for our broken-down old trade-in. Well the voucher came a couple of weeks ago, but then we had to actually put the van in my name. We got V'ger from my mom a couple of years ago, but we'd never actually gotten around to transferring the title (lazy). So mom and I (and Joanna) went up to the courthouse to do that. It was easy, but then we had to wait for the title to actually be mailed to me. The lady said it would take 3-4 weeks, which would put it at the end of November. The voucher was good until December 22nd, so we had a cushion of time. For whatever reason, though, I started haunting the mailbox on Monday of this week. I just knew it was coming soon. And it came yesterday! We'd done our car homework and discovered that CarMax was actually the best place for us to find a van. We just couldn't find them in our price range other places. I'd seen this one (above) a couple of weeks ago, but didn't get my hopes too high knowing it might be gone before our title came in and we could actually go and buy a van. CarMax gets vans in frequently so I wasn't worried. So yesterday when my title came in and we finally had everything we needed to buy a van, we made an appointment to see this one down at the store on the Southwest Fwy today (Saturday). I wasn't positive we'd be buying a car today, but I knew if I liked this one, we'd probably be coming home with it.

Here is the story:

First thing this morning we had to get our old van (V'ger) cleaned out and the back seat put back in. Joanna enjoyed getting to drive it and explore the buttons before we said goodbye.

Matt and mom put the backseat in.
Our farewell picture -- V'ger, you served us well!

Now the car doesn't actually drive so we left it at home and took my mom's suburban to CarMax.

We got the most fabulous, patient, and helpful sales lady, LaDonya. We got there about 10:00 this morning. (We were aiming for 9:30, but I had a seriously bad bad bad bad bad night -- more on that in another post.)

They have a great kids' area with a climb-y gym and some trucks, blocks, and push toys. Best of all is that it's totally kid-friendly -- no way to get out or mess with stuff. Unfortunately it's not where the offices are, so she had to be with us for the boring paperwork stuff. But when we were doing the waiting around thing, we got to play!

When we'd decided to get our new van, we had to arrange transport for V'ger from our house to the southwest fwy CarMax (40 miles!). I was pretty pleased with the tow rate we got -- not too scary.

The last time I ever saw V'ger:

Waiting some more:

Finally all tuckered out (about 10 minutes before we headed home, I might add). She was a basket-case when we were signing the papers. It was a little before 4:00, I think, and she hadn't napped and we were making her stay with us instead of run around. I think she needed a meltdown.

I am SO PROUD of Joanna for today! We were at CarMax from 10:00am until almost 5:00pm (minus a lunch break at McDonald's). What a long day for a toddler!

It was getting darkish when we got home so no photo shoot yet, but here it is in our driveway!!

Our "new" 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. It's silver, and I love it.

Unfortunately we have a couple of loose ends to tie up, so I'll have to drive down there again in the next couple of weeks. The van didn't have a clicker remote (which is a complete MUST for me with kiddos) or an owner's manual. I can probably either download or purchase the manual online, and CarMax will reimburse me the cost. They also have a guy who programs those remotes, but he only works during the week. I'll call next week, and if for whatever reason he can't program one, they'll send me to the dealer for one and reimburse that expense, too. And, just as we were about to drive off, Matt noticed something a little funny about the back door of the van -- so they wrote a note up on it, and we'll get it checked out when we head back down for the remote/owner's manual. If I get all my ducks in a row, I'll just have to make one trip down there, and I figure I'll combine it with a trip to Whole Foods and A Woman's Work. If I can just manage to do it all by myself, I'll really enjoy it.

So on Monday I'll have the van checked by our mechanic and add it to the insurance. I also need to go ahead and schedule the first payment with my online bill pay. Our first car payment is due Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to us! I'd sure hate to be late with that payment due to labor and delivery!!