I hate vans. With a dire passion. There was always something about them that was so unattractive to me, I suppose a big part of it was the school vans we had for sports trips were just awful. We actually had a nickname for them – the booger Vans – because there was ALWAYS boogers in them!
Anyways I vowed to never ever drive one.
Or so I thought.
It wasn’t when I became too scared to sleep in the tent while camping and therefor slept in the vehicle. I have a healthy fear of bears, we are talking at least 1 nightmare a week.
It wasn’t when we decided we were going to have multiple kids, and it wasn’t even when I became pregnant.
It wasn’t until I was in my third trimester that I gave in.
I was a freakin’ WHALE. Yes I had the glow and looked fabulous pregnant but I gained a good 50-60 lbs at that point and it was all belly. Fortunately I work at Kingsway Toyota and have access to different vehicles so try out to ease my whale like status.
However, I could not get in and out of the 4Runner easily due to the height of the vehicle and my belly touched the wheel in the RAV4 and these are my favourite two vehicles.
My road rage paired with my pregnancy hormones made the Tundra a horrible option for other drivers (and probably pedestrians) and the Corolla or Avalon were too low for me to get in and out while carrying all that baby!
My boss suggested the Sienna.
Why not!? It’s made for family anyways and it’s the highest rated for convienence and safety across all other vans!
I ended up having to have an emergency C section and those of you that have gone through that know that you can not drive for a mimimum of 6 weeks. Lucky me though, Kingsway Toyota ended up delivering the Sienna to my house and it stayed there till I could drive. Well that particular day we got 2-3 feet of snow – roads were horrible! I had to go out though and buy my husbands Christmas present (a table saw that was on sale for Black Friday) otherwise I’d lose out on the $200 savings! So I packed up my newborn And away we went! And went we did – that Sienna tore up the snow, I felt like I was driving a bus! It handled so nicely and I never got stuck once! At that moment I realized how awesome the Sienna actually is! My reasons are:
- Super easy for me to get in and out of even while healing from my cesarean section!
- SPACE – can I get an whoop whoop? Oh my gosh I could do some serious retail therapy in this bad boy!
- No Blind Spots! I could see all around me!
- Automatic sliding doors, wayyy easier to get the car seat in and out! Crucial when shopping in busy parking lots! And when arms are full!
- Sun visors built in – to protect my LO’s sensitive skin!
- Low rear access – made it super easy to get the stroller in and out!
- 7 seats for those family outings!
- It can fit full sheets of drywall if need be!
- Center console has grip to it so your stuff doesn’t fly everywhere!
- 6 cup holders all within drivers reach! (Coffee is a moms best friend)
- The car seat just sits better in the Sienna.
- Sound system was pretty awesome as well!
All in all, made life easier with our LO and that to me is priceless!
Thanks for Reading!
Aaron LaFontaine
authenticaaron 