Honda Odyssey, Here We Come!

On the darkest and rainy-est night of the recent week (last Sunday), we finally gave in and decided to go to Capitol Honda. We had called Kevin Loi, the fleet manager we bought my Accord from 7 years ago, and he gave us an unbelieveable deal. $200 over invoice! The Szetos came by the house after church and graciously offered to take our kids to play with theirs so we could concentrate on the purchase. We accepted their kind offer and drove down to San Jose in the pouring rain. By the time we got there, it was dark. Ummm, not the best time to look at colors for a car.

We had asked them to show us the black 2006 Odyssey, and after test driving and everything else, we parked it under the flourescent lights and saw that the black isn't really a black, but a dark, dark blue. The interior was an ivory leather (not ideal with young kids). My original thinking was that if we are going to get a minivan, we can at least try our darndest to have it not look like a minivan, and so black would've been a nice choice. But dark blue just didn't cut it. So we drove around the lot looking at other colors (yes, still in the dark). We finally settled on the EXL Slate Green Metallic with a dark grey leather. The slate green, didn't look green at all, but more of a silvery light blue. I don't know who comes up with these color names, but obviously not women.

Anyways, the papers were signed and they even said we could buy any accessories from them at cost. We're going back soon to get the all season floor mats. You hear about nightmarish car buying transactions and all the pressure. But I have to say that our experience was extremely pleasant and actually a lot of fun!

This is kinda silly, but I actually feel like a better mom. I LOVE it! I love the space, the convenience, how easily the seats move around. I love the way it drives, the heated seats, all the storage. We got the DVD, but no NAV. My cousin David bought us a portable Nav that I actually like better. I can take it in the house and program addresses ahead of time (especially useful when I need to show houses to clients). John actually likes the minivan a lot too. Lauryn's thrilled with it. She asked if she could bring it to school for show and tell. uh....probably not gonna happen. The only one who doesn't like it right now is Sydney. For some reason, every time we put her in her car seat in the new van, she cries bloody murder. And when we close the doors, she screams even louder. It seems she's scared of the new car. Not sure where that came from. She's never cried even when we've taken her in other people's vans. Now, she starts to cry when we even get close to the van. When the van is moving, she's fine. But when we stop at a stop light for more than a few seconds, she starts to cry again. It's definitely interesting riding with us right now. Hopefully she'll come around and get used to it soon. Otherwise, she's totally breaking mommy's heart....=(