Coolness Has Officially Left the Building
Luckily, no one ever said that parents are supposed to be cool. With that in mind, we've upgraded our family car to a Honda Odyssey. It was pretty difficult fitting all three of us and large items in the Sonata, even though it's larger than Accords and Camrys. When we went larger we always said we'd go the SUV route and never get a mini van, but it just makes more sense.

Our Honda Odyssey has:

• Better gas mileage than an SUV
• Automatic sliding doors making it easier to get Avery and groceries into the car
  
• Lower to the ground and easier to climb into than an SUV
  
• Has a 'magic seat' 3rd row that disappears into the floor. Also, the captain chairs in the 2nd row can be completely removed.
• Last, but definitely not least, it's got a DVD player so that Avery can watch her favorite show Diego

So we realize now why people drive mini vans. And we couldn't have gotten it at a better time. We needed as much room as possible driving back from my parent's house in Virginia. We'll get a pair of cool Acuras when we're Empty Nesters in the mid-2020's. For the other young parents out there, you may lose cool points, but your life could be a lot easier.

Check out this video of Avery behind the wheel on our way back to North Carolina: