Farewell to a Great Car

Yesterday we sold our Toyota 4Runner.  I was extremely relieved, as I hate the whole selling/buying a vehicle process, but at the same time, I was a little sad.  And Ben was A LOT sad.  But, since we're headed to Germany (did I mention we finally got orders for Germany?!), we can only take one car, and the 4Runner simply doesn't have enough seats as we hope to grow our family.  Plus the mileage just isn't compatible with European gas prices.  As Ben has been bemoaning selling the car, I've told him we don't have to, we actually have two other options:  either get out of the army or have no more children.  I won't tell you what his preference was, because I don't want our future children to have a complex, but I was finally able to prevail upon him to put the dang thing up for sale. 

So, a little history: We bought this car the year we got married, six years ago just after Ben got home from Iraq.  It has been the family car ever since.  You couldn't ask for a more comfortable car, leather seats, amazing stereo system, and rides smooth as glass.

Obviously I don't have photos of every adventure it's taken us on, but here are just a few

Camping in TN, before we had kids

Visiting Smokey Mountain National Park 

Gearing up for Ride for the Cure

Surviving the record breaking winter in DC when we had no garage

Taking us on road trips all around Poland

 

And of course, lots of family trips with the girls

So, what did we replace it with?  Well, this:

Yeah, I know it's not nearly as swank as the 4Runner, but at least it's not quite a minivan (no offense to minvan drivers out there, we were this close to getting one).  It's a 2008 Kia Rondo and it has seven seats, but is super compact.  The perfect family sized car for Europe.  So, here's to making new memories!