A Tribute to the Equinox

Eleven years ago, when we found out we were pregnant with our first baby, we made the easy decision to trade in Dave's little pick-up truck for a new, roomy SUV that could haul car seats and strollers.  It was one of the first major life changes we made that acknowledged the new stage of parenting we'd be entering.  And for over a decade this was a good car for us.

But, as all 11 year old cars are prone to do, it started requiring more money than we were willing to dump into it.  It left me stranded and calling AAA two times last year.  It had a host of little and big things, from the transmission to the key fabs, that were no longer working well on it.  We've been saving up and researching for a while and we set Spring Break as our new car shopping time.

Here is a little look back at some fun moments in the Equinox:    

 Shortly after we bought it, here is my car and my pregnant belly at the coast.

 This is the day we loaded our new family of FOUR up in the Equinox and brought Delia home from the hospital.

This is one of the many Christmas trees it carried home for us from the tree farm.

And here is our last goodbye at the car lot.  This car carried my babies around in their various stages of car seats and boosters for years.  It had milk sippie cups go bad in it, it had kids puke in it.  It certainly saw its share of both tears and dance parties.  This car mowed down a coyote on a dark night in Napa and didn't even show any damage.  It made hundreds of trips to school and took us on countless outings.  For 11 years, this car kept us safe in all our travels and we are thankful for it.  

But, similar to when we bought it, we acknowledge that we are in another new stage of life.  Since all my car does is drive back and forth to school, we don't need a big car any longer.  In fact, something small, but comfortable, that gets 40 miles to the gallon is pretty appealing!  So, our new car is a zippy, little, subcompact Honda.  Because it is one of the cheaper cars that Honda makes, our budget allowed for all sorts of bells and whistles that I've never had before!  My mind is a little boggled to also realize that while the car we traded in brought our babies home from the hospital, the new one we bought last week will the car those babies learn to drive in just a few years!