Why I love my mini van {and don't understand why other people don't}

This is my mini van.

O.k. it isn't really my personal mini van, mine is WAY dirtier and I didn't want to bother with washing the car to take pictures of how awesome she is so you got this photo of someone selling one just like her.  Sorry.  I suck. Her name is Thelma. She's a 2005 Honda Odyssey that has well over 100,000 miles on her. I love her.
I named her Thelma because she sort of looks like a squaty old woman bending over to do her gardening. Kind of like this We bought Thelma new.  We drove her off the lot with only 17 miles on her. We only had two kids when we purchased Thelma so when we were looking for a new car, my husband and I wondered if we should attempt to be cool and look into an SUV. We test drove some, looked at a lot, and did a TON of research on them. Nothing compared to a mini van for the practical needs of our family. I love that at the touch of a button, the sliding doors open up. I can have my hands full of groceries, carrying one kid on my hip and still open the door without dropping a single item! Can your SUV do that? Speaking of automatic sliding doors, when the kids were in car seats and I had to load them all in, the doors on my mini van are low enough that I don't have to stand on a running board or haul an infant car seat above my head to get it in place.   When my daughter was in Kindergarten, she carpooled with a family of six to school.  They had an Expedition and had to load kids in through the back tailgate.  I loved that my kids could actually all get in to my van through the doors like normal people {not having to go through the "back door"} thankyouverymuch. source When we moved, our friends {also with an Odyssey} moved everything in our house in three loads between the two vans.  We cancelled the moving van that we had reserved the next day because we were as shocked  as anyone that we got every item in our house moved in mini vans! Full size couch?  No problem! And on my garage sale expeditions during the summer, everyone always piles into my van. We rarely run out of room in my van when four of us are garage sale shopping. And we buy a lot! With car seat laws these days, you need room to haul kids and their friends and car seats. When my kids were in pre-school, I would often times haul around five kids in car seats with no problem! It's the ultimate friend mobile. When my car was in the shop {it was hit by a drunk driver while parked at the airport parking lot when we were on vacation}, we all had to fit in my husbands Accord.  I didn't realize how nice it was to have all three kids separated in the back.  The two captains chairs in the front can be squished together when the little guys are feeling lovey dovey, or split apart so no one is touching anyone.  And we all know that when "she's touching me" the car ride is no fun! source Some people just don't think mini vans are cool.  It's like when they officially buy a mini van they have entered the uncool parents club or something. Really? The small child hanging on your leg didn't just drag you in to that club already? Maybe these parents in their swagger wagon will help sum up the mini van love and bring some cool.

I've never worried about not having room for a stroller or loading in four bikes for a family bike ride or luggage for a trip or fitting in a full size couch in my van. I can fit them all! My mini van is a great family car. I have a family. It's practical for our family. I'm sure that when Thelma needs replaced, even though our kids are getting older, she will be replaced with another mini van.  I will always find a reason for needing the extra space!  So are you anti mini van? Or do you love your mom mobile as much as I do? Now if you will excuse me, I need to get back to shopping for some mom jeans.