My new Mommy-mobile!

I loved my Volkswagen Beetle (which we called the bug) and always felt it was the perfect car for me. Cute, fun, powerful and bright yellow. You couldn't help but smile looking at it. Plus it was super funny to watch people punch each other when I drove by.

But the time came for my cute little bug to be replaced.

It was 11 years old, had 140,000 miles, had some quirks with the electrical system, needed new brakes, next year's registration was due soon, and it recently had some work done on it which made us fearful that it was just the tip of the iceberg of needed maintenance and repairs. Plus getting the infant carrier in and out of the back seat was no easy task and to make it fit we had to slide the passenger seat waaaay forward leaving little leg room for any additional passenger. And when Carter moves up to a bigger, stationery car seat soon, it would have been really difficult to get him in and out of the tiny back seat. My back would not have survived. So it was time to look for a new car.

We thought about getting a minivan but decided that it was too expensive to pay for seating and extra space that wouldn't be used very often. So we changed our focus to full-size sedans and small SUVs. After a lot of research we had a short list of cars we liked and local dealers that were offering incentives on used cars and 2013 model clearances. 

After many unnecessary hours at the dealership we we offered a great deal and traded in my beloved bug and drove off with a 2013 Volkswagen Tiguan! Hello, new Mommy-mobile!

This car, while not top-of-the-line, is super fancy to me. I still have a turbo engine (which I had gotten used to with my bug and LOVE), airbags everywhere, power locks and windows, and air conditioning. But I upgraded to a huge sunroof that goes all the way behind the second row of seats, plenty of trunk room, an electronic display for things like mpg calculations, tire pressure monitoring, etc., and its set up for bluetooth connectivity to my phone (so I can make phone calls or listen to music through the car speakers) which is a HUGE upgrade from my former car that still had a cassette deck. Now I just need to find a way to attach my flowers to the dashboard...

Although I miss my cute little bug, I'm happy with the upgrade to a more grown-up vehicle. And if you see me driving down the road feel free to (lightly) punch the person next to you - I may not be in the bug anymore, but since I owned one before, it still counts!