100,000

There you have it. A big day for my car. Given the number of hours that we spend in the vehicle, my kids seem surprisingly unmoved. One of them did suggest that we have cake to celebrate, but I attribute that to quick and opportune thinking. They really don't care. They just want dessert.

The van has served us well. We bought it before the arrival of child #3. 3 kids in car seats were not going to fit easily into the back of my Civic. Even with captains chairs, there is still a lot of bickering, mostly as it relates to the proximity of one child to another. Maybe I should take them for a ride in a Civic so they know how good they have it. Of course, we'd have to strap someone to the roof since there are now 4 children.

It gets around. It has visited NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, NJ, PA, MI, OH, IN, IL, MO and Canada in our 5 years together.

We could actually live out of the van. You may recall this entry. Unbeknownst to me, one child once climbed aboard with bare feet. When we reached our destination, she actually found a pair of shoes to wear. They weren't hers but they worked for the 15 minutes that we needed them. Another child in need of socks found 3 to choose from. This particular kid doesn't like matching socks anyway. And I'm confident that there are enough water bottles and stray goldfish to sustain all 6 of us for about a week.

We don't travel with any video equipment. Oh, we've tried but the fighting is much more intense. It's challenging to find something to please everyone and I don't feel the need to get them all their own hand held players. This is forced family bonding at its best.

We've no intention to replace the van anytime soon. The best car is a paid for car. In a few years, I hope to share our 150,000 mile celebration with you.