The Holy Grail of minivans.

(I stole this picture from Cortney for reasons that will soon be apparent).

For the past almost-12 weeks, I have been shoving three kids, and consequently three car seats, in the back of my car.  Now I have made no secret about the fact that I love my ol’ Lexus with over 300,000 miles on it, but even when it was brand new in 1994, it wasn’t made to haul three kids!

I. NEEEEEEEEEEED. a minivan.

{so badly!}

And this spring, Bobby and I WILL be purchasing one.  That’s right, we have saved our pennies and we are jonesin’ for a van!  The search is ON!

Since I am quite the Toyota fan, I was really excited to get the opportunity to test drive the 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE a couple of weeks ago.

And now, I have a Sienna-shaped HOLE in my heart.  Oh my word.  It. was. AMAZING!

Unfortunately, the day it was delivered to my house, Joshua came down with is first-ever ear infection.  So, I did not get to do a lot of  “joy riding”.  Therefore this post is not filled with cute photos of my kids boppin’ around in it.  🙁 BUT, I did get to take it to the pediatrician, the pharmacy, and the preschool drop-off and pickup.  And since I had all THREE kids because of Joshua being home sick, this van was a life-saver. You see, normally having to shove all three kids in the back of my car and get Sophie to preschool  and get them all back OUT of the car would have been a majorly stressful ordeal.  But with the Sienna’s keyless entry and power doors, it was a SNAP.  I mean, easy as pie.  It was ree-donkulously wonderful!

I NEED a smart key and power doors. NEED NEED NEED!

Another really convenient features of the Sienna are the rear seats are super-easy to lay down and put back up.  I am pretty much terrible at all things of this nature and I could do it easily. So you could say it’s idiot-proof!

I also really, really enjoyed the touch screen on the dash.  Navigation, music, a CAMERA that shows you what’s behind you when you are in reverse – wow!  It’s all there!  And there are so many more technical gadgets on this car.  I connected my iPod touch via bluetooth – didn’t even have to plug it in (although I certainly could’ve via USB port to charge it and listen if I wanted to).  There’s a real electrical plug, a totally unbelievable widescreen DVD player with wireless headphones, and you can even hook up your Wii and play it on the road!!  How awesome would that make road trips??

Oh, and did I mention it drives like a dream? Oh my goodness. It dumped snow on us the Friday of the week I was driving the Sienna, and I had an early-morning appointment (which is of course, precisely WHY it snowed.)  The roads were really not good, but the Sienna handled them perfectly.  It was definitely the most stable I have ever felt driving in the snow.  Ouch. My heart is hurting just thinking about it again.  The Sienna is now My Precious.

So here’s the deal.  I am going to buy a van. I don’t yet know what it will be,  but I know what I want it to be – a Toyota Sienna.  It’s the dream van, man.  If you’re in the market, you’ve GOT to test-drive one!

I LOVE the Toyota Sienna, so I linked this up to Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries.  Head on over to see what everyone else loves!