The Best-Laid Plans...

When Alan came to Kadena (which, for you non-military folks, is the Air Force base we are actually stationed at on the island of Okinawa) in August, we agreed it would be a great idea to go ahead and start looking for a car to buy.  For one, he could get his license and we could hit the ground running when we arrived, saving someone the trouble of either shuttling us around or lending us a car.  Also, he was going to be here for six weeks, so having a car would be nice.  Well, not long into the trip he found a car that was in great condition, especially compared to most of the cars you see other military people in.  We agreed it would be nice to have something smaller on this island, but still fit two carseats.  You probably see where this is going.  So here's the car we bought in August:

I was so excited!  After imagining the beater we would probably own, this was a Lexus.  It's actually called a Honda Legend - leather interior, heated seats, new tires and breaks...good stuff.

Here's where the story turns into a typical "Dayton family curse" example.   A couple of weeks after making that decision, we received some big news:  We're having twins!  Just in case you're all, "Wow, is she saying twins is a curse?"  No, I'm not.  I'm saying we put so much thought into this decision to buy a car, certain it was a good decision, only to find out it was actually a bad one.  Alan was still in Okinawa, driving this car around, when we got this news so it didn't take him long to come to the realization that three carseats were not going to fit in this car.  Japan law says you must own a car for 120 days before selling it, so we kept the car and parked it at a friend's house while Alan came home.  We would be returning in a month and we could make a decision then.

When we arrived we immediately began looking for the new family car.  There aren't many options here that fit three carseats.  Most of the cars on this island are tiny.  So we're left with a full-size van - which I was against because it's too big for the streets and also it's a full-size van, those smaller Japanese vans that could roll over at any moment and look like you chopped off the front end, or a station wagon (which is what they call a minivan here).  So, here's what I got:

It's a Nissan Bassara.  It holds three carseats and is exactly what we needed.  Plus, it has Japanese t.v.  They say it's a "station wagon," but they aren't fooling me.  I don't even want to talk about it.