Weekly column
When Paul and I first got married, I refused to buy anything in bulk. Why purchase a five-pound bag of rice, I’d say to my handsome groom, when we can take home this wee, precious little box that does not require a forklift to heave into the car.
I am the oldest of eight children. I grew up scooping ingredients from gigantic tubs and spooning dinner servings from 9×13 pans. That’s just how life was. It wasn’t until I was a newlywed that I enjoyed the thrill of buying a single-serving anything.
Please understand that I never did mind coming from a large family. I loved my younger brothers and sisters and these days I consider them the greatest gifts my parents gave me. But in my formative years, as I strolled behind my mom at the grocery store pushing the “extra” cart, my mind would wander and I’d wonder what life would be like buying food in small containers.
Those days, after my mom paid for our food, we’d head out to our 15-passenger van to begin our food transport, loading up bag after bag into the World’s Biggest Car. This vehicle, with its endless rows of seating, is where I learned to drive. I had no idea that other fifteen-year-olds were not also practicing parallel parking in the biggest automobile on the market. There are cars with only two doors? That’s ridiculous.
This was my life – big car, big food, big family.
Fast forward to college and graduation and then my wedding and first house and suddenly Paul and I were on the market for our first refrigerator. When we went to shop I found myself steering clear of the industrial-sized models. I preferred the sleeker, tinier model that could hold half as much food.
Paul, having a bit more foresight, suggested that we were going to outgrow that tiny icebox after our first child. I refused to listen.
Instead of getting the Cadillac of refrigerators, we decided on the sports car model and sure enough, after having our first son two years later, our fridge had shrunk. Another son two years after that and already I was beginning to reach for that bigger box of rice at the grocery store.
Had I known, of course, that I would be the mother of five boys I would never have given the sweet little refrigerator a second glance. And that fridge has been good to me – we still have it, 15 years later. It currently sits in my laundry room holding this week’s supply of milk.
In a similar vein, we are now in the market for a bigger car. “I never thought,” my husband said one recent Sunday morning, “that I’d have a family that outgrew a Suburban.”
A few years ago, when we bought our Suburban, I settled on the vehicle because it was the hippest, sportiest of my options, the other options being an RV or, worse, a yucky van.
Now I want that yucky van so bad I can hardly wait.
I am currently experiencing a strange and disconcerting emotion called van envy. I have my eye on several beautiful vans and I am excitedly waiting for the day we find exactly what we are looking for. I also can’t believe I am a woman actually wanting such a vehicle.
I have come full circle. The car that I grew up driving, that big wieldy humongous thing, well it not longer seems so out-of-the-question. It is now the thing I dream of. And like so many other areas of my life, I get it – I get why my mom bought the bigger boxes, I get why they drove the bigger vehicle. I get why a big family is fun and wonderful and worth all the hard work.
(Of course, I’m not actually getting a fifteen-passenger. I draw the line at twelve.)
You might want to consider the 15 passenger.
I can't speak from personal experience, but I have plenty of friends that are and they say that the 12 passengers don't have ANY trunk room and that it's nice to get a 15 seater and take out the last row so you can have storage space. Just a thought! 
This was great. I am the oldest of six and drove my families minivan and said that I would never buy a minivan. After my third I was dreaming of that minivan and begging my husband for one.
BTW, I chuckled when I read the sentence about your old fridge now holding the weeks worth of milk.
I agree about the storage space in a twelve passenger van. We have seven children so we need all the seats in there, but I wish we had a little more room in the back for groceries. I can fit two weeks' worth back there, but we get our milk and eggs from the barn and I don't buy any snack foods or breakfast cereals or other processed foods that tend to come with bulky packaging. With five, you can still take out that back seat when needed, but if you plan to pass six children, splurge on the 15 passenger.
Your post made me giggle … I know all too well the big family, big food, big van situation (only instead of seats, ours had a vinyl green outdoors couch bolted to the floor and daddy-installed interior paneling – very 70's chic!) My brother-in-law and his wife just had their 6th – and they are upgrading to the 15-passenger van bc they need the space for 3 car seats. They make some pretty awesome vans these days, with built-in dvd players and game systems (theirs came with a PS3, much to the joy of my four nephews). Good luck!
We have stopped at the Suburban, so far. Our oldest is in college, so we can fit the other 4 in the Suburban. And I love the trunk room. I grew up with a GIANT station wagon – the wood panel kind. My Dad comes from 7 and I came from 7 – so I'm used to cooking in bulk. It was actually hard to scale back when we first got married. A few years (and only 1 child) into our marriage, my in-laws offered us a freezer they were giving away. We actually DEBATED taking it. I thought I would NEVER use it and it would just take up space in the garage. HAH!!!! Now I wish I had two. And an extra fridge.
I am reminded of the young man(1 0f 14 children) who took 2 servings of a pork chop casserole on the first time around our dinner table. When questioned by another young man who grew up the baby of only 2 he said that he learned to take what he wanted on the first time around the table!
I'm echoing the van comments here. We bought a 15-passenger for our family of eight (six kids). My husband said the 15 is only about 8 inches longer than the 12 anyway–there's just no space in the 12 in the back. We just don't use the last bench and we can store ton of stuff in there. I hated it at first, it took a lot of getting used to because I was coming from a crossover style vehicle. Now I love it. My kids love that we can now bring friends home from school or church or whatever.
Oh, and I have been wanting a second fridge/freezer and we just found out a family member is giving us their old one since they are downsizing! Yippee!
Loved your article. We only have 5 children. 3 boys and 2 girls. And we recently traded in our hip cool Suburban for a 15 passenger van. We love it. We are a road trippin' kind of family, and the extra room in the van was heaven this last weekend. Plenty of room for all of us plus the cooler of food, and all the "stuff". Also great for Scout campouts, when my husband packs it full of boys and backpacks, etc. However, our family defintely has given us a bad time about it. We figure when the kids are all older, they will look back with fondness and say, "Remember when mom and dad had that great big van we took all those trips in? Those were the good ol days".
I learned to drive on a full sized van…army green. The ugliest vehicle. For my first car I had a sporty red car. So cool. Now I drive a truck. An ugly greenish/grey color. But I love it. We only have 3 kiddos, but it has room for them and all their stuff! And it can haul the Boy Scout Troop trailer! I am a Traiblaizin' mommy!
Omigosh Rachel, we just bought our first van recently. I am excited for your growing family, but as a Suburban girl myself, I gotta tell you, the van takes some getting used to. I am expecting #7 so I sadly traded in our '08 suburban with the GPS and towing package for a 12 pass. Ford Econoline. I must say it was a trade down. I could not find a nine passenger Suburban anywhere in the area (they do make them though-they take out the center console and make the front row one bench) so I reluctantly went to the Ford dealership with the hubster to talk deals. If you are used to bells and whistles, the upgraded trim packages in the big vans are sparse. Two warnings-the wheel base on the vans are much narrower and the center of gravity higher increaing chances of rollover, and all of the models that I looked at (Chevy E-series, Dodge Sprinter, and Ford) were all rear wheel drive so they handle poorly in the rain (and snow, but I don't imagine you'll be faced with much of the white stuff in GA.) Safety-wise I wish they made an AWD model of big family van. Okay, a positive note: we do like the extra seats in the van so that we can separate the kids if a fight breaks out. Also I have found that we get about the same MPG's in the van as we did in the truck. If I can suggest one feature not to scrimp on = running boards. Those babies will help your kids climb in and out with ease and they are a real back saver on Mom and Dad;-) Happy shopping!
Go for the 15 passenger. Think about how often friends travel, as well as the extra HUGE cargo space when you remove the back seat. We used ours and ran it into the ground. We plan to buy another, it is the best. I loved our 15 passenger, we called it the StormTrooper (all white)
Rachel, thank you so much for this…I just got to laughing and giggling with tears running down, chortling really, because YES and yes and YES!
(Says the woman with the 5-soon to be 6-kids (four boys, 1 girl, and 1 ?) and the 15 passenger, who swore she'd never do this, like mama did.)
We have a van the length of a 15-passenger, but with seating for 12. I LOVE the extra space in the back.
I miss my Suburban sometimes, but when our 7th was on the way, we had no choice but to get a ginormous van. Expecting #8 any moment now and it's nice that we have no worries about where we'll put him.
My only request when it came to buying our van: It could not be white. We were lucky to find a deep red van, so I feel less like I am driving some sort of shuttle.
YES, consider the 15 passenger. It is well worth it especially considering extra kids (friends, cousins), backpacks from school, sports equip, etc. Also, YES to getting running boards. Didn't want them — thought they looked tacky and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. So much nicer to get in and out of.
We recently got a 15-passenger – it was a good deal and had everything we wanted. We planned on getting a 12-passenger but we usually leave our rear seat out and we have lots of room in the back so we don't have to worry about squishing anything in, including groceries. We are out of town a lot to visit family so there are no worries about fitting anything in and since we only have 4 kids so far, each one basically gets their own row.
Our van has custom running boards which are awesome! Highly recommended!!!
I am one of those women driving the WHITE 15-passenger vans (my neighbors have said they would paint it in a fun Partridge Family style).
Unfortunately, we need all the space, so we haven't pulled the last seat out… which means we've got NO storage space in the back.
whimper….
I'm smiling thinking of your white knuckles three years from now when your son is driving the 12 passenger van. It makes me more appreciative in the passenger seat as my 15 year old (our 4th to teach to drive) drives our Tahoe.
We got our 12 passenger burgundy van just a year old at an auction for half off blue book.
I built a shelf into the trunk so you can put standard suitcases on the bottom and still have room on top for other luggage. The bottom area also stays cool for groceries.
We are expecting number 10 so our van will probably only give us a couple more years!
We went from a Grand Voyager (7 seats) to a Venture (8 seats) to avoid the big van for an extra year.
Hi Rachel,
We are a family of 7 (5 kids), and I am on my *second* 15 passenger van! The first was a big white one and we really did run it into the ground. My teenage daughter was mortified to be seen in it, until we teased her that we were going to take a picture of her smiling face and enlarge it to be a billboard on the side of the van with her name written there! (Think: RV with Robin Williams)
Now we have a dark green van from a fleet sale and we lovingly call it "THE BUS"! I am surprised at how addicted I am to having my "room on wheels" and how much I can haul. It is similar to having a covered truck.
We take the back seat out and have oodles of room for groceries, animal food, packs of water bottles and a marine style porta-potty…yes, really!
I love that it gives each of the kids their own space, and room for their equipment (hubby is soccer coaching) Plus, on long trips, one adult drives, and the other can lay down and sleep! My husband does have a Suburban, and really, they are only a few inches difference in length. (WE measured!)
Good luck finding your dream van!
Donna L.
Oh, I laughed when I read this story! I shared this with my husband, and told him WHO you were, and he laughed, saying, "that could be us one day!"
Blessings on your beauti-FULL family!