The van...

I never thought I wanted a minivan. But, with the surprise of baby #3 within 3 years, we were pretty much forced in to it. I had my little SUV that I loved, but it had to go by the wayside so that we could get a vehicle that would hold not one, not two, but THREE carseats with enough room between to keep everyone from hurting each other. It took awhile to find just the right thing, but after weeks of searching, we found one by the side of the road. There it was, our beautifully shined one-owner Dodge Caravan. Complete with captain's chairs and and upgraded sound system and MOST importantly.....within our very limited price range.

In the three years that we've had it, there has not been one problem...she has endured all that a vehicle belonging to three toddlers can imagine...french fries wedged between the seats, juice spilled in the cupholders, dirty socks under the seats, playing the same Dora the Explorer cd literally thousands of times. She's been great to us...until this week.

For some reason, when we try to start the van, she just "clicks" at us a couple of times before starting. Now, mind you, this only started happening since I accidentally let the battery die out while we waited for 90 minutes to exit the I Love America celebration in Springfield on July 4th. She had to be jumped. And now, the clicking. We think the two may be related. To get the car to start, we have to do the following in order:
1. Re-close all of the doors and make sure the ceiling lights are all off (kids love to leave them on).
2. Turn off the radio.
3. Turn off all of the fans.
4. Try to start the van. If she clicks, we do number 5.
5. Open and slam the driver side door.

That usually does the trick. Oh, and we all have to hold our breath, put our right hand over our heart and blink really fast.