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The Swagger Wagon or the Slumber Wagon? Sleeping in the 2017 Toyota Sienna with My 16 Month-Old Daughter in the Hotel Parking Lot

While I’m happy that my wife and son slept in the glorious Fairfield Inn & Suites in West Knoxville, it’s true my daughter and I were out in the parking lot, in the shelter of the 2017 Toyota Sienna.

We were halfway to our destination of our Boone, North Carolina for our fall “Road Trip to the Boonies”. Instead of driving the whole 6 hours in one shot, after a full day’s work for us parents and school for our kids, my wife had booked a room for us at a hotel for us to stay so we could finish the other half of the drive the next morning.

But when we arrived at the hotel late last Thursday night, our daughter Holly outright refused to fall asleep. The nice man at the front desk of the hotel even brought us a crib for her to sleep in. But no way, she hasn’t having it.

This is just the stage she is in right now. She doesn’t sleep well in a bed that is not our own.

After 2 and a half hours of my wife and me taking turns trying to get her asleep, I finally went into classic dad mode.

I fumbled in the dark for my boat shoes, my wrinkled plaid shirt, and the keys to the Sienna. I then told my wife, “That’s it. She’s going with me. We’re sleeping in the van tonight.”

It was something like 2:20 AM at this point and we all had to wake up the next morning to finish the rest of our drive. I placed Holly in her car seat, turned Sirius XM to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, and drove a mile down the road.

She was asleep.

So I drove the mile back to the parking lot of the Fairfield Inn & Suites. I have to say… Being a man who is 5’ 9” and a 160-something pounds definitely has its advantages.

I was able to lay down sideways on the floorboard of the Sienna, wedged in between the two captain’s chairs, with my head towards near the bottom of the 3rd row seat and my feel towards the driver’s seat.

I woke up 2 hours later.

Holly was awake again. So this time, I simply drove around the hotel parking lot a few times. That’s all it took.

This time to get to sleep, I decided to lean back in the recliner seat on the 2nd row captain’s chair next to my daughter. While this did buy me 3 more hours of sleep for not only myself but also Holly, my head kept falling back and forth so I never really got deep sleep. No REM.

I was just glad she was able to fall asleep. Sure, it would have been nice to be inside the hotel, because I was impressed how comforting the place was and how accommodating the staff was.

My son was really excited about the Fairfield frisbee that one of the workers gave him. It’s such a nice place to stay. I totally recommend the Fairfield Inn & Suites in West Knoxville to anyone.

Maybe next time we stay there, my daughter will have outgrown this stage and will fall asleep in the comfortable bed.

Had I thought of it, I should have just folded down the 3rd row seats, with a touch of a button. I could have even borrowed my pillow and blankets from the hotel. It would have been really nice there in the very back of the Sienna.

It’s just that when you’re running on so little sleep, and trying to keep a 16 month-old asleep at the same time, you tend not to think that much into it.

All that matters though, is this: Little Holly slept through the rest of the night.

Sure, the Sienna is quite the swagger wagon. And I’m sure I’ll be talking more about that in future blog posts.

But most importantly, in my case, the Sienna also served as the slumber wagon.

Sleeping baby is priority number one.

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BubbleBum Travel Booster Car Seat: The Most Honest Review on the Internet! (Because It’s from the Perspective of a 1st grader)

As we were preparing for our family’s recent fall “Road Trip to the Boonies” in the 2017 Toyota Sienna, I received an email from the folks at BubbleBum, asking me if I’d be interested in testing out their inflatable travel booster car seat. My response: “Sure, if you can send it to me before our family leaves for Boone, North Carolina next week…”

It arrived in time, which means I now get to present you with the most honest review on the Internet, for the BubbleBum travel booster car seat.

Here’s why I say that. I treated this like a somewhat secret scientific experiment with my 1st grader son, Jack. I wanted to stand back and just see how he naturally responded to the BubbleBum.

He had already established he wanted the 3rd row seat to himself. So the night before we left, I placed his regular booster seat in the left seat and the BubbleBum on the right seat.

When we loaded up in the Sienna the next morning, he immediately asked, “Daddy, can I sit in my new seat?”

So already, through the process of natural selection, he chose the BubbleBum.

For the 6 hour road trip from Spring Hill, Tennessee to Boone, North Carolina, Jack sat in the BubbleBum.

But for the trip back home, I had him sit in his regular booster seat.

Obviously, you see where I’m going with this…

Once we got home, I asked him, “So Jack, which seat did you like better?”

His simple, all-telling response: “The new one.”

I then asked for details. “Why did you like the new one better?”

His answer, “I don’t know. I just did.”

So there you go. My son can’t tell you why he liked the BubbleBum booster seat better. He just did.

And as I’ve already mentioned, he naturally choose to sit in it first.

He liked it. He really liked it.

If you’re interested in learning more about the BubbleBum travel booster seat, you can check out their website here.

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We are Taking a Luxurious 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon” for Our Family’s Fall Road Trip to Boone, North Carolina

Ah, the life of a daddy blogger… to have a brand new decked-out vehicle delivered to me whenever our family goes on a road trip. It’s pretty awesome, actually. I love getting to share the stories that present themselves, as my wife and I (ambitiously) travel across the South with a now 1st grader and a 16 month-old.

This makes the first year our family will not be travelling to California. Instead, 2017 is a year of smaller road trips for us.

Back in May, we traveled to Destin, Florida in the 2017 Toyota Prius.

Then in July, we took a fun little trip to Louisville, Kentucky (and saw dinosaurs) in the 2017 Toyota 4Runner.

Our next upcoming event will be our fall road trip to Boone, North Carolina. We will be sharing a cabin with two of my wife’s siblings and their families. It’s going to be a long drive there and back, but we’ve got the right vehicle for it.

The 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon” that was delivered to me feels like a luxurious spacecraft. Our whole family is psyched!

My wife is excited because of how spacious the cabin is and how the captain’s chairs, in the 2nd row where she’ll be sitting next to our young daughter, are full recliners.

Our son is thrilled because he will be able to watch DVDs during the trip, as he loves taking up the 3rd row for himself.

I’m confident our little girl is going to love the Sienna on account of being able to be so close and accessible to her Mommy sitting next to her.

And as for me?

I like knowing that as the captain of our voyage, as I listen to Jimmy Buffet’s Radio Margaritaville on Channel 24 on SiriusXM up in the front row, my family is going to be comfortable and entertained in the middle and back rows.

Could a 36 year-old husband and father be more excited about taking his family on a 6 hour road trip to a cabin in North Carolina, in a 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon”?

I submit that he can not.

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Breaking News: “Manliest Vegan on the Internet” Rides Skateboard to Target for Carrot Juice; Refuses to See Himself as a Hero

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon in Spring Hill, Tennessee when Nick Shell, 36, drove his family in a 2017 Toyota 4Runner to the local “weigh and pay” frozen yogurt shop, Sweet Cece’s; after his wife suggested it would be fun.

Joined by his parents who were visiting for the weekend, he carried in his 1 year-old daughter as his 6 and a half year-old son ran ahead. As the Shell family walked to the back of the shop, deciding which flavor they each were in the mood for, Nick noticed that unlike any other time he had ever been to Sweet Cece’s, the dairy-free option was temporarily unavailable.

He kept this information to himself, though his wife soon took notice, asking him, “Oh no, are they out of the watermelon sorbet for you?”

Allowing his entire family to get their own frozen treats, he waited until after everyone was settled in at the table before he whispered to his wife, “I’ll be right back. I’ll just go pick up something at Super Target across the street.”

He pulled open the hatch door of the 4Runner, where he had been keeping his skateboard for just an event such as this. Within minutes, he found himself at the Super Target entrance.

His family, back at Sweet Cece’s, were not even halfway through their treats, when he returned with a bottle of Bolthouse Farms 100% carrot juice in hand.

“My name in Greek means victorious. I find a way to be victorious in everything I do. I will not allow myself to be a victim. So when I saw that Sweet Cece’s was temporarily out of my vegan option, it did not affect me emotionally. Instead, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to use my skateboard and catch up on some Vitamin A from carrot juice. Some might even refer to me as a hero, but I refuse to see myself that way. I’m just a regular guy who did what any decent manly vegan would do in that instance,” Shell strangely explained.

After clarifying to him that no one was referring to him as a hero, Nick Shell then continued to speak about the incident, but I had to sort of tune him out. He kept referring to himself as “the manliest vegan on the Internet,” even though in the same breath, he admitted no one has ever questioned him on that title.

If you see him in public, it’s best you just smile and nod, while slowly walking away, backwards.

Otherwise, he may offer to let you take a selfie with him for your Instagram account, as he pressures you into tagging it:

#themanliestveganontheinternet

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2017 Toyota 4Runner 3rd Seat Space and Car Seat Placement (Videos Included)

This past weekend while my parents were in town, everyone was able to comfortably ride in the 2017 Toyota 4Runner: that’s 4 adults and 2 kids- we even had room for one more person!

I drove, my wife sat shotgun, our daughter sat behind me, my mom sat next to her (with an empty seat between), and then in the 3rd row seat, there was our son and my 5’ 11” dad.

So to be clear, there are 2 seats in the front row, 3 in the 2nd row, and 2 in the back; which totals 7 seats.

If you had to, you could actually fit 4 kids’ car seats in the 2017 Toyota 4Runner; parents up front, younger kids in the 2nd row, and older kids in the 3rd row.

Let’s talk a little bit more about the space in the 3rd row. I’m 5’ 9” and my dad is 2 inches taller than me. We both, at times, rode in the 3rd row seat.

 

We were just riding around town so it wasn’t a big deal. But obviously, it’s not something an average-sized full grown adult would want to do for a long ride-trip.

It’s that paradox where if I sat up straight in the 3rd row seat, I would have to sort of tilt my head forward, but if I slouched down in the seat, my knees would hit the back of the 2nd row seat.

 

However, I would imagine that for a long road trip, the largest riders would likely also most likely be the ones driving or riding shotgun to begin with.

Obviously though, a 5’ 2” female adult would likely have no issues whatsoever fitting in the 3rd row seat.

 

I am so grateful that I just happened to have the 2017 Toyota 4Runner the weekend my parents were in town. It was no problem hauling everyone around in it.

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