So remember how we got to borrow an FJ Cruiser for a week and bring home O-Man in it from the hospital?
I got a lot of questions asking how I liked it, if it worked for a family of four, etc.
It might seem silly that we took on the review of a car that a) was totally impractical for our family of 6, b) during a week when we had a brand new, fresh from the belly baby, and c) when I couldn’t even drive it since you know, I had that whole pesky recovering-from-being-sliced-open-like-a-watermelon thing.
But it might make a lot more sense to you when you see this picture:
Our “fleet” of Land Cruisers.
Okay, so the white one is the loaner and the little one isn’t exactly street legal.
But getting the chance to drive around a Land Cruiser of any size is pretty exciting for our family.
(Our neighbors probably think we are insane. I can picture them looking out their windows wondering what on earth I’m doing snapping pictures of trucks in the middle of the street.)
The hubs digs all things TLC.
Henry even has one.
Spraypainted to match Daddy’s Cruiser.
But simply a placeholder until he gets a real FJ40 to rebuild and restore with his dad.
100% serious.
I smell grease and that orange goopy soap stuff in my future.
When my little end of the cul-de-sac photoshoot was over, and it was time to move the cars, I offered to move the FJ…all of 40 feet back to the front of our house.
It was the first time I had actually driven it and I wanted to at least get a teeny tiny taste of what it was like.
I got in…sat down…and at Andy’s instruction, cranked up the volume on the stereo.
AND I FELL IN LOVE.
I ended up whipping it through our teeny neighborhood for a few minutes and for the first time in my adult life, wished I could be a teenager again.
Here I was, the epitome of unhip: a suburban mom with four kids…still swollen from childbirth…a not so cute scar running across my belly…not a stitch of make up…in oversized maternity clothes and a nursing bra. And trust me, there is NOTHING cool or fun or young about a nursing bra. Not. one. thing.
And yet, I was somehow instantly transported to my youth.
If I didn’t have a bitty human being that needed me for sustenance, I may very well have run away for a few hours.
Visions of driving along the coast with Beastie Boys blaring…a girlfriend in the passenger seat…singing along at the top of our lungs…feeling all cute in our decidedly un-girly car…
Lizzie and I used to drive down Beach Blvd. in her old 1970’s orange Bronco with the top taken off…singing with the Boys, not caring who saw us. Smiling at boys in lifted trucks at the red lights and then speeding away in her orange clanking behemoth.
And it was FUN.
And I wanted *really* badly to do it all over again.
Because the car was sporty and quick and handled beautifully…and the stereo…it put the one in my GMC Denali to SHAME.
For about 2 minutes, I felt really super cool. Even if I couldn’t have been less cool if I tried in that moment.
When I got back, to our driveway Andy said “Couldn’t resist, huh?”
“I wish I wasn’t married and didn’t have four kids right now.”
“I know. It’s a fun little car, huh?”
“Ohmygoodness. TOTALLY. Although it’s probably a good thing these didn’t exist when we were in high school…”
(And can I just say how awesome it is and how much I love that I can say that I wish I wasn’t married to my husband and he *totally* gets me and doesn’t so much as skip a beat or raise an eyebrow…because he knows my sarcastic self?)
Andy then goes on to proclaim that “I really really love it. I think I’m gonna be on the look out for one as a commuter car…”
Okay dear. Where you think you are getting the money for said “commuter car” is beyond me…but I won’t be a dream crusher.
Anywhoo, if you want to relive your youth, if even for a few fleeting minutes…take your favorite CD from high school and go test drive one of these.
Seriously.
Totally worth it.
Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.
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My parents bought me my first car when I turned 16. It was a 1988 Nissan Sentra (and the year was 1997). It was a 4-speed manual transmission with no A/C. And vinyl seats that my legs practically melted onto in the extremely hot NC summers. And still, for whatever reason (independence!!), I cherish those memories.
The Land Cruiser sounds amazing! Although, I bet parallel parking in that would be a beast. :)
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That sounds like SO MUCH FUN
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Okay now totally have me interested in at least looking at one. BTW the word “nursing bra” took my baby crazy daughter back to never wanting kids…
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