Now I get it.

I now understand the reasoning behind the minivan. Yesterday my husband, Sophia, a few of our friends from church and I went to Gunstock Mountain, a local ski area, for a day of skiing. The plan was to play on the mountain all day then head up to our friend's lake house, where we would spend the night soaking our sore muscles in the jacuzzi.

I spent most of Friday getting ready for the trip. I packed a bag for food, a cooler for cold food, a bag of books and knitting and activities for the lodge, a bag of snow gear, an overnight bag, the diaper bag, the pack n' play and two sleeping bags. On Saturday morning it took three trips back and forth from the house to the car. The pack n' play and stroller alone took up most of the trunk, with just enough room to squeeze in our down sleeping bags. On either side of Sophia's carseat were our 'other' bags and on the floor my snowshoes and boots. Even if we wanted to fit another kid in there we couldn't. And the thing is we used everything! I couldn't pack "lighter" if I wanted to--and that was for just one day and one night!

But oh, was it worth it! We had a blast! Some skied downhill, two friends tried cross-country skiing, our other friends snowboarded, I spent most of my time exploring the trails on my snowshoes and my husband stayed in the lodge the whole day with Sophia, reading by the massive stone fireplace (God bless him!).

We left the mountain when the lifts closed at 4pm--along with everyone else. The traffic was jammed getting out of the parking lot and as we sat there I looked around and realized we were in a sea of minivans. Then it clicked and I realized: we need a minivan.