I love how so many people talk about big SUV's being bad..blah, blah, blah. For us, our Excursion with a V-10 fits our family perfectly. We have 5 children, a baby on the way, and 2 English Springer Spaniels. When we want to go to the beach, we pack up and go. If we want to go to the dog beach, we pack up and go. If we go on vacation, we load up and go together everywhere.

Our truck gets around 14mpg on the expressway and 11mpg or so in the city. Yes gas is expensive, but this is the way our family goes places together which is how it should be. Any other way and we'd have to take 2 cars, which isn't happening.

When we decided to buy a large SUV, we knew that we'd try for one more child, making it an even 6. They only vehicle that could fit 8 people comfortably along with a considerable amount of luggage was a very large gas guzzling SUV.

In hindsight, this gas guzzling SUV has provided many smiles for our WHOLE family in the past and will continue to do so for the future and I'd trade good gas mileage for that in a nano-second

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UPDATE:

I love how people just jump to conclusions about the life we live. Some think that because we have 5 children, that we must live in poverty or live beyond our means. For those that think they will have to bail us out or believe that our kids do not get adequate attention...I am a stay at home father and spend more hours a day with our kids than most parents can dream of! Yes she works and I stay home with the kids!! What a novel idea right? One income, a large family, and guess what...we need help from no one. Many families today have 2 parents that both work 8 hours a day, leaving what...maybe 2 1/2 hours a day to devote to your kids other than the weekends?

Usually on the weekends those usual parents do things such as clean the house, golf, and just plain relax after a hard week at work. We, on the other hand, take our "detriments to society" to museums, the orchestra, the aquarium, and many other amazing learning experiences for them, thus creating well rounded kids with great grades and an appreciation for life and the world we live in.

I spend time with our kids from the time they wake til the time they go to bed unless of course they are in school. My wife spends every minute she can with them as well. Imagine, a self-sufficient large family that is living well within their means and is HAPPY. How many of you can say that your family is truly happy?