Well, we finally decided to give up our wonderful Honda Civic Hybrid with its great gas mileage and purchased a 4WD. I guess it was the massive snow storm just before Christmas that did the trick.

We had been researching, waiting, and saving for more than a year. We were so ready for the release of the 2011 Explorer. This is the first model with the body style similar to the Ford Edge. This was the first one to arrive at our local dealership and had everything Biz and I wanted, so we went ahead and made them an offer.

The Explorer gives us everything we need to get through the winter, including snow clearance when pulling into Charles' unplowed driveway! It also has 4-Wheel-All Wheel-All Terrain drive for driving on those rough, slushy, slippery roads. Don't worry! Bizzy doesn't let Charles drive in those types of conditions anyways! As for gas mileage, the Explorer does give us 18-23, and last May Charles traded in his 8-year-old Jeep Liberty for a 2010 Ford Fusion, which gives us 26-30 MPG, so that will become our long distance car when driving to away games.

We're having fun getting to know our Ford Explorer and it's certainly an SUV one should consider buying, if you are in the market for one.