After a few weeks spent browsing around the local car dealerships, we finally settled on a new vehicle and signed the paperwork yesterday. It’s a 2003 Suzuki XL-7, and since we won’t pick it up until Thursday, you’ll have to settle for the dealership’s picture here. It’s not exactly the mini-van we were originally planning on, but it turns out that used mini-vans aren’t so easy to come by as you might think. Anyway, it seats seven, has a manual transmission (I was surprised by how many mini-vans, even here in Sweden, have automatic transmissions — I HATE automatics!), and comes with air conditioning, so all the important bases are covered, and the four-wheel-drive, sunroof, and leather seats are just a little extra icing. It cost a bit more than we wanted to spend, and we could have well done without some of the bonus features, but we were tired of looking and just wanted to have it done with, so that’s that.