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With Winter Snowstorms leading to April Showers, it’s a good time to take a look at the family car. Are you ready for bad weather? AskPatty’s Jody DeVere gives up some great pointers on how women can weatherproof their cars.

About 2 weeks before the Philadelphia Auto Show, I laid the bait. Talked about how much fun it would be for the kids to be able to explore and sit in race cars and trucks and see a “real Herbie” (our 3-year-old is bit obsessed.) What I didn’t do was go overboard on how we were going to really explore auto options for a family of five. I may have given a few hints, but let the huz get his own idea about why we were going.

The “day of” we piled into the car and got there just as the show opened. The boys were super excited. The Auto Show is a dream-land experience for 2 preschool-age boys. The cars they’ve been vrooming and racing and crashing in their imaginations were about to be real, huge and touchable. And, “yes!” we answered, “you will be able to climb in!”

Upon entering, we were teased with the fancies: You can’t ignore the shine of Mercedes and Lexus’ new models. But moving on to find  “Herbie” minivans “Herbie”, we entered one of the show floors of the Philadelphia Convention Center. Of course, the three year old wanted to only see the VW Beetle, his “Herbie.” And while he was hoping to sit in an orange Herbie, we were fairly certain he’d be happy no matter what. Our search for Herbie began, but we found a few things to distract us along the way.

We definitely had to stop by the DUB Live display, presented by DUB Magazine and the Philadelphia International Auto Show. A race car museum and an expanded vehicle display, it included vintage cars and extreme transports. We saw souped-up racers, IRL models of gaming cars, and custom bikes. Wide-eyed, bewildered and a bit overwhelmed, the boys walked through this museum trying so hard to keep their hands to their sides.

Onto the new-car show, we had no idea how big the event would be. Upon entering the doors to the Exhibit, I decided it was time to share my list of cars that I needed to see. But before I got too far into the list, the huz interrupted, proclaiming “we will not be buying an American car. I don’t even want to look at them.” I saw his point. This was the same week that the auto industry requested, and was granted, a bailout of sorts from the President. Quickly, I scratched a few suggested cars from the list.

Highlights of the show included climbing in and out of over 47 cars (the 5-year-old counted), getting locked into the pick-up of a  Toyota, exploring the “shops” which included sales of  hundreds of mini-replicas, and driving race cars at the racetrack. (We finally stopped when people began to comment that the huz had won several games in a row. I replied that he’s been doing it for a while, meaning, of course, that it was his 6th race of the day. But others’ looked at me like he made a hobby of this.)

Of course, the absolute bestest part in the whole wide world, the part that 2 little boys will  never, ever, ever forget: studying the ins and outs and all abouts of a REAL LIVE HERBIE! (a pretty soft green one.)

Of course, I had a few highlights of my own… exploring potential minivans that looked promising. More about that soon.