need help figuring out who to put where...

[smashncakes]

I'm going to be watching a friend's kids this summer and we're going to HAVE to go to tball practices & games since DH & I are both coaches. Two vehicles available, both will have to be used. 1992 GMC Sonoma pickup--no passenger side airbag at all, lap/shoulder belt. 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis--rear seat has room for 3 child seats, outboard are lap/shoulder (need locking clips or lockoffs, not a big deal though), center is lap only (so MUST be a harnessed seat), front seat has lap/shoulder belt and has passenger side airbag--seat can go really far back with a FF'ing seat or booster behind it. The drive is about 5-7 minutes from our house, on two one-way roads, both with normal traffic, 30-45 mph speed limit depending on road.


Seats available:
Britax Marathon
Chicco Keyfit 30
Britax Boulevard 70
Graco Nautilus
Cosco highback booster (not the harnessed booster, just a regular 'ol highback booster, I think its called a Pronto?)
Graco no-back Turbobooster
Harmony no-back booster (literider? its the $13 one from walmart)

Kids & stats:
* 6yo, booster trained, 48" and 50 lbs
* 5yo (well, five in a couple weeks), has a booster but rarely sits in it, and when he does, its with the shoulder belt behind him , 46" and 50-ish lbs, possibly more
* 4yo (four in a couple weeks), generally rides in the Marathon or Nautilus, currently being booster trained w/a highback booster & doing well, but preferably for emergencies only, 41" and 37lbs.
* 4.5yo, has a harnessed seat in mom's car but is rarely buckled properly and is usually bouncing around her car--can't unbuckle on his own though, so if I put him in properly (which I will), he's not going anywhere.
* 8 month old--obviously RF'ing


OKAY...so obviously one child is going to HAVE to ride in the truck and one is going to HAVE to ride in the front seat of my car. I know the RF'ing baby MUST be in the rear. Soooo...what do I do with the rest of them? Harnessed or boostered kids in the two front seats? I'm thinking of keeping baby in the keyfit, putting the 4yo and 4.5yo in the Marathon & Boulevard, putting the 5yo harnessed in the Nautilus or in a highback booster (would really prefer the Nautilus but I"m sure he could get out of it...might actually be easier to put him in the highback booster in the 3across in the back because it will be VERY hard for him to reach the buckle and get out that way...it will just be a pain in the butt to get him IN the seat that way too), then the 6yo in a booster. *thinking* 6yo in truck? Which kid to put in the front seat of my car? I know it isn't ideal to have any of them in the front...but it has to be done, no other option, I can't afford a van right now and we're emergency sitters because their usual sitter (grandma) is in & out of the hospital. Help me work this out please

[jjordan]

Rule of thumb is that the oldest harnessed child goes in the front.

So, let's put the 5yo harnessed in the nautilus in one front seat, and the 4.5 yo harnessed in the Boulevard 70 in another front seat. Does either front seat have a tether anchor?

Then (in the Mercury), infant RF in the keyfit in the center, 4 yo harnessed in the marathon outboard, and 6 yo boostered outboard, if the seats will fit that way.

[smashncakes]

Neither front seat has a tether anchor...actually no tether anchors for ANY position Multiple local dealerships keep going between telling me that the kit can't be ordered or that its indefinitely on backorder Can't wait until we get traded up to a van this fall!