Labrador's are great dogs, family or no family. Or if you want go for something very different, something like a Newfoundland. Although they grow to mammoth size, they're super dogs, great with people and they love kids (if they arrive on the scene later). But you would need to keep it away from your garage, as they do like to try and get into cars. Never known one that didn't like to go for a ride in a car. Good guard dogs too, surprisingly for such a massive docile dog. Oh and wiki slightly under estimates the size they get to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_%28dog%29