Coming to You from Iowa

Yep, we finally made it here. We had a rocky start to our trip, which I am sure you are just dying to here about but we managed to make it to my parents on Saturday evening around dinner time, despite some rather fun obstacles along the way. I thought I would take this opportunity to do a quick catch up- one less thing to write about when we get back- since I am alone in a quiet house. They guys (Ryan, my dad, and brother Ben) are golfing, the kids are napping, and my mom has run out to take care of some with the horses). So here I am in the peace and quiet, and not in my own house with "things to do" and a beautiful breeze blowing throw the windows- for me right now, it doesn't get any better.

So on to the good stuff. We planned to leave town right after Ryan got home from work on Friday- a little after 2:00. Well by the time we got loaded up and made a couple last minute stops- i.e. the bank, dropping Maggie (the dog)off, and had to make a couple turn arounds for forgotten things we were well behind schedule. I had kept the kids up all day in hopes that they would just konk out in the car- and well that plan would have worked great if only....

They did just as I hoped, and passed out within minutes of being in their car seats, but by the time we did our errands- they were awake before we were even out of the suburbs- and that was it- they didn't sleep another wink. Well, of course our delayed start was only the start. It took us another hour to get out of the city of Memphis because of stand still traffic. I was actually driving, hoping Ryan would get some rest before taking the wheel (since he had been up and at work since the middle of the night practically). By the time we finally made it over the river and were on our way, I looked at him and said "Well, it could be worse..." If only I had known.

By this time we were a good two hours behind where we had hoped to be and decided to make a gas/ diaper change/ dinner stop in Cape Girardeau- the half way point between Memphis and St. Louis- which was SUPPOSED to be our destination for the night. We decided to just hit up Mc Donalds (yuck) out of convenience and it actually ended up being a God send that we did. After our wonderful, greasy, fly ridden dinner we changed diapers and loaded up the car, only to discover that the one thing you dread the most on car trips was happening to us. Yes, in the ninety degree heat, with two small and tired tots in the back seat in an unknown town only half way to our destination, our car would not start. We called AAA ( thank heavens for triple A!) And at 7:30 they told me that they would have someone out there between now and 9:30 (PM). At that point I admit I did break down a little into tears. The thought of sitting in a dead car with with my kids, who were already drenched in sweat, for another two hours was just too much. Despite Ryan telling me not to, I just kept trying to start the car over and over, obviously with no success. When he would tell me "It's not going to start." I just cried back "Well, I have nothing else to do right now but to keep trying!!!!"- praying that by some fluke chance it would kick on. Well this is where things just could have kept getting worse and worse, but God showed mercy on my pitiful stressed soul and things actually went SO much better than they could have.

In the middle of my panic, my phone rang and a company was calling to tell me that they had a driver heading our way and would be there in no more than 30 minutes. Hallelujah! And it only took him about 15 minutes, so at that point things started looking up. He jump started our car but took the cables off and it died. He said that we needed a new battery, but there was a good chance there was also something wrong with the alternator.

In the meantime, I had called my dad and he called to cancel our hotel in St. Louis and booked us a room in Cape at the hotel that I just looked up and saw somewhat nearby- which was thankfully a Hampton Inn and was very nice. The problem was how we were going to get the four of us and our stuff over there. Well the tow truck driver was super nice, was able to get our car- "running"- questionably running, but running none the less. So he put his lights on and followed us over there and waited for us to unload, and then proceeded to follow Ryan to Sears to drop the car off and bring him back to the hotel. I would say he went above and beyond the call of duty. In the meantime it was my job to get the kids and half our stuff up to our third floor room. Luckily again, several helpful people took pity on me trying to maneuver all our stuff while trying to direct my two toddlers and helped me get to where we needed to go. Once we opened the door to our room, at now 9:00 at night, the kids were thrilled and so was I. Just knowing I had a place with air to sleep with my family and that we were not stranded in the middle of nowhere just gave me such a huge sense of relief. Now we just had to wait and hope nothing serious was wrong with the car and we would be able to get back on our way in the morning. Thankfully, I called Sears 1st thing in the morning and they were able to work on our car right away. We were so glad to find out it was only the battery that had to be replaced and it was done in no time. Again, we were so fortunate to have the help of nice people. The man from Sears drove our car over to the hotel and picked Ryan up to go back to Sears to pay- saving Ryan at least a 20-30 minute walk in the heat. We were back on the road by 9:30 that morning and while I did have my moment where I almost had a break down, in the grand scheme of things this was nothing- the whole fiasco only really ended up setting us back a couple hours getting to my parents. I was so impressed with Ryan, who stayed calm cool and collected the whole time. The rest of the trip was smooth sailing and our time so far here has been so enjoyable. Can't wait to share all about it!!!

Yay for hotel rooms and A/C!!!