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| Quite the conversation with Grandma |
Last weekend there were some family birthdays to celebrate, so we made the trek across state to visit Green Bay while Gretl spent the weekend at the Farm. (It was pretty much providential that she was not with us for the road trip, but more on that later.)
We got together on Friday night for a smaller gathering of Charlie's
immediate family, enjoyed a nice dinner, and had some birthday cake. The Little Girl got to have lots of time snuggling Grandma and Grandpa, and she got plenty of time to play with her cousins too. She got to bed a little (ok hours) past her bedtime, but it was completely worth it to have the time with family.
Saturday was a surprise birthday for Charlie's aunt, so we were able to spend time with the extended family. Food, birthday cake, more snuggles for the Little Girl, and a chance to play on fun playground equipment with her cousins = a super fun time for us all.
After things got wrapped up a bit from the party, we were able to pick up a number of tools and such that we had not been able to get moved
yet. I still have no idea how Charlie got it all in there. Apparently playing Tetris as a child really did teach important life skills. Who would have ever thought?
Sunday morning we went to Mass with Charlie's folks and then got ready to head for home. The Little Girl decided that life was just too exciting for a nap, so she refused to take one despite all of our efforts to convince her otherwise. (We finally gave up and just loaded the car.)
On the road home, we had the battery light pop on at Oshkosh, so we pulled into Menard's to change it. In the rain. With all of the tools to do it sitting in the garage at home. After six trips into the store to get the right tools, buy the battery, and change a very stinky diaper on the Little Girl, we were ready to get back on the road - soaking wet, but hopeful that we would still be able to make it home by bedtime even with needing to pick up the dog from the Farm. There were still lights on, but we were going to make every effort to get home, so we could get the car looked at when shops opened again on Tuesday.
It was not to be. We made it to Coloma (about halfway), had dinner, got back in the car and made it a mile down the road before the power steering went out and the whole electrical system went crazy on us. I managed to get to the side of the road to call AAA for a tow (and offered a prayer of thanks that we had decided to keep the Plus membership that covers a 100 mile tow - we were about 90 miles from home!). They went about trying to find someone to do the tow, and we ended up calling the local police for assistance since we were not in a very safe location. (The side of the road, cresting a hill, on a curve, in the rain. Definitely not ideal.) The found someone 20 miles away to do the tow for us, and Charlie was able to get the car to start again and make it the 100 yards down the road to a safer place to wait. Our new buddy Tom loaded the car up and drove us the rest of the way home even stopping once for the half hour that we needed to feed the hungry and overtired Little Girl who had finally had enough. We finally made it home about 11pm after more than double the normal amount of time for the trip. ("Double" the time, "Toil"ing in the rain, and just a spot of car "Trouble"...I'm trying to keep upbeat about the whole thing.) The repair shops are all closed today for Memorial Day (as they should be), so we will not know for sure what caused the problem until at least tomorrow. We are currently praying for it to be a loose wire or fuse, and we all have a good laugh about it. (The suspicion, however, is that the alternator is toast. Please let it be a fuse!)
Since it would be really easy to get upset and negative about it, it would probably be good to make a list of the things to be thankful for about the weekend:
We got together on Friday night for a smaller gathering of Charlie's
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| Playtime with Grandpa |
Saturday was a surprise birthday for Charlie's aunt, so we were able to spend time with the extended family. Food, birthday cake, more snuggles for the Little Girl, and a chance to play on fun playground equipment with her cousins = a super fun time for us all.
After things got wrapped up a bit from the party, we were able to pick up a number of tools and such that we had not been able to get moved
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| She loves Great Grandpa! |
Sunday morning we went to Mass with Charlie's folks and then got ready to head for home. The Little Girl decided that life was just too exciting for a nap, so she refused to take one despite all of our efforts to convince her otherwise. (We finally gave up and just loaded the car.)
On the road home, we had the battery light pop on at Oshkosh, so we pulled into Menard's to change it. In the rain. With all of the tools to do it sitting in the garage at home. After six trips into the store to get the right tools, buy the battery, and change a very stinky diaper on the Little Girl, we were ready to get back on the road - soaking wet, but hopeful that we would still be able to make it home by bedtime even with needing to pick up the dog from the Farm. There were still lights on, but we were going to make every effort to get home, so we could get the car looked at when shops opened again on Tuesday.
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| Waiting for the tow truck |
It was not to be. We made it to Coloma (about halfway), had dinner, got back in the car and made it a mile down the road before the power steering went out and the whole electrical system went crazy on us. I managed to get to the side of the road to call AAA for a tow (and offered a prayer of thanks that we had decided to keep the Plus membership that covers a 100 mile tow - we were about 90 miles from home!). They went about trying to find someone to do the tow, and we ended up calling the local police for assistance since we were not in a very safe location. (The side of the road, cresting a hill, on a curve, in the rain. Definitely not ideal.) The found someone 20 miles away to do the tow for us, and Charlie was able to get the car to start again and make it the 100 yards down the road to a safer place to wait. Our new buddy Tom loaded the car up and drove us the rest of the way home even stopping once for the half hour that we needed to feed the hungry and overtired Little Girl who had finally had enough. We finally made it home about 11pm after more than double the normal amount of time for the trip. ("Double" the time, "Toil"ing in the rain, and just a spot of car "Trouble"...I'm trying to keep upbeat about the whole thing.) The repair shops are all closed today for Memorial Day (as they should be), so we will not know for sure what caused the problem until at least tomorrow. We are currently praying for it to be a loose wire or fuse, and we all have a good laugh about it. (The suspicion, however, is that the alternator is toast. Please let it be a fuse!)
Since it would be really easy to get upset and negative about it, it would probably be good to make a list of the things to be thankful for about the weekend:
- We got to spend time with family enjoying their company and having conversations about new ideas and constant learning. This alone makes it a good weekend.
- Even though the car crapped out on the side of the road, no one got hurt.
- We had renewed our AAA membership on Friday before we left town, so the 90+ miles on the tow did not have any additional out of pocket cost for us.
- The Little Girl was a total trooper throughout it all. We only had one real meltdown and that was when she was hungry, tired, and in a strange, noisy, diesel truck.
- Tom (the tow truck driver) was an incredibly nice guy who made the ride home as enjoyable as it could have possibly been given the circumstances.
- My dad was willing and able to watch the Gretl, and she got to play out at the Farm for the weekend. He also was willing to bring her back home since our car was out of service, and lent us a vehicle to use until ours is working again.
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