Monday, August 10, 2009

Friday, July 31st

Am I ever going to get caught up? I hope so because we had such a great yesterday and I want to share it but feel like I shouldn't or I will never finish getting the trip posted.

So here goes:

Last Friday was three big events: 1) the end of day camp 2) the wedding rehearsal and 3) DAKOTA ARRIVED!!! Hmmm...wonder which one we were all the most excited about? :)

Kaylen and I dropped Kelton off at the camp bus for the last time and headed back to my sister's house to hang out and have a relaxing morning. Well.......I had good intentions at any rate. Remember that part about American Dolls and barbies? Oh yeah. At one point I text'd both Dakota and and my sister with this "Help! I am in American Doll and Barbie hell!" Oh my gosh - the minutes ticked by soooo slowly.

Then I remembered that my sister has bikes for Parker and Mikayla in the garage. SCORE! Within minutes of my revelation we were on our way to a nearby parking lot where I left Kaylen go nuts riding around. It helped to pass about 45 minutes on the morning that had no end. Phew.

Finally, finally, finally Dakota text'd to say the train had arrived in Seattle and she was now on the bus that would bring her to Everett. Apparently the tracks are shut down during the day for work. We jumped in the car and started driving to Everett to meet her. Kaylen was so excited she would barely sit still. Then suddenly, we were there. Just as we came around the corner of the Outer Banks of the building (trying to find were to meet the bus) Dakota jumped off the bus. I was so, so, so happy to see her and Kaylen broke free from my grasp and ran to her.

Ahhhhh!!! Soon my family would all be together again. What a great feeling!

We loaded Dakota's stuff and ourselves back into the car and headed towards my sister's house. But first - lunch! We decided to stop at Applebee's where the three of us had a good time reconnecting and sharing about our days apart. After lunch we stopped at the house and dropped off Dakota's luggage and then it was time to go get Kelton from camp.

On the last day of camp the campers have a closing ceremony, which honestly I thought would be well....more. It was nice to see him in the camp environment and I loved seeing him having fun jumping around and singing songs though so it's all good.





After the closing ceremony we stopped at the camp store and bought him a t-shirt to commemorate his week at camp and then walked back to the car. We were due at the rehearsal dinner and we were still about an hour away.

We drove and drove and after a few wrong turns and extra miles we found the place and just as we turned off the paved road onto the gravel of the parking lot the car started to make a horrible noise. Horrible.

Fantastic. Ugh. Well now - that's a nice way to put a damper on a fun event.

We troubleshot, looked under the hood (at what? We have no real clue.), I called my sister for advice on a rental car place (all closed since it was 6pm on a Friday) and then called AAA to come get the car. We had it towed to a place near my sister's house and then, bless her heart, she drove up to get us after the rehearsal dinner.

Nothing like a little stress, you know? *sigh*

The next morning we figured out wedding transportation and waited for the repair shop to call. When they finally did call the news went like this: "We can't find anything wrong it it. It checks out fine and it isn't making a noise. It was in 4 wheel drive though so maybe that was it." I explained how I never had it in 4 wheel drive and that the tow truck driver had me take it out of 2wd and put it in neutral before he towed it. Hmmmm..... well...maybe it had some how gotten knocked out of 2wd just enough to cause the noise. Ok. That was possible since the kids had been climbing from the back to the front over the 4wd shifter thing all week and when I shifted from 2wd into neutral it was *very* easy to do (unlike during the snow storm when I had to fight it it for all I was worth to get it to move). Ok - that might have been it. Maybe.

So - for the low, low price of $60 we were out of the repair shop. Of course by that time we were at the wedding 25 miles away. I paid over the phone and they locked the keys in it so we could pick it up after hours.

We were relieved there was nothing obviously wrong with it but still nervous since we had a 200 mile drive ahead of us the next day. But for now - we could just enjoy the wedding!

PS...On Saturday even Dakota and my sister were sucked into playing American Dolls. I was so, so happy to share that special time with others. :) But on a serious note, I love that Kaylen enjoyed playing American Dolls.....I would have loved it more if she didn't make me play, too. :) :) :)

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