First off, can anyone else wrap their minds around the fact that it's 2012? I certainly can't. I'm pretty sure that it should still be something like 2007.
We headed up to Edmonton last Thursday to meet my parents (Dad and Step-mom) and brother who were flying back in from Arizona. I used to scorn the idea of spending Christmas, the winter holiday, in a warm climate, but lately I've decided that it's not a bad idea. I could use a little warm. Not that it has been all that cold, mind you. It's actually been really warm. But it can always get warmer. I'm ready for Spring already.
Anyways, off the bunny trail. We were going to meet them at the hotel in the evening. The plan was that we would probably be there a few hours before them since their plane didn't get in until 7:30 and they would have to get their luggage and van and then drive to the hotel, which was a little ways away. Our drive was about 9 hours, not super long, so even if we didn't leave until 10 (which is exactly what we did) we should still get there somewhere around 7-7:30, depending on gas and food stops.
Well, the first delay, or maybe I should call it the second since the first could technically be sleeping in until 9, was when my dear oldest daughter Abby said she had to puke. So we quickly pulled over to the side of the road, and I'm opening the door while putting on my shoes at the same time (I like to travel barefoot, with my feet usually on the dash which irritates the snot out of dear ole hubs because it leaves toeprints all over the windshield). I open her door in the back and quickly unbuckle her and proceed to help her "puke" on the ground. But it was to no avail, she didn't puke.
Our kids have a history of car sickness on long trips (only the long ones, never the short ones. Somehow, they know) so I didn't want her to get back in the car and then throw up. But nothing was happening so we started off again. Only 10 minutes down the road, Leigh starts to hold her mouth. But there was no time for intervention. She started and right away so did Abby. Oh Happy Day.
That took a fair amount of time to clean up. While on the side of the road. With baby wipes. And the wind was blowing. My poor children's bare bottoms that were waiting for some clean clothes.
So we were on our way again, stopped in the next town for some much needed Gravol (why could we never remember at the BEGINNING!). We were about forty minutes out of this city when suddenly our truck is shaking and the front wheel is wobbling. Enter delay number 3.
Couldn't figure out what was wrong, so we turned around to hobble back to the previous city, Edmonton trip cancelled. But God sent a highway maintenance man to help us. He pulled over in front of us and diagnosed that our lugnuts(?) were loose. Brilliant. Tightened those and then we continued heading back to town so we could get to a tire shop to fix the tire.
(Wow, this is getting long. I'll shorten up here. Sorry!)
This was around 12:30. We didn't leave town again until 4:30. Did I mention we were just one hour from home? Eight hours of driving still ahead of us! I really didn't want to give up my weekend, so I convinced Mark to drive to Calgary, which was only about 4 hours away, and spend the night and drive the remainder the next morning.
It was so nice to see my family and spend the time with them. We went to the waterpark at the West Ed Mall, and the kids had a BLAST there. We did some shopping, which was alright, nothing spectacular. It was just so nice to be around them, especially since it will be 5 more months before we see them again.
But on Saturday, Abby got sick while Mark and I were shopping. My parents were watching the girls while we went alone. Poor kid. And once we got back, Mark started feeling ill. And then he was sick all night. And in the middle of the night, I was lying there, feeling perfectly fine (well, I did have a cold, but no nausea) when my stomach tweaked and started to feel just a little off. Wonderful. We were supposed to leave the next day.
We did leave, and Mark was well enough to drive, which was good because I was NOT. I didn't actually throw up, just felt generally terrible. Abby seemed fine, but Leigh threw up a few times.
So that was our weekend away. Could this post have been any longer?!
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