My last 36 hours.....

The weather is amazing! The kids are nearly done with school. We are 23 days away from holding our baby A. What could go wrong? How about being stranded in the middle of nowhere with three children and no husband, or a maimed child? I'm not complaining. I'm just stating the facts.

For the past couple of months, the kids and I have been looking forward to taking a trip to Idaho to watch my niece graduate from high school. We have been very excited to see this monumental event come to fruition, as well as enjoying some time with my folks and sister and brother-in-law. My sister has been planning the soiree for quite some time, and she has been sharing all of the plans with me, which made me even more excited to go. Admittedly, I am a big chicken, though. I do not travel alone, and I will not go without my sister, Auntie A, or my darling hubs. Well, I was finally going to make the trek alone, sans hubs and sis'.

On Thursday morning, after I dropped the kiddos off at school I headed over to have coffee w/my lovely mother-in-law. While we were enjoying our coffee, my hubs came in and told me that the school was trying to get a hold of me b/c Mr. J. had been hurt during recess. I immediately scrambled out of the house, and called the school secretary on my cell. She told me to hurry, which totally freaked me out! When I arrived, I saw my little boy sitting in a chair with his blonde hair completely covered in blood. I think I may have freaked out a bit, and ran past everyone in the office. He had the biggest tears that I have ever seen, and I could tell that he was trying to hold them back. He was SO brave! I started tearing up when I saw him because he looked so tiny. Supposedly, a little boy threw a large rock at him. I whisked him off to urgent care, and they cleaned him up. He had quite a gash on his head, and thankfully they were able to give him liquid stitches. They also gave him some Tylenol because his head was throbbing. . . poor guy. I wish I could of taken his place. I hate seeing my kids in pain:(.

After returning home from the above mentioned ordeal, I had approximately 15 minutes to pack, fuel up the vehicle, make my hubby lunch, and get on the road. Everything started out wonderfully. D' slept for the first 2 1/2 hours, and I was privately having a "mental" celebration. I was doing it. A road trip on my own w/the kids in tote. We stopped for dinner, and then hit the road again. About 3 hours into the 6 hour trip, things began to turn. D' was not enjoying himself nearly as much (think screaming:), and I kept noticing that my normally super dependable Suburban was kind of coughing and burping as I was going up the never ending rolling hills. At first, I thought it was the cruise control, so I turned it off. It seemed to be doing fine....that is until we came to yet another hill. Something was definitely wrong. I went from 70 to about 20 mph in a matter of seconds. I felt like I needed to get out and push it. The kids were now happily watching a $5.00 movie from Wally World, and I thought it would be a perfect time to call my darling hubs for some advice. I know N O T H I N G about cars! He didn't answer. I called my pops in Idaho(who was still hours away), and he told me all the things that could be wrong. Nice. I was in the middle of nowhere w/three kids and a car that seemed like it was about to puke. All of the gauges were reading normal, so I thought I'd move on until I could hit a gas station, or hotel. I didn't make it that far. We broke down on the freeway about 15 miles from the nearest town. My car died. I freaked out. Everything shut off, and I couldn't steer, or brake. Thankfully, I was only going about 10 miles an hour(on a hill), so I coasted to a stop. I called darling hubs again, and he finally answered. He told me to start it up again(if it would) and drive as slowly as I needed to to the next town. By this time, Miss M., Mr. J., and Darling D. were screaming that they were gonna die in the back seat. Again, NICE! I had tears rolling down my face from laughing at myself for getting myself into such a situation. Oh, don't think some of the tears weren't from frustration, too. My sister, Auntie A. and my wunderbaar brother-in-law were about 15 minutes behind us (not luck people.....I don't believe in luck!), and ended up following me until we were safely to a hotel. My darling hubs decided to come and rescue me from my predicament. He worked until 2:00 am. planting corn, and then jumped in his car and traveled 5 hours to my rescue without complaining once (now can you see why I love this man! what would I ever do without him?) I have never been so happy to see him! He, of course immediately collapsed onto the hotel bed from exhaustion, but J' and D' didn't mind. They were very happy to see him, too and began jumping all over him. He rested for a few minutes, and then went for a drive to find parts. In his resourcefulness, he managed to fix it in the middle of a hotel parking lot. I was too shaken up to continue the drive to Idaho, and he wasn't sure if the 'Burb might be having electrical issues on top of fuel pump issues. Much to our delight, I made it back home. The view from my rear view mirror was fabulous, too. I saw my husbands smiling face the whole way home. The boy has my back:).