when it rains, it pours

After our time with Grandma and Grandpa, we needed to leave Saturday morning to get home in time for a birthday party. We said our goodbyes and headed on our way. About ten minutes into our trip, a few exits down the highway, it started raining. Rain is not usually an issue, but this time my windshield wipers did not work. About five years ago I received a notice about there being a problem and it was covered under warranty, but mine always worked so it didn't seem like an issue - until now - with two kids, a dog and my husband in the car, packed, on the highway, trying to get home. We couldn't see a thing. We pulled over to the side and decided to wait and see if it cleared a bit and then we'd attempt to exit and head back to my parents house. It cleared and we started heading down the highway to the next exit, not a minute later, the it started pouring. We pulled over again, this time with at least four other cars pulling over as well. We waited and waited. When it cleared enough to see we headed to an exit and then made our way back to my parents house through cities instead of the highway. It was much easier to see going 35 mph instead of 65 mph. It took us about an hour to get back, about another hour to realize our car would not be ready until Tuesday and a few seconds to realize how lucky we were. We were "stuck" at my parents house, with extra hands, extra cars, a pool and playground in walking distance and Chris actually could work from their house. This had actually worked out nicely.

angry water, on our walk Saturday 

The bridge, a day before

No rocks visible

Just a day earlier

I received a call from a number I didn't recognize, it happened to be a neighbor who was calling to say she'd seen a package at our door for a couple days and figured we were out of town and took it to her house since a package left at a door for multiple days screams "out of town". We really appreciated her call and thoughtfulness, even more so when around 6pm we received another call, this time from our alarm company that our smoke detector was going off and they'd dispatched the fire fighters. Very thankful for our neighbor's number now in my phone I called her immediately to see if there was indeed smoke coming from our house. Chris and I took Dali for a walk while we tried to sort this all out. There was of course no fire at our house, and my neighbor's husband met the firefighters as they arrived and walked around the house. Of course no one but us has a key and there is not a hidden one, so there was no way to turn our smoke alarm off.

Chris and I decided to drive my mom's car home to try and turn the alarm off. It was raining, definitely not great driving conditions, even with working windshield wipers. About a third of the way down, I realized that in leaving my car and keys behind, we'd also left our house key and garage door opener behind. I can't imagine how red my face must have gotten. We turned the car around and my dad drove to meet us half way. At this point, we'd be lucky to get back to my parents house by midnight, that is if we could get the alarm turned off quickly.

I gave up and dad rode down with Chris. They unhooked the detector and somehow in the process, called the fire department again, who came out again, fully dressed, again.

With the alarm off, Chris and dad made it back home around midnight.

From then it was smooth sailing, days at the pool, a date night for Chris and I, and very happy kids.