Friday, July 28, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Cooking in Underpants
Aunt Gretchen gave Michael these awesome Nemo unders...he thinks they are super cool. We made corn muffins wearing them.
Monday, July 17, 2006
The trip from Hades
OK. thought I'd recount the trip, step by step. I don't want to forget anything, so I better write it down. The trip started at 8 AM on Sunday morning from Kansas City, destination Chicago. About 15 minutes into the trip, just before the Southwest Boulevard exit on I-35, my dad was pulled over for going 80 in a 60. 150 bucks and we were not even into downtown KC yet. We shrugged it off, though we should have turned around right then. At about 11:30, we decided to find a place to stop for lunch and gas. We pulled off at Grinnell, Iowa and topped off the tank. We found out that the restaurants were about a mile and a half down the road, so we headed that way. We went through the McD's drive-thru (Michael) and then through the TacoBell one (me and Dad). We realized after we ordered that the AC wasn't working. Not good on a 100° July day. Suddenly my dad noticed that the temperature gauge on the van had peaked out. We stopped to check things out and let it cool off. When we started again, it went right to HOT. We pulled over in the HyVee lot and went inside for some help. They said that no mechanics were open (Sunday in small town Iowa) and the kid who knew cars inside checked it out and saw that we had plenty of water in there. We limped up the road about 400 yards at a time to a hotel. We got a room, laid Meg down for a nap (to no avail) and started calling mechanics.
We found someone who would come in to his shop, so my dad inched the van over a mile and a half to see him. He called me about a half hour later, with news that the mechanic would not touch it, as it was a new car and still under warranty. Our only option was to tow it to the nearest Honda dealer, about 70 miles away. So we packed up the kids (3 and 9 months!!!) and all climbed into a smelly, smoky tow truck backseat. About half way, we realized we had left a bag in the hotel room. 200 dollars later, we were at the Honda shop in Iowa City. We called Dan's Aunt Jackie to come get us and put us up for the night (God bless her). As soon as we got there, my dad took her car and went back the hour to Grinnell to get the bag and came back to Iowa City. In the morning, Jackie took my dad back over to Honda. They put it through diagnostics and discovered that there was a hole in the radiator. A part they did not have in house and would have to overnight. 600 more dollars. They called it a "road hazard" that would not be covered by warranty.
So we decided that we would rent a car to get to Chicago. 60 more dollars (per day). That would mean Dan or I would have to come back in the morning to take back the rental and pick up the van, assuming the part came in and they could fix it. About halfway into the trip, we discovered that we had no way into the house. Dan had to leave work to open a door for us. Let me just go back to the beginning...Dan left KC before we did and when he arrived home, found that I had locked the glass door, for which he had no key, and no garage door opener. He had to spend hours with his parents hacksawing through the deadbolt. So this was a pretty big penance for accidentally locking him out of the house.
Karma. She's a nasty one, she is.
We found someone who would come in to his shop, so my dad inched the van over a mile and a half to see him. He called me about a half hour later, with news that the mechanic would not touch it, as it was a new car and still under warranty. Our only option was to tow it to the nearest Honda dealer, about 70 miles away. So we packed up the kids (3 and 9 months!!!) and all climbed into a smelly, smoky tow truck backseat. About half way, we realized we had left a bag in the hotel room. 200 dollars later, we were at the Honda shop in Iowa City. We called Dan's Aunt Jackie to come get us and put us up for the night (God bless her). As soon as we got there, my dad took her car and went back the hour to Grinnell to get the bag and came back to Iowa City. In the morning, Jackie took my dad back over to Honda. They put it through diagnostics and discovered that there was a hole in the radiator. A part they did not have in house and would have to overnight. 600 more dollars. They called it a "road hazard" that would not be covered by warranty.
So we decided that we would rent a car to get to Chicago. 60 more dollars (per day). That would mean Dan or I would have to come back in the morning to take back the rental and pick up the van, assuming the part came in and they could fix it. About halfway into the trip, we discovered that we had no way into the house. Dan had to leave work to open a door for us. Let me just go back to the beginning...Dan left KC before we did and when he arrived home, found that I had locked the glass door, for which he had no key, and no garage door opener. He had to spend hours with his parents hacksawing through the deadbolt. So this was a pretty big penance for accidentally locking him out of the house.
Karma. She's a nasty one, she is.
Kansas City
Well, we made it back from our trip to KC. It was a long/short two weeks...we played in the pool a LOT. Everyone has a little tan. The trip back was one for the books, but I just walked in and I am not ready to talk about it yet. Give me a few hours to recover.
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