Well, after a bit of car trouble, flight rescheduling and a literal sleepless night.....Chicky-babe flew out all by herself to visit her Aunt, Uncle and much adored cousins for two weeks! Wow! She was so excited to get to travel on a plane all by herself. I'm sure she felt very "grown up". I was a little concerned for her safety (as any mother would be), but all in all I think I've handled it very well. I am confident that she can handle herself and am excited to see her get the opportunity to stretch her wings a little.
We had a little car trouble on the way up to Portland to put her on the 7:30 pm flight straight through to Denver. Just outside of Wilsonville at about 6:10 the serpentine belt SHREDDED itself all over the engine! Chicky-babe and I were stuck! We called Big Daddy to ask for help only to find out he was just sitting down with Sweetpea and little Mister in the expensive theater to see the movie Ratatouille. Aunt Shelli and Mr. Meticulous were out and about in other theaters seeing a double-header for his belated birthday present. Well, I saw no logic in making them leave their movie so Chicky-babe and I settled in for a long wait. Big Daddy called Aunt Naph and they got the ticket changed to the first flight out in the morning and he worked out with Aunt Shelli that she would hang out with Mr. Meticulous until we would get back. Big Daddy finished the movie with the little guys and tried to find a serpentine belt. Unfortunately, none of the parts stores were open at that hour and Walmart does not carry serpentine belts. He resigned himself to fixing it in the morning after we got Chicky-babe on that airplane and tried to locate Aunt Shelli to possibly drop off the littles with her while he made the hour and a half trek up to rescue us. No luck, so off he drove toward Portland toting two very sleepy and grouchy little kids.
In the meantime, Chicky-babe and I were thoroughly engrossed in her new book (which she had bought to read on the plane). Point Break by Anthony Horowitz. I have to say, that guy sure can write an interesting young adult spy novel! Well, the book, a set of press-on nails and the ODOT guy who stopped by to check on us and give us water kept us decently distracted from the fact that we were stranded along I-5 near no restrooms in the increasing darkness of night...alone. Finally, around 11:30 pm Big Daddy called to have us put on our hazards so he would see them to find us (we had not had them on previously to conserve battery power and because the ODOT guy said we were far enough off the side of the road on a large straight stretch that we didn't need to have them on).
Happy to see him and very hungry despite the snacks we shared from Chicky-babe's carry on bag, we locked up the van and piled into his work truck amid two sleeping babe's. Trying to find a place to eat that is still open at almost midnight and that has room to accommodate a big truck pulling a 12 foot trailer behind it is quite a challenge after a long day, but we settled on Arby's and headed home. We arrived home at 1:30 am and I drove Aunt Shelli home so she could go to bed too as she had to be up to work in the morning. Expressing my thanks, I headed home for bed as well.......at least for an hour or two! We had to drag everyone.....loudly protesting.....out of bed and stick them into the work truck (again) at 3:30 am so we could have Chicky-babe at the airport on time for the rescheduled flight.
Long story short...she made it on the plane and we fixed the serpentine belt on the side of the road, drove home stopping in Albany for a short nap when we were both too tired to drive safely and finally ending up back in our driveway by 3 in the afternoon. Big Daddy, crazy as it sounds, had to go to work for a little bit and I napped on my big bed as the kids sat on the end of it and watched a movie. Boy were we totally wiped out!
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