A Big Blow Out . . . And I'm Not Talking Diapers
Who knows what life is going to bring you each day when you wake up. Life seems to bring me an intesting combination of pleasures and disasters that keeps me interested and curious about what may happen next. One day I learn I am going to Paris for a week kid-free and on another day my tire explodes on the freeway while I am driving all the babies to My Gym class.
Okay, so I will back up and start from the beginning. Last Friday Chris took the entire day off so we could hang out together and take the babies to their My Gym class and then go swimming and just enjoy our day. Chris was meeting me in Folsom. As I was driving down Cameron Park Drive my "tire needs air" light came on. That light is always coming on so I didn't think too much of it, except then I had the weirdest ESP moment. I most definitely had a very strong feeling that my tire was going to blow on my trip down to Folsom. Of course, I dismissed it. As I was driving 70mph on the Freeway I heard this big bam bam pow and I thought a rock hit the side of my car. I cursed to myself wondering what kind of damage that big of a rock could've caused my beautiful minivan. Then another bam bam pow and my whole car fell down on one side and I was virtually unable to drive it anymore. I tried very hard to make it to the next exit and off the freeway so I wouldn't be stuck on the side of the freeway with my three 16 month old kids. But alas, the minivan wouldn't go any farther. I pulled over as far as I could over the cement curb and into the tall weeds that line the freeway. The car was tilted sideways and for a brief moment I pondered the possibility of the whole car tipping over since there was probably no longer a tire on my front right wheel as it was. I quickly called Chris who was waiting for us at My Gym and told him to hurry himself on over to the side of the freeway and rescue us. No, we don't have Triple A, but I had Chris who I thought could be to us quickly and maybe change the tire and save us on a towing service. Of course, on this Friday all the power was out in Folsom which meant that the street lights were not working and so it took Chris 1/2 an hour to get to us. While me and the babes sat on the side of the road leaning ever so slightly to out right, I sang every song I could imagine: Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus which I thought was suitable for our situation, Twinkle Twinkle, You are my Sunshine which was too boring for our dire situation, and our favorite, If You're Happy and you Know it Clap Your Hands. Preston was pissed. He has four molars coming in and he was in no mood to lolligag on the side of the busy freeway listening to my cheery songs. The girls took our misfortune in stride and enjoyed my singing and the crispy crackers I provided for our surprise adventure.
When Chris arrived after what seemed like an eternity we discovered that the door on the right farthest away from the freeway was no longer in service. The tire explosion had somehow disarmed the sliding door and so we had to get all the car seats out and then the babies out on the freeway side which, needless to say, was a bit dangerous. One by one Chris grabbed a car seat, hooked it in his car, and then one by one Chris grabbed a baby and hooked them up in the car. I then got in the car and drove them home. Meanwhile, poor Chris who had taken the day off to have some family enjoyment, spent the next four hours on the side of the freeway. He tried to put the spare on but that was fruitless. Then he called for a tow truck and they were quoting him 1 1/2 hours. Chris was not happy. He was starving, hot, tired, and generally weary of this stupid situation. He ended up waiting over two hours for the tow truck to come.
The Toyota dealership called at 6pm to tell me that it took four guys two hours to remove the shredded remnants of my tire from the rim. When I picked up my car the next day the service guy held up his cell phone and said, "maam, you had a hole this big in your tire which means a nail that big went into your tire and it exploded. It was crazy." He doesn't know how crazy it was really to be on the side of the freeway with a blown tire and three babies in the back looking at me like "what the f*@%k is going on?"
So that happened.
In other news, I am taking little Violet to the orthopedic pediatric doctor in Sacramento on Wednesday to find out what is going on with her left leg. I am pretty sure something is wrong with it but I am not worried about her. I think whatever it is is probably a result of being crammed in the womb and she probably needs some physical therapy and stretches to get it working properly. She can stand up and she can walk but it is hard for her and she doesn't consistently walk. Something about that left leg is causing her problems. I can't wait to find out what the problem is so we can start working on it and get Violet walking and running like her brother and sisters.
The best thing, in my opinion, about having multiples is watching them love each other and play and laugh together. The babies are playing more with each other each day. They make up games to play like their version of peekaboo and hide-n-seek. This morning Violet went and hid beside the bed where Preston and Elsa couldn't see her. Then Preston and Elsa would run over and right before they would get there Violet would jump out and scare them and everyone laughed hysterically. This brings me so much joy. I love to see them enjoying each other and playing together. They will have a lifetime of playing and loving and fighting together and they will always have a special bond.
This past weekend Chris and I spent a lot of time in our swimming pool with the babies. They love to go swimming. They each have their own style in the pool. Elsa likes to jump off the side of the pool already and she enjoys spending as much time as she can under the water. Each time she goes under she comes up with a big smile on her face. Violet like to venture out in the water and float with her water wings. She flails around like a maniac sometimes in the water but you can tell she is having the time of her life. Preston prefers to stick close to the steps antagonizing everyone by splashing them with his shovels from the comfort of the top step of the pool. Chris retaliates by taking a bucket and flinging a massive stream of water at Preston and he laughs hysterically.
Ava is at Disneyland today. Gigi and Gramps took Ava to Yosemite where she had a nature camp and lots of swimming at the pool. From there they headed south to visit some old friends in Redondo Beach where she spend the day making sand castles. Today they are at Disneyland and Ava called me this morning to tell me where she was. What a wonderful time she is having and wonderful grandparents to take Ava and let her experience all of these wonderful places with them. The fact that Gramps is at Disneyland today shows how much he loves Ava since on the top of the list of things Gramps doesn't like are lines and crowds. Ava is a lucky girl.
Until next time, the mothership is signing off.
Okay, so I will back up and start from the beginning. Last Friday Chris took the entire day off so we could hang out together and take the babies to their My Gym class and then go swimming and just enjoy our day. Chris was meeting me in Folsom. As I was driving down Cameron Park Drive my "tire needs air" light came on. That light is always coming on so I didn't think too much of it, except then I had the weirdest ESP moment. I most definitely had a very strong feeling that my tire was going to blow on my trip down to Folsom. Of course, I dismissed it. As I was driving 70mph on the Freeway I heard this big bam bam pow and I thought a rock hit the side of my car. I cursed to myself wondering what kind of damage that big of a rock could've caused my beautiful minivan. Then another bam bam pow and my whole car fell down on one side and I was virtually unable to drive it anymore. I tried very hard to make it to the next exit and off the freeway so I wouldn't be stuck on the side of the freeway with my three 16 month old kids. But alas, the minivan wouldn't go any farther. I pulled over as far as I could over the cement curb and into the tall weeds that line the freeway. The car was tilted sideways and for a brief moment I pondered the possibility of the whole car tipping over since there was probably no longer a tire on my front right wheel as it was. I quickly called Chris who was waiting for us at My Gym and told him to hurry himself on over to the side of the freeway and rescue us. No, we don't have Triple A, but I had Chris who I thought could be to us quickly and maybe change the tire and save us on a towing service. Of course, on this Friday all the power was out in Folsom which meant that the street lights were not working and so it took Chris 1/2 an hour to get to us. While me and the babes sat on the side of the road leaning ever so slightly to out right, I sang every song I could imagine: Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus which I thought was suitable for our situation, Twinkle Twinkle, You are my Sunshine which was too boring for our dire situation, and our favorite, If You're Happy and you Know it Clap Your Hands. Preston was pissed. He has four molars coming in and he was in no mood to lolligag on the side of the busy freeway listening to my cheery songs. The girls took our misfortune in stride and enjoyed my singing and the crispy crackers I provided for our surprise adventure.
When Chris arrived after what seemed like an eternity we discovered that the door on the right farthest away from the freeway was no longer in service. The tire explosion had somehow disarmed the sliding door and so we had to get all the car seats out and then the babies out on the freeway side which, needless to say, was a bit dangerous. One by one Chris grabbed a car seat, hooked it in his car, and then one by one Chris grabbed a baby and hooked them up in the car. I then got in the car and drove them home. Meanwhile, poor Chris who had taken the day off to have some family enjoyment, spent the next four hours on the side of the freeway. He tried to put the spare on but that was fruitless. Then he called for a tow truck and they were quoting him 1 1/2 hours. Chris was not happy. He was starving, hot, tired, and generally weary of this stupid situation. He ended up waiting over two hours for the tow truck to come.
The Toyota dealership called at 6pm to tell me that it took four guys two hours to remove the shredded remnants of my tire from the rim. When I picked up my car the next day the service guy held up his cell phone and said, "maam, you had a hole this big in your tire which means a nail that big went into your tire and it exploded. It was crazy." He doesn't know how crazy it was really to be on the side of the freeway with a blown tire and three babies in the back looking at me like "what the f*@%k is going on?"
So that happened.
In other news, I am taking little Violet to the orthopedic pediatric doctor in Sacramento on Wednesday to find out what is going on with her left leg. I am pretty sure something is wrong with it but I am not worried about her. I think whatever it is is probably a result of being crammed in the womb and she probably needs some physical therapy and stretches to get it working properly. She can stand up and she can walk but it is hard for her and she doesn't consistently walk. Something about that left leg is causing her problems. I can't wait to find out what the problem is so we can start working on it and get Violet walking and running like her brother and sisters.
The best thing, in my opinion, about having multiples is watching them love each other and play and laugh together. The babies are playing more with each other each day. They make up games to play like their version of peekaboo and hide-n-seek. This morning Violet went and hid beside the bed where Preston and Elsa couldn't see her. Then Preston and Elsa would run over and right before they would get there Violet would jump out and scare them and everyone laughed hysterically. This brings me so much joy. I love to see them enjoying each other and playing together. They will have a lifetime of playing and loving and fighting together and they will always have a special bond.
This past weekend Chris and I spent a lot of time in our swimming pool with the babies. They love to go swimming. They each have their own style in the pool. Elsa likes to jump off the side of the pool already and she enjoys spending as much time as she can under the water. Each time she goes under she comes up with a big smile on her face. Violet like to venture out in the water and float with her water wings. She flails around like a maniac sometimes in the water but you can tell she is having the time of her life. Preston prefers to stick close to the steps antagonizing everyone by splashing them with his shovels from the comfort of the top step of the pool. Chris retaliates by taking a bucket and flinging a massive stream of water at Preston and he laughs hysterically.
Ava is at Disneyland today. Gigi and Gramps took Ava to Yosemite where she had a nature camp and lots of swimming at the pool. From there they headed south to visit some old friends in Redondo Beach where she spend the day making sand castles. Today they are at Disneyland and Ava called me this morning to tell me where she was. What a wonderful time she is having and wonderful grandparents to take Ava and let her experience all of these wonderful places with them. The fact that Gramps is at Disneyland today shows how much he loves Ava since on the top of the list of things Gramps doesn't like are lines and crowds. Ava is a lucky girl.
Until next time, the mothership is signing off.
omg what a nightmare. I can always imagine that terrible things will happen when I'm alone in the minivan with the kids and then I start thinking what the heck I'll do and who I'll call first but so far I've been lucky. Sorry it happened but you made it! Maybe it'll never happen again!