Two More Days

**Don't forget to check this out!!**

My three big kids have been traveling the open road with my Mom for the last two weeks. It has been nice to get a bit of a parenting reprieve. In fact, Justin told his Dad today, "It sure is quieter around here when they're gone." That is definitely the truth. But there's more to it than that. Justin also told us a few days ago, "It's lonely when you only have four people in your family." Hmmm, so true again.

Today, Will and I had just put our heads together and come up with a whole page (typed even) of stuff that we wanted to get done over the next two days before the three big kids come home. We had changed Grace, had Justin go potty, put the carseats in the smaller car since it was just the four of us and were ready to go out the door. That's when the phone rang. It was my Mom, saying we needed to come get them because the A/C went out in their motor home. It had limped along through Pueblo, Albuquerque and the Grand Canyon. It seems the heat of the Southern California high desert finally did it in.

Now, I would be lying to say this news filled me with elation. Couldn't the call have come an hour earlier; before we got the wild idea to get organized and make a plan. Couldn't it at least have come just a few minutes earlier so the carseats would still have been in the big car?! It's been 100+ degrees here everyday for goodness sake!!! But alas, no, life does not work that way. So Will switched the carseats back while I made sure we had everything we needed to head out with two little ones on a much longer than originally planned drive.

When we arrived at the RV shop, I saw my parents' motor home parked along the curb. That did not seem like a good sign to me. Surely, it needed to be inside the shop if it was going to be fixed anytime soon. It turns out, I was SOOO wrong. They had already fixed it! The A/C unit (they have two) will still need to be replaced eventually, but the whole system crashing was caused by a simple switch on the generator. Yippee!!

We had already agreed to pick everyone up, along with all their dirty laundry, so Will headed over to the RV with our big rolling hampers to start clearing things out. I had two sleeping kiddos in the car with me, so I got to play a game on my cell phone while everyone else played in stinky, camping in hot weather, dirty clothes. Oh darn! The best part of the day came just a minute later. I caught a glimpse of one of my big kids; then another; and finally the last one. They looked HUGE! How do kids do that? You know, grow 3 inches in two weeks! Obviously, my grumpiness disappeared instantly. I was thrilled to have them home!!!

Since the RV was OK after all, my Mom was able to follow us over to Denny's for dinner. The plan that was considered, when they were all still hot and tired over at the RV shop, was that we would take the kids home and my Mom would stay at the campground by herself for the night. If we could figure out how to reconnect the next day, they would go to Sea World, but Grandma was TIRED. After a leisurely dinner, Grandma had a change of heart. She decided they would continue on with the original plan before the A/C melt down. We all went to celebrate over dessert at Cold Stone. Yum!

As we dug out two days of clothes for each kid from the back of our car, and I had an argument with my daughter, and Grace was starting to freak out in her car seat, and my Mom and I were trying to figure out why one of my boys had medicine for three days while the other only had enough for one, and Will was trying to comfort Justin because he was sad that his siblings were leaving again; I was reminded of something. I really love these kids and being their Mom is the best choice I ever made!

Thanks Mom for the break, but I sure am looking forward to seeing you all at my house in two days.