I guess we missed all the exciting weather this week. Saturday night Brannon and the kids and I left for our vacation to warm and wonderful Alambama. The drive down there was most eventful. Because my van has 130,000 miles on it and acts like it is on its last leg, Brannon thought it best to rent a car. Saturday morning I went and picked it up. Mike and I left about noon to go to Joplin for Lauren's first dance competition. It was completely wonderful. We got to see some really amazing dances, and of course our group did their very best. They were so cute, and Matt made the top 10 in dance companies. Go Danceworks!! The kids placed, but I'm not sure about the scoring stuff, Matt said we would talk about it over coffee next weekend in St. Louis (where we go for another competition.) After we got back from Joplin we packed up and headed down to Memphis. Brannon had booked a hotel right outside of Memphis at Olive Branch, Ms. We were just heading into West Memphis when out of no where, in the pitch black, a coyote ran right in front of us. Brannon had no time to react and unfortunately, he hit and killed the coyote. We thought we were ok until about 5 miles after we hit him, we heard a rubbing noise coming from the front of the car. We pulled onto an exit and Brannon got out to look at the damage. He cut away the plastic part of the wheel well and we got back on the highway. About 15 miles down the road we hear a ding ding ding sound. The temp gauge was buried in the red and it sounded the alert. We were right next to an exit and so we once again got off the highway. Luckily (or not so much, God had His hand in the situation, like He always does) the exit we pulled off on had a gas station and we were able to get some coolant into the radiator. Brannon told me we had about 10 miles to go before we got to the hotel and that he thought that the engine would hold out until we got there. It did, but it was tense. Our eyes were always on the temp gauge. It started to tease us and work its way up a bit here and there, but it always came back down. By the time we got to the hotel it was after midnight. Brannon called Enterprise and they told us to fill out a police report and then we could get another car. Because the next morning was a Sunday, we had to go back into Memphis to the airport to get a car, even though the town we were staying in had an Enterprise Branch. Oh well. We left 3 hours late, but we still made it to the wedding on time. The weather was wonderful. We had lots of sun and almost 80 degree temps, while in our hometown we were having terrible rains.
Our trip was too short, like all vacations are, but we got to see tons of family and we did so many fun things. The kids can't wait to go back to see their new Nana and Aunt. It would be wonderful to spend a few weeks in Alabama this summer. We will see how the summer plays out.
Lots of things going on with the new house. We got our new water heater put in, and we were told we could buy some new garage door remotes and that Murney would pick up the tab for those (since one was missing when we closed on the house, and the one they did give us doesn't work, even after we changed the battery and stuff), I broke one of the windows on my minivan this morning while moving, so that was another 250 dollars. Brannon and I have probably spent a couple thousand dollars in the last week, with the water heater, the vacation, hotels, food, car rental, the accident on the car rental, my van, closing costs, and we have St. Louis the weekend after Easter, which will be MORE hotels, and food, and let's not even BEGIN to talk about the cost of the competiton itself. The bill be will close to about 600 dollars (don't bark too loud Brannon) after St. Louis is said and done. I think the hotel alone is going to be 200 dollars. Of course its downtown in the most posh hotel, and the competition itself is about 200, plus gas and food, and entry fees, so yeah, let's change that number to about 800. And I wonder why I went back to work. KIDS COST A BUTTLOAD OF MONEY. Brannon are you sure we should add a third kiddo to the mix (someday, maybe, since I obviously can't have any more children myself, but there are other ways)?
I have more to say about the trip and the house, and maybe some day I'll even post pictures, but I need a nap, so I'm going to take one.