Dear Diary: Vacation Day 1

I thought that I would blog about my vacation by sharing my diary entries from the 4 days in the wilderness. Enjoy!

Dear Diary,

It has been a long day. Noah was wondering how after such a great Turtleman day yesterday, and then after a promising start to the morning today, how things ended up ending so badly. We planned to leave early this morning and stop in Duluth for the afternoon before meeting the relatives in Bayfield. We packed the coolers, the suitcases, the bikes, the helmets, the food and the kids. We were all ready to go, and then Noah turned the key. Click. Nice. We decided it must be the battery. In order to jump it, though, we were going to have to get it out of it's tight position in the garage.

The plan was to put it in neutral, and Noah was going to push it, and I was in charge of the brake. I was so nervous because our driveway is a pretty steep decline and I was worried about the van flying out into the road or hitting his car. But Noah assured me that I could always push the brake. We had a little miscommunciation. I thought we would be going a little at a time, so I hadn't yet shut the drivers door. Well, we started going and Noah yelled "shut your door!!!!!" I tried but it was too late. I tried to hit the brakes but the van didn't stop. Well it did stop. After it had run into and gotten wrenched in the side of the garage. I of course was crying and we had to push it forward to extract the door and me. Noah was so sweet. He didn't yell, just reassured me that it was an accident etc. We finished backing the van out (Noah in the driver's seat) so we could assess damages. It was about this time that Deacon said, "things aren't going very good" in a sing song voice. Noah did say that you have to press the brake much harder when the engine is not actually running. I guess I just didn't press it hard enough.

So we examined the damages. The track for the garage door was mangled, and the sheet metal on the door was pulled back. The van door would close, although somewhat roughly and the window ALMOST went all the way up. Using a crow bar we were able to realign the garage door track so the door would go up and down. What we had left was a van that wasn't running and a screwed up van door.

Our friend Brian was able to come down and help get the van jumped and then he and Noah went to get a new battery. We decided just to go on vacation with the van door the way it is and address it when we get back. The door open and shuts and all the electrical is intact so I guess we will see what happens.

We finally got on the road and had a conversation about whether or not God actually wants us to ever go on vacation. Everytime we try to go on vacation we have a problem, and it is usually related to our cars. Unlss we are going on vacation we never have trouble with our cars. We didn't really resolve anything in this conversation.

We love Duluth and were able to have a picnic and spend some time there in the afternoon. After listening to Dora and Diego and The Backyardigans CD's for 4 hours, we finally arrived at the cabins near Bayfield.

As soon as we got there the kids got busy inspecting every fascinating object in sight.

I spent the time childproofing the cabin and unpacking. Please note that the coffee table no longer has a glass top. We removed that promptly and put it up for safekeeping. Once the cabin was childproofed I felt better about letting the kids let off a little steam. They loved the cabin and the "secret" rooms. We set up Lincoln's Pack and Play in the bathroom and FINALLY got everyone fed and to bed.

Lincoln was especially pleased that the cupboards here do not have safety latches on them.

Until tomorrow,
Julie

yeah right, as if I have a diary.