Obstacle Course

Sometimes, you just have to wonder if all the things that go wrong are just mere chance, if Murphy's Law is indeed a law or if there is a God with a twisted sense of humor.

Today I had to drive my sis-in-law and her 2 kids (ages 6 and 4) to the Detroit airport (for their 2-months trip to Hawaii). Since Henry had to go to work and then play with my brother and his friend at King's Island, I had to take Sophia and Alba with me on the trip. No prob! We're experienced long-trip travelers - what's 3 hours out and 3 hours back in one ride? Nothing really. Unless...

you already start off by leaving a bit later than you had planned, then start the car just to notice the battery is dead, and silently thanking the heavens that your husband is still home with his car, then taking off for Detroit, to have one of the kids start asking how much longer the ride is 30 minutes into the drive followed by some comments on how she's feeling sick and might throw up, then having your own kid in the very back start crying, and looking kind of sick, then missing an exit and getting lost for a while wasting more time, and making you run even later, then having to stop because your kid actually DID throw up, which now means you're basically out of wipes because you tried to clean up everything as quickly as possible, now moving on with your hands smelling like barf, and ohhhh, now you're stuck behind every slow driver in Ohio, and you can't pass because of constant traffic (we're not on the free-way yet, but still in back-country Ohio), then you finally make it to the free-way, hoping to make up some time, but then you hear more crying in the back, and a glance in the rear-mirror reveals that your kid is barfing AGAIN, and much more, so now you're out of clothes for kid as well, and all you've got to cover her with are her barfy pants and a jacket, and you can't stop to clean her up because you're trying to make it to the airport on time, so sis-in-law cleans her up unbuckled while you keep driving, and then the other kids start whining again (the movie isn't loud enough, when are we there, wanting music on/not wanting music on etc.), and then, you notice you're out of gas, so you pull over at the next gas station you can find, which happens to be in the middle of nowhere and whaddayaknow - they don't have any gas! Yes. None of the pumps have gas, so you're back on the road, and before you know it, you're missing the next gas station right by the free-way, and then you have to take the next one, which happens to be off the beaten path in some little town, but you make it, and you get gas, and when you ask where the exit for the airport is you find out it's the next one (yipee!!!!) and that you can take a shortcut by not getting back on the free-way but just keep driving on the road you're on, and then take a right turn. So, we go for the short cut, but when we turn right at the correct road...a train is stuck on the crossing, and we have to turn around, drive all the way back and take the free-way after all. At this point, I've pulled out my last strands of hair, but as we get on the free way and then promptly exit, it turns out we are only 2 minutes away from the airport. Which is great, because at this point Alba has also woken up and decided to make her justified hunger known by loud crying. Ahhhhhhh...

Anyway, we made it with 1.5 hours to spare, which I figured should be enough time. I hung out at the curb side drop-off for quite a while trying to clean up the car a bit. Then we took off, and stopped at a store to get some non-smelly clothes for Sophia, some wet-wipes, and also a nail clipper, since I somehow tore a nail while at the airport, and it was bleeding, and getting stuck on stuff, and driving me nuts. Alba got fed, and we were on our way to peace and tranquility and showers at home. We had no more problems other than the usual slow drivers, and Sophia's unchanged diaper leaking  majorly. When I pulled her out of her seat at home, the whole back of her pants was completely drenched. But alas, what's a bit of urine on top of lots of barf, right?

I think Sophia, Alba and I will go to bed early today.