Nothing Like a Road Trip

Kenneth was in a wedding this weekend in KY.  Our plan was for him to go by himself and I would stay home with the boys.  I really wanted to go the wedding because it is for a friend of ours whom I think the world of.  However, it was just easier to not travel with the kiddos for such a short trip. 

And then I realized that Kenneth was preaching two services at our main campus on Sunday morning.  Wedding at 5:30 on Saturday night.  Preaching twice on Sunday.   Kenneth insisted that he would be just fine to drive through the night and then preach in the morning.  Riiight, Kenneth. 

Alas, I decided to be an awesome wife and volunteer to bring the children up to KY so that I could drive Kenneth back through the night in hopes of him getting some sleep before preaching on Sunday.

So, we left the house around 8:45 am (9:45 EST).  I noticed the front right tire was low so we went to the gas station to get air in the tire before even getting on the interstate.  Doesn't it figure that the cap on the air pump was some random, weird cap and we could barely get it to cover the hole?  On top of that, the cap was missing to our air plug.  We did the best we could and figured the air had leaked from normal driving and the missing plug. 

And then an hour into the drive I noticed the low tire pressure light come on in the van.  Awesome.  We pulled over in Dodge City, AL to find a tire shop.  We just wanted to get air in the tires, buy a cap, and be on our way.  Of course it wasn't that easy.  We unloaded all the kids out of the car.  The boys took turns peeing on the side of the road and asking a billion questions on what we were doing (classy, I know).  We then discovered that the air was leaking from somewhere else on the tire.  Not the cap.  Greeeat. 

Thirty minutes later a staple was removed from our tire and the whole was patched.  We were off.  Except not.  The tire light never went off.  We spent several minutes trying to read the owner's manual hoping to figure out how to turn the light off.  The mechanics couldn't figure it out.  Kids were yelling, "What are we doing?!  Go!!  Are we in Kentucky yet?" from the backseat.  We all agreed that the light would turn off after we drove a bit.

So that is what we did.  Except the light never went off.  I then figured that maybe the guy had put a little too much air in the tire and that is why the light was on.

Wrong.

We pulled off in Nashville to eat lunch.  We tried going to Chik-fil-a, but it was too busy.  Not even a place to park.  Cue children, especially Asa, going nuts because we had promised Chick-fil-a and now were unable to deliver.  We drove around and found a bread shop.  We ate lunch.  Again, took multiple trips to the bathroom.  What is up with these children!?!  When we went back out to the van I noticed the back right tire was almost completely flat. 

(Insert sinking feeling here.)

We then drove around trying to find the nearest tire store.  We pulled up and unloaded all the kids.  They told us it would be at least 40 minutes.  You-have-got-to-be-kidding-me.  As Kenneth stood there having a conversation with the mechanic, I heard words that send chills down my spine every time.

"Mommy!  Look at Asa!" coming simultanteously from Noah and Aiden.

I then see Nathan pointing his finger at Asa saying, "Poop!"

So I looked.  And I saw.

Asa standing there holding his own poop.  Niiice.

I paniced and told him not to touch his poop.  So he launches his turd across the parking lot, mechanic standing right there. 

I then proceed to run to the van, get some wipes, and go to hunt down the turd.  When I got it, the older two start shouting "Hey Mom!  What are you going to do with that turd?  Where are you going to put Asa's poop." 

After cleaning up that mess, we all went into the little waiting room to spend the next 45 minutes.  Sigh.  Asa tried hiding behind a stack of tires at least twice to go poo in his pants.  Kenneth caught him once, but then we had to do another pants change.  Good grief!  (See my last post about how this is infuriating me). 

After a screw was removed from that tire, and it was patched, we were finally on our way.  The rest of the way to Kentucky was pretty uneventful...thank you Lord.  9 hours and 15 minutes later, we finally made it!