A locksmith, rain, and a dirty diaper on the roof

Exciting Day.

Joni is coming into town!

Someone flying into Knoxville airport means that I have to do a Costco run. 

After much deliberation, it was determined that I could only take two children so that I had room in the van for the goods we purchased.

Hannah is a MUST attender. She is too much work for JB to watch and get farm work done. And he had a ton of work to do on the farm.

That leaves one free seat.

All four wanted to attend.

JB managed to bribe the boys not to go with by promising them that they could hang out at the house and do NO schoolwork for the day.

(Yeah. Exactly. I'm totally the bad cop.)

So the girls and I take off around 9:30am.

On the way to Costco, I decided to make a quick stop at Whole Foods for the granola bars we all love. 

I pull up, and hear Hannah say, "I got pooper doopers." 

(Grama taught her this.)

It starts to rain. I do a quick once-over and discover that the pooper doopers are actually creeping into the car seat.

(Throw up and poop on a car seat on a road trip are major, major sad faces for Moms.)

I lay Hannah down on the floorboard and do a quick change. I set the dirty diaper on the top of the van, and quickly whisk the two girls inside, completely forgetting about dirty diaper on top of van. 

(Epiphany: this is where random dirty diapers on roads and highways come from.)

By the time we return to to the van it is absolutely pouring. Getting two little girlies into the van and groceries into the back of the van and myself back in the van meant I was absolutely soaked. 

We head to Costco.

I am doing a HUGE shop. Not just the 9 people living in our household need to be fed, but we are getting food for the Conference we are hosting on the farm in two weeks. 

I decide the easiest way to do this is to do all my non-refrigerated items first. With a cart filled to the brim, I head to the check out. They get it back in but in two carts. 

I make my way out to the van with Abigail pushing one cart, and me the other, and just praying we make it successfully back to the van. 

We do.

I let the girls play in their seats while I load up the van since it is raining, and I don't want them to sit in the carts getting wet.

I, on the other hand, am getting soaked trying to get two carts into the van knowing I still have a perishable shop yet to do.

Our van has had a problem with the lock mechanism for some time, but I truly thought I had out-smarted it.

I was wrong.

I pulled the girls out of the van, stood them next to me, tossed my wallet and keys on the front seat, and watched as the door not only slipped out of my hands but then locked itself.

I kid you not.

Oh did I tell you it was raining again at this point?

So here I stand, outside my van, still needing to go back inside to do our perishables and my wallet and keys are on the front seat.

(So are the uncrustable sandwiches I had promised the girls they could have.)

(I must admit, bad words were flying through my brain, and maybe a few squeezed their way out of my mouth.)

I go inside. 

I call a locksmith. 

I do my shop while I wait for locksmith. 

I buy a huge box of blueberry muffin snacks.

To bribe children.

(Can't get anything small at Costco.)

Locksmith calls. 

I ask cash register lady if I can leave cart parked by her for just ten minutes.

She agrees.

I go outside with two girls.

I wait for locksmith to get my keys.

It is still raining.

He gets keys.

I pay fifty bucks. (Ugh!)

I go back inside.

Cash register lady tells me they were concerned my perishables would melt so they put my cart into a "freezer."

It takes about 20 minutes for them to return my cart to me!

Ughhhhhhhhh!!!

Back out to van. Strap girls in and load up ... again ... in the pouring rain.

I am weary, but I decide to take a photo to document how proud I am of doing two Costco shops and managing to get a locksmith, in the rain, and get it all to fit in our van with minimal bad words.

So I take a picture:

We leave.

I am weary.

But in a moment, everything changes. 

We pick up Joni.

We get home.

Everyone is happy: