Bill and Kayla had planned on spending spring break with Bill's parents who live in St. George. Their house gets quite packed with visitors when the entire family comes to visit. They have five children and I think at least 5X that amount in grandchildren. Bill had planned on getting the family a trailer tent to add to their comfort of an overly squished house. But, evidently, Bill's parents either forgot or found another opportunity and booked for a cruise - that same weekend!
I don't know how long before spring break Kayla had contacted me to see if they could make their spring break getaway with us in Oregon. What a fantastic birthday gift for Jenna! I decided to keep it a secret - knowing they would have to leave before her actual birthday but would be spending time with us close enough (Jenna turns 14 today; the family had to leave yesterday)
Before they come, I have always suggested site-seeing options and cost and so forth. This time I mentioned the Wild Life Safari - about a ten-minute drive and Enchanted Forest which we had never been to ourselves but had seen signs during our travels. About two and a half hours north of us. Didn't think they'd be interested in more driving, but thought it might be fun.
They did not wish to drive the distance - which turned out to be a huge blessing for all of us. I don't know if Bill took a picture of their back window after it had blown out - not even the entire window - just a large hole giving the appearance that it had been broken into - which hadn't been the case. None in the car understood what had happened, but the glass had shattered as they were driving less than ten-miles an hour.
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| This, of course, is only a rough crop combining to demonstrate |
There hadn't been room for all eight of us in the van, and so Roland and Kayla and I were in our car; all five of our children (Bill is included in that number. He is the only one of the five who can legally drive) were in the van. I decided I should go to Roseburg with Bill and sent Jenna and Kayla's oldest two with Roland and Kayla and I went with Bill to Roseburg to see if we could get the glass repaired, but there was not the right size in stock and so an appointment had to be made for Monday morning.
Yesterday was their last day, and I gave Jenna the option of staying home, but she did not wish to break her record of perfect attendance, plus I think she was getting frustrated with some of the behavior that the children had displayed over the last four days. Maybe not . . . Roland had said she had wanted to participate in more sophisticated activities that had been above their social levels.
So Jenna returned to school and Roland returned to work. Jenna talked Bill into taking her to school and he learned his car battery had died. Because the back window covered only by cardboard boxes flattened out registered the van door was open, the overhead light had remained on until the battery needed to be recharged. By then Jenna had missed the bus and so Bill borrowed our car to take her and then got lost on his return.
As Jenna was at school, I decided that we would have enough room in our car for 5 people and so I had planned on keeping the level of noise down by taking Kayla and children to the park and library for story time and then another park for a picnic. Bill would be spending his day at the auto glass and then the mechanics. But he truly does have the most positive attitude when things go awry. He took his cell phone to keep himself entertained and seemed to be okay with it.
Kayla was cold. It appeared to me that Anna felt cold also - though the playground was definitely more inviting and therefore more important than staying warm. I took the three-year-old to the library where he not only put together a few puzzles but talked about each piece as he put it in. I think he's really an old man in a little person's body. Gosh, he is smart!
After story time we left Myrtle Creek and I took them to the park in Riddle - which they really seemed to enjoy, but poor Kayla was still freezing and actually I was too. We were out a shorter time than I had anticipated, but fortunately for Roland, he had done the majority of what work was required of him, but still had hours left on the clock.
Bill had returned from the glass repair and visited with Roland a bit before going to our mechanic's to get a service - only temporary at that. Once again, parts would have to be special ordered and would not arrive until this Thursday but the kids return to school on Wednesday. So they are now driving on a temporary repair job. They made it to Burns, Oregon last night but still have the longest leg of their trip ahead of them still. I pray they arrive in Utah safe and sound and that their car's problems have been left behind in Oregon.
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