Scraped knees and laughter

Yesterday I picked up the girls after school and had some errands to run. I had been neglecting to take the car in even after it had been shaking for a few weeks. On the way to the store the vibrations got very severe and I pulled over to the closest garage. After assessing the vehicle I was given an estimate and a "You were lucky you came in when you did!". I was shown the damage and was shocked at my stupidity of ignoring the situation for so long. Money is so tight right now. I just cringed when I thought of being ripped off at a garage, so I let it be.

I WAS ripped off at the garage,, and I AM cringing,, but I had no choice but to pay without any second opinions (part of that whole being an adult thingy that I have been grappling with, sigh). And needless to say the kids and I were stranded in the middle of nowhere for an extended period of time.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, a little windy but still nice, so we decided to walk to a gas station to get a soda. It was quite the little trek and we all walked hand in hand as I listened to the goings on of school days and disciplined the little bickering between sisters about inconsequential things. And there was talk of boys. Lots of talk of boys.

Traxx walked sandwiched between his sisters happily singing and skipping with no cares. He tripped 3 times scraping little toddler knees each time. As his sisters and I fawned over him he looked up each time and said "We still will walk and talk, lets go!". There were no alligator tears shed and no "carry me" fits. He was obviously enjoying the calm pace of the day and swirly conversation with his family and was not going to let a little injury stop the fun.

We got our drinks, them opting for "bug juice" (which I NEVER let them have!!!) and me a water and then spoiling them each with a jumbo "laffy taffy".

Wanna hear our wrapper jokes??? Of course you do!! Here I go:

What did one casket say to the other casket???

....that you coffin????

and

What do you call lassie when he is sad?

....a melancholy!!!!!

and

What did the hat rack say to the hat??

....you go on a head,, I'll stay here!!!

you're welcome...

As we walked back to the garage we decided to stop and sit at the worker's picnic table to wait. There was a busy road beside us and the kids started to try and make the truckers honk as they passed by turning it into quite the game. They then decided EVERY CAR was fair game and were all screaming while making the universally known "trucker honk" arm motions. The honks were few and far between but it was Christmas morning each time one rang out. Traxx was screaming "pump-a ya horns,, pump-a ya horns!!" and we all just laughed and carried on together.

When the car was taken off the lifts and dropped to the ground the kids got excited to go, but the mechanic needed to take the car for a test drive. The girls didn't understand this and MsDebate looked at me in shock and screamed "Mom!!!!! He just JACKED our car!!!" as he drove out of the parking lot. I explained the situation, got everyone calmed down and went inside to pay.

What's the moral of this story you ask....There isn't one really except there is..

How did I forget how fun just hanging out with the kids on a bright sunny day with no plans is? Why do I always have to have a plan? The best moments are unplanned and not orchestrated. And even in a crappy situation like this, I got to laugh and spend quality time with a bunch of crazy little mini-me's and a mechanic named Darrow (huh??) who kept sneaking over to tell me things "about the car" while winking a lot and making sure I knew he was single.

..........and as weird as it sounds,,, I kinda needed a day like that (just not the $300 bill that went along with it)!!