Home Sweet Home

I can't believe it is Thursday morning and I am just now writing this entry! It has been that kind of week and it was that kind of trip home.
I left my parents on Sunday am at 7:15am. I was a little bummed to be running 15 mins late but figured I could make that up on the raod. I stopped for gas on my way to the NYS thruway and as soon as I started the car it felt like something wasn't right. It almost wouldn't start. As I pulled out of the station I thought to myself....hmmm, gotta get this thing checked out as soon as we get home. I drove for about 10 minutes trying to determine if I was imagining a problem or in denial because I wanted to get home so badly. Finally I had to admit that I couldn't really drive the car and started to pull over....perfect timing as the car stalled and I rolled to a stop in front of the quaint Pemproke Presbyterian church. sigh.
The car wouldn't even start now so my attempts to turn around and head back to my parents were futile. They were now on their way to me. Thankfully they were only about 20 minutes from where I had ended up.
They pulled up and we transferred as much as could fit into my dad's small but fabulously sporty BMW. Pretty much we put Stella and her toys in the car. TeeHee. OH! And an order of wings in a cooler for Brian. Priorities! Then we left my dad with the CRV to wait for the tow truck and my mom and I drove back to get her car so she could come back and get my dad. Meanwhile I headed back to hit the road and be one my way to NJ....passing Goldie on a big flatbed on the way. So sad! We managed to do all of this in about an hour and a half so that wasn't too bad.
Insert a HUGE thanks to my parents here!
I had debated staying in Buffalo until the car was fixed but I have a large wedding to shoot this weekend and had a photo job to edit...not to mention a Dr's apt and a few other important commitments that I couldn't miss. I was already feeling terribly stressed having gone to Buffalo with all of that to come back to but really wanted to go and was glad I had made the trip.
I spoke to Brian and told him about driving the BMW and he begged me to drive slow and I agreed to even saying that I felt like a target in this snappy car.
About an hour after that conversation I got pulled over for going 80 in a 65. I didn't really think that was speeding ;-) but I guess it is. The real bummer was that my stopping woke Stella up from a nap she had just started and wouldn't return to for the rest of the trip. The officer could see from my face that a ticket might be the last straw for me so he gave me a break. I did however get a ticket for not having a front plate on the car. You should have seen the look on my face when he asked if I knew where the front plate was......ummmm, it's not there?
Anyway, insert HUGE thanks to that guy here!
So off we went.....just a little slower.......things were pretty good until after the lunch/gas stop in Scranton. Stella had really done very well but was fading. Thankfully I had the portable DVD player with 4 straight hours of Backyardigans! WooHoo! I mean *&%#$#!*!!! The flipping DVD started skipping about 20 minutes in and while driving just under 80mph I am trying to fix it even though it faces the opposite direction! Finally I had to pull over and switch it to an Elmo DVD I had that was only 30 mins....so every half hour I had to either pull over or practically turn around to restart it. After watching it 4 times Stella was so over it she was bleary and I don't ever want to hear about Elmo's world again! But we were almost home so that was all still ok!
FINALLY! 3 miles from our exit on the NJ Turnpike and traffic comes to a total stop. I just started to cry. I told my friend Lauren I wanted to throw myself under my own moving car! Only problem with that is the car wasn't moving! Sigh.
We managed to make it home and I have never been so happy to see Brian and 18 Uxbridge in my life. Well, I may have been happier on our wedding day when I saw him at the end of the isle and was just thrilled he had shown up...but this was a very close second!
Even better was that he took Monday and Tuesday off to spend time with his girls and even came to Stella's last swimming class. Very cute!
My parents will be driving the repaired CRV down to our house tomorrow. They were planning to come and visit to watch Stella while Brian and I shoot this big wedding on Saturday so fortunately that was great timing! Apparently there was water in the gas and that is why the car broke down. Needless to say we are hoping to be reimbursed for the charges but that is a whole different entry!
Today Stella and I are off to run errunds and meet up with the playgroup and enjoy a last zoom in the fun BMW before Goldie comes home tomorrow.
Insert another huge thanks to my parents here!