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| Luna Moth |
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| Learning about the Luna Moth |
As we pulled into the parking lot, I thought I kept seeing wisps of smoke in my side view mirror, but every time I would look to investigate, I wouldn't see anything. As we stopped to let someone pass the parking lot to enter Mc Donald's, I saw it. Not wisps of smoke, but big billowy clouds coming from the underside of our car. I was so startled, I couldn't even say anything other than "Ken....." My mind was racing trying to decide if the smoke was really just the fog rolling in. (yes, I know - ridiculous thought. But really, that is what I thought could be one possibility even though it was a sunny breezy morning.) I thought maybe the smoke was coming from somewhere else. And then I thought, what if the smoke IS from our car, would we be able to get all the kids out of car seats before our car was engulfed in flames. The time from when I realize that our car was billowing white smoke to when I was able to communicate to everyone in the car that there was something terribly wrong was probably only 2.2 seconds, but it felt like hours. The amount of thoughts that went stampeding through my brain in that short amount of time was amazing. Just as we pulled into the parking space, there was a pop and a hiss and then a wall of white billowy clouds. At this point in my panic, I did not put two and two together that white clouds does not equal car engulfed in flames. Once the thought of trying to get children out of a flaming car entered my thought, that was it. My focus was not white smoke vs. black smoke, but getting the children out of the car as quickly and as safely as possible. I shouted out an order for everyone to get their buddy out of their carseat as fast as possible without panicking. I jumped out of the car, opened the door, helped everyone from the car. Two women helped the 3 oldest cross the parking lot while I grabbed Felix. It was then that I noticed that poor Ken was just sitting there, looking at the billowy smoke in a rather dumbfounded way. He hadn't even removed his seat belt. Obviously, while I had been contemplating our fiery doom, Ken was contemplating our financial doom. I said something to him about the car exploding at any minute, and he mentioned that we were fine, that it was steam from something - not smoke from fire. He sent me and the kids inside while he figured out what to do. We got settled for what would most likely be a long wait!
I thanked the ladies who had helped my kids cross the parking lot, assured them that my husband said it wasn't a fire and there was no need to call 911, and we piled into Mc Donalds. Ken got in touch with AAA and low and behold, the nearest AAA certified car repair place was just two buildings over!! One of the repair guys came over, took a peak at our van, and determined some kind of hose had broken, spraying something all over the engine, which is what made the steam. (You like my knowledge of cars and all those technical terms like "some kind of hose" and "spraying something", don't you?) They were able to drive the car over without fear of it overheating because it was the next parking lot over, and our engine wasn't even at normal temperature yet. The mechanic brought some sort of thermometer to check. The mechanics were great. They put all other cars they were fixing on hold, so that we could get back on the road as soon as possible and not be stuck in Mc Donald's all day long. We saw God's hand in what could have been a very bad situation, and him bringing little bits of blessings! We could have been broken down on the highway - and with the amount of smoke that poured out of our engine, we would have gotten into an accident because we were unable to see. We could have been stranded on the side of a highway. We could have had an overheated and completely fried engine. It could have been so many things, but He made sure it wasn't!
We were so thankful that we were broken down at a McDonald's instead of on the side of the highway! And it wasn't only a McDonald's - it was a McDonald's with a Playplace! That meant, that for however many hours we would be stuck there, we had access to a bathroom, food and a way for the kids to be entertained. As the minutes passed to hours, we realized that we would not have time to stop by at Fort McHenry like we had planned. I called my sister in Baltimore to explain the situation we were in, and that we'd be in touch. I then called my other sisters who were traveling north to Baltimore from a wedding in South Carolina. I told her that we were going to be late to Baltimore because our van broke down. Her reply was, "Ha ha. Very funny. So I guess you've been talking to Mom." So I told her that no, I hadn't talked to Mom, that we were in fact broke down. That's when she started to laugh. Turns out, they had broken down too!! Their mechanics weren't as sympathetic to their traveling plight, so they were waiting for the tow truck before they grabbed a cab to stay at a hotel in the area for the night while their car was being repaired.
Four hours later, our car was ready, and we were sent on our way with the warning that once one hose goes, they tend to all go rather quickly. And so with that happy thought, we were on our way to Baltimore. The following exit we saw the rest stop with the Mc Donald's. We noted that this McDonald's did not have a playplace and that based on the time it took us to go from the exit to the reststop McDonald's, we would have been stuck on the side of the highway after the McDonald's. So once again, we offered up praise and thanks to the One who knows so much more than we do and were once again feeling blessed that He had the wisdom to give me a migraine and send us on a wild goose chase for a McDonald's that was out of out way. Doing that ensured our safety and our sanity.
We got stuck in traffic just outside Baltimore, and as soon as our car started idling, we could see the thermometer on our car rising, rising, rising. As soon as we would start to move, it would cool down, but since we were in traffic, we were idling more than we were moving. It was nerve wracking. I hadn't fully recovered from the panic attack earlier in the day - so this new added car stress was not good for me!! We were so close to the hotel, that it made sense to try and make it there instead of pulling over on the side of the highway. We turned the heat to full blast, which seemed to help the engine from hitting the critical red part of the thermometer and after what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to our hotel. It was close to dinner, and we had originally planned on spending the evening with all my sisters, but instead 2 of them were on the border of North Carolina and Virginia, and we were just beat with the stress of the day. Between the stress and the fact that the car was acting up, we decided to call up Susanne and tell her that we were just so tired and stressed from the drive that we weren't leaving the hotel tonight. We invited her over to hang out at the hotel, but she declined, and decided to work on some homework instead.
I had booked our hotel on an internet early booking deal. If you booked it early enough and paid in full, you got a really great deal - the only hitch was that it was non-refundable. So if we were a no show, too bad, we still had to pay for the hotel we were not using. If we had a refundable hotel room, we more than likely would have stopped before we made it to Baltimore to have the car more thoroughly looked at.
We had opted to book a suite, so that we would have a little more space. The hotel was beautiful, and included breakfast and dinner in the price. And, much to the delight of my children, it had an indoor pool.
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| Living space with pull out couch |
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| Dining Room and Kitchen Area |
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| Bedroom with 2 queen beds |
After dinner, we headed back to our room and got ready for a swim in the pool. The pool was heated, but not nearly heated enough. My husband opted not to go in, so he kept Felix with him near the steps, while I took the other kids in the pool.
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| Papa and Felix |
Nathaniel and Ainsley are confident in the pool, and do not need me near them at all times. Ephraim clings to people like glue, because even with swimmies, he just isn't confident to try swimming on his own. But that night in the pool, he swam with swimmies for the first time without assistance! He was SO PROUD.
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| First time swimming without assistance!! |
After an hour or so in the pool, we headed back upstairs to get ready for bed. If all went well in the morning, we would be headed to the Baltimore Aquarium!
Up next:: Baltimore Aquarium
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