We rolled back in this evening from the second trip in under two weeks time along the Eastern seaboard. I have to say that I would not recommend taking five kids in various stages of viral illness for a 12 hour car ride, followed by another 12 hour car ride two days later, then run around and repack and send two of the five away again two days later then load up three more to drive seven hours one way and then back again four days later while jam packing every single day full of activities....just sayin'
I have a ton of stories to tell from the last week and was so bummed that my father's internet set up is so wacky that it caused my laptop to basically reject internet until I got home again. I have no clue what he does, but we regularly have laptops try to commit suicide after trying to use their internet and since Ryan wasn't there to perform surgery, I had to use my cell phone to stay connected to the digital world.
Anyway, I will have to post about the sea sick teenagers on our fishing trip or the ridiculous time I had trying to feed Teagan and Grayson lunch while nursing Finn at a rest stop on our way to NC later because I want to share the story of my busted windshield.
So this morning we left NC around 9:30 and I took a deep breath as I loaded the five tired kids into the van to set out on what could be a 6 hour drive but would likely be seven or eight. We did well for the first three hours, a little whining from Teagan, but it was pretty easy going. After three hours we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch since I knew it would be easy to please everyone there. When we sat down the waitress commented on me traveling alone with the kids and then asked if they were mine, which was weird because who in their right mind would travel with five kids if they could leave a few with their parents? Anyway, we got back on the road and we were cruising along, made a quick stop for gas and Frosty's to tide the kiddos over and we were about an hour from home when the truck in front of us dropped a rock that was the size of a half dollar and it smashed my windshield at the bottom. I was NOT happy and NOT paying for a new windshield on a car that is new because some truck driver couldn't be bothered to clear off his truck (it was a stone truck that had no more load but still had rocks in it). We hit some traffic and I was able to get pics of the truck's license plates and then pulled up along side and yelled to the driver that he broke my windshield. He pulled over and looked at it and asked what I wanted for it...I am guessing he just didn't want to deal with his boss. I told him I wanted what it would cost to fix it and called Ryan who started looking it up while I followed the truck driver to a rest area where he could get money. Turns out the new windshield was just about $360 dollars so I told the driver that and he asked for a receipt which I was glad to write up for him and he paid me in full the cost of the repair. He did mention that there were people who were claiming glass issues to get money from drivers and I assured him that I had five kids in the back of the van and that I would not lie to him and then showed him the pictures so he could see how it had spread even during the drive to the rest area. It is terrible that people would defraud the drivers, especially since many pay from their own pockets as this guy did to not have to file with the company insurance.
Since we have gotten home the windshield crack has spread even more and now it basically splits the windshield in half and I need to call tomorrow to get it fixed. I am so glad that I chased the driver down and that we don't have to pay to get the glass replaced with our funds, even if my father thought I was nuts for doing it.
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