The Trip Home...A Trip Within a Trip

The return trip was quite an adventure. Actually it started out great. Since our car had been having trouble, my sister had to return home to work before we were ready to leave. My parents didn't want me to go alone, so my dad offered to drive down with us. My sister Sheri works for the airline so my parents can fly for cheap. So the plan was to drive to Indio on Friday the 24th, spend the night, drive on in to Phoenix Saturday, drop my dad off at the airport on the way in, and be home by Saturday evening. Well, our van had a mind of it's own. Luckily it did great for us on the way to Indio. We safely arrived at the hotel, went swimming, had dinner, and went to bed. We got up and ready to leave early the next morning and the van would not start. I was not too happy! I called John and he hunted down a repair shop that was open on Saturday. The owner agreed to have the van towed to his shop and take a look at it. He said that if it was something easy to fix, he would do it on Saturday otherwise we would have to wait until Monday. Well, it was the fuel pump = big job = two extra days in the hotel. So, here we are My dad, me, and 5 little kids stuck in a hotel, in 115 degree Indio. What do you do? Well, the hotel was inside of a country club area so other than homes and golf courses there was nothing within walking distance. Luckily there was a little kitchenette in the hotel with a refrigerator and microwave. So we decided what we would eat for the next couple of days then I called a cab and Annalise and I made a trip to the nearest grocery store a little over a mile away. It was ridiculously expensive, but cheaper than renting a car and actually worked out quite well. After that we spent the time Swimming, watching TV, and playing with the little toys Grandma had sent in the boys travel bags. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

The hotel was actually quite nice. It had this king
size bed that 4 kids and I shared...


and a pull out queen size sofa bed where the boys
took turns sleeping with Grandpa. They thought
that was great. The beds were actually very comfortable.


The last night there, William decided that he didn't
want to sleep at the foot of the king bed, so he made
himself one out of the couch cushions. This is how
I found him during the night. By morning he had
the cushions all level and seemed much more comfy.



Jacob of course loved watching the guy hook up the
car. He was especially interested in "how' he was
doing it.


Off it goes to the shop...again!

Spencer in the pool. He became quite a little fish

while we were there.

Jacob learned how to dive...sort of. Many of them

turned into belly flops, but he just kept doing it over

and over.

William acting silly

William and Jacob loved swimming the length of

the pool over and over.

Jacob

Bryce came out with us a couple of times. He loves

the pool! He really enjoyed putting his head back

and letting the water run over his eyes. He was also

able to kick and just plain move a lot easier in the

water.

Annalise working on her tan!

Here is Bryce with my dad. My dad was SO good

with the little ones. I wish I could have brought

him home with me for good!

Since Annalise needed to be fed and it was

dinner time, we stopped at Wendy's on Ray Rd.

in Chandler for dinner before driving on home.

We got home just in time to wrestle a bit with Dad

and then head off to bed. Very happy to be home!!!

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Spending a couple of extra days in a hotel with no car actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Thanks to my Dad, I was able to spend a lot more time with the three older boys (mostly in the pool) during that weekend than I have in a long time. There was no where that I could go or had to go, so we just played. Luckily the boys got along really well also. That makes a big difference!