Irony is ironic, isn't it? Yesterday I post about Friday night airplanes and then this happens.
I needed to make a quick stop to Trader Joe's for some provisions. Matt wanted to join me so that meant the whole crew piled into the car. I am thankful for this as you will soon read.
We stocked up on the usual yogurt, milk, honey pretzels, and a bunch of other things we didn't know we needed. Before heading home we had to stop at the Euro grocery across the street for a few produce items. We spent the drive home talking about our day, and as we were half way home we hear a ding from the dashboard. Matt furled his eyebrow as he tried to figure out what the warning light meant. I leaned over to see that the temperature gauge was buried in the red. We weren't so sure what to do as this has never happened before. Matt turned off the busy street onto a residential street and parked. His words were not what I expected.
"The car is overheating and we have to walk home."
"I'm sorry did you say walk home?"
He wasn't joking.
Matt opened the hatch and pulled out G's stroller and we started huffing it to the house. In actuality it wasn't that far of a walk, but M's flip flops were not the most appropriate footwear for the weather. The plan was to (finally) eat dinner and then drive Matt's car back to get mine.
Matt would drive mine to the dealership while the kids and I followed in his car. If he found that the car was overheating along the way he'd stop and we'd make plans from there.
Well we made it about 3 miles and he pulled into the Shell station. The temperature gauge was again buried in the red.
By this time it is 7:45 and the call is made for a tow. The kids are getting restless as we are stopped in a gas station parking lot. Two bags of M&Ms and radio singalong later proved to be enough entertainment until the tow truck came at 8:40.
The driver loaded my car and we were on our way to the dealership.
We made it to the lot before the closed the gates for the night at 9:00. Matt dropped the key in the box and we made our way back home. M was exhausted and could not keep her eyes open any longer.
When the dealer called this morning to tell us the problem, it was what Matt expected. The water pump gave out and the thermostat was kaput as well. Don't even ask what that's going to cost. Good thing we've got an emergency fund.
I hope we can just go watch airplanes next Friday night.
