Coming clean

Lest you think that we have our T's crossed and our I's dotted...This story almost competes with locking the kids in the car in the departures lane at the airport. Thanks to Skippy and Boomer of Chicago Police Department (yes, that is what their name tags said), we were able to get back in the car without breaking the window. The only casualty of that incident is that the passenger side door that has to be opened from inside the car. But I digress.

We had snow last night and Pish had some extra items to carry into work this morning so he asked me to drive him to the train station. It is just a few blocks, but I was game for getting out of the house. Even though it is a multi step process to get the kids in their car seats and out to the car, it seemed worth it. We put Noah in his coat and stuffed a blanket around Ella in her car seat. Never mind that it was 13 degrees outside, we were just going on a quick trip. Rather than taking the time to get dressed in real clothes, I stepped out in my PJ pants, plastic gardening clogs, and coat. After living in NC for two years and being on bedrest/nursing round the clock last year, I had no boots. You can see where this is going...

As soon as we crossed over the train tracks, the warning chimes on the car started going off and it flashed 'STOP CAR IMMEDIATELY' along with the oil pressure light on the dash. Thanks to someone who shall remain nameless, I knew that this was not a 'pull over when you feel like it' sort of warning light. We parked the car and came up with a game plan: put Matt's ear muffs on Ella and stick her in the Baby Bjorn inside Matt's coat, tuck Ella's blanket around Noah and high tail it back home through the snow. To say that I was cold would be an understatement but we made it home in about 5 minutes with minimal vocalizations from the kids. The car is now at the mechanic and I promptly ordered a pair of the warmest snow boots that I could find. The mechanic just called and here is the irony...all that was because I forgot to get the oil changed.

Moral of the story: there are no 'quick little trips' with kids. Prepare for the worst and dress for the weather. And get your oil changed every 5,000 miles.