QualityTime with Kids, on the shoulder of the 605

The kids and I got in a bit of a brouhaha on the 605, but we're okay. It was pretty crazy, and I praise God that none of us were hurt (or anybody else.) It was actually a pretty funny situation, by the end. 

So, somebody tried to merge into me, and while I was still fishtailing from going on and off the shoulder to avoid them, he moved again and cut me off. I hit my breaks which made it all worse and ended up spinning around and into a smallish tree.

I got this nifty picture off Google maps. It was taken a few years ago, so the tree is a bit bigger now. Each trunk was about 6 to 12" thick.

Anyway, the tree was obliging enough to bend when we hit it, but also strong enough to bring us to a dead stop. Which was great, because I didn't want to spin onto the ramp behind, or into the guardrail, or back into traffic. In fact, it caught us at one of the only safe places for our car to stop.

Then it gets funny. The car was royally stuck on top of the tree, only one of the wheels touching the ground. Several good samaritans tried to help me get it off, but that was no good. A police officer stopped by, and he called a towing service. I tried to keep the kids occupied on the side of the road while the towing guy sweated and fumed and finally towed the car mostly off. Then he locked the keys in the car.

I repeat, he locked the keys in the car.

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal for him but he COULD NOT get the car unlocked and he had all the slimjims in the world.

Then Silas had to poop. He's only once pooped in the potty, which means he's at a very delicate stage of potty training. Needless to say, he didn't want to squat in the grass, so it all went in his pants. Rose's nose was streaming green snot everywhere, and I didn't have a single wipe for either of them. The car was still locked.

I borrowed the cop's phone to try and get a hold of my husband or mother-in-law (my phone was in the car), but since we only have one car, it wasn't going to be easy for Nathan to come get me.

Anyway, after about forty five minutes, the tow guy called his superior who was able to open the car. Then they finished yanking it off the tree, and we all got to go home. Sunburned, poopy, snotty, and sore, but very thankful that it hadn't been much, much worse.

Oh, and somewhere in there a nice guy pulled up and gave me the license plate number of the car that ran me off the road. However, the cop said that since I wasn't actually hit, there wasn't much to be done with it.


Oh, well.

On an up note, the kids have taken FANTASTIC naps the last few days.