Most expensive weekend trip ever

We decided to take a weekend trip to NC. Chad took Friday off and we were going to leave after Andy and I got out of school around 1:00 and then come home Sunday morning. We thought this plan was brilliant. I would get to see Kasie play soccer for her college team. Also, Chad, Evan and Pops would get to go to the Duke vs Alabama football game. Chad is huge Bama football fan and had never seen them play. Pops loves to take his grandsons to their first big time sporting events. Thanks Pops!! So this was a great opportunity for that. And to top it all off we were going to bring Nanni home with us so she would get to see our kids play their fall sports and then Kristi would come and take her to NY so she could see Taylor play.

And then...

We were not able to leave home until 2:30 because I forgot I had a meeting at work that I had to be at. Then traffic getting out of PA was awful!!! It took us two hours to get to Delaware. Then DC traffic was even worse so Nelly, our GPS, started weaving us through DC trying to avoid the traffic. By the time she was done and we were out of DC we were all the way on the eastern edge of Virginia and had to travel diagonally back to 95 for 70 miles.

Along the way the D light, as in D is for drive, started blinking. I googled it and what I found said it could mean something was up with the transmission. So we pulled into the next town and were told that Auto Zone couldn't diagnose it because it wasn't the actual check engine light and the Honda dealer couldn't help us because it was 5:02 and all the mechanics left at 5. (even though the Honda website said the hours were 7-7!) We tried calling the Honda dealer Pops uses and they were too busy to fit us in the next day. The closest Honda dealer to Pops house that could fit us in was an hour away. By the time we arrived at their house it was almost 1 am. Also the light stopped blinking after we stopped and never came back on. So we just decided to wait until we got home to get it checked out.

We had a great Saturday. Chad and Evan donned their Alabama gear and started answering every question with "Roll Tide". Pops decided to be a rebel and wore his Tennessee hat! And the boys were off to the game. They had a great time even though the game was a blow out. Their seats were right in the end zone. They got to see all the players and coaches close up. They got to explore the Duke campus close up while walking to and from the car. And they had a full day of male bonding!

Gabi, Andy, Nanni and I set out to go watch Kasie play in her game. We met up with Aunt Sheila and Uncle Scott and CJ at the game. I loved being able to see Kasie play my favorite sport at such a high level. She had a great game and her team played very well and really dominated the game. Unfortuately the other team got one unlucky goal and had a beautiful shot from about 30 yards out that scored. So Kasie lost 2-0. It was also Kasie's birthday weekend so we were able to go out to eat with her and spend a little more time together before she had to go celebrate with her friends.

The next morning slept in and didn't get on the road until a little after 10:30. We were about twenty minutes into the trip when I realized I didn't have my purse so we had to go back. At 11:20 we were on the road for real. Everything was going well. I drove first and was getting sleepy after about 3 hours so Chad took over around Richmond. Right in the middle of DC where 95, 495 and 395 all intersect Chad says "We Have A Big Problem". I look out and smoke is billowing up behind us. Chad is trying to get from the left land over to the side of the road. We end up under an overpass. We call AAA and they send a tow truck pretty much right away. The problem is there are 6 of us and only 2 can fit in the tow truck. So AAA was supposed to be calling us a taxi. An hour after the tow truck got there he is tired of waiting and does not like to be in this dangerous place on the highway. He kept trying to call other tow trucks to come and help, but because of where we were the only way to get to us was to go by on the other side of the highway and get off and come back around to us. But that 5-10 mile round trip would take an hour with traffic. Finally he convinced someone from AAA to come and get us in a minivan. They then drove us and our van to the nearest Honda dealership which of course was closed by this point. We had to drop box the keys to the van and leave it in the middle of DC. Then we called three cab companies trying to get one to send a minivan. 45 minutes later we were in a taxi headed to the airport. At the airport we got a rental van. Then we finally left DC at about 8:00. We got home very late and had to be up early to start school and work the next day. It was a very tiring week. Added in was the fact that our transmission had blown at only 110,000 miles. So we had to have it repaired.

That week we had Andy's soccer, Evan's Lego club and Gabi's cheer on Monday, my preschool open house on Tuesday, Evan soccer (which I coach) on Wednesday, Gabi cheer on Thursday and then on Friday Chad left work at lunch and the two of us drove back to DC, paid for the car, and then drove home. The sad part is this was the week that Nanni was here with us and I hardly got to see her. Hopefully she will be back soon! One bright spot was that on the way back home from DC Chad pulled off 95 in Baltimore and we had dinner together on the harbor. It was a gorgeous night and we ate outside at The Cheesecake Factory. I had never been. It was gorgeous and I can't wait to go back sometime.