5 kids and no minivan aka the transmission saga

So anyone want to hear about the drive home from camping? Halfway home on a 3 hr drive the kids start to get cranky. I think it's time to grab some dinner. Do you want to stop at Cracker Barrel (the usual sit down stop) there's one at this exit, oops too late. I'll check the GPS for food. Nearest food along our route is over 20 miles. No that's OK don't turn around, they'll be OK....What the heck happened? Car won't go, sounds and acts like it's in neutral...worse than when the transmission died on the Lumina, at least then I could drive the 2 miles home in 1st gear it just wouldn't shift. The good news? We were able to glide to a stop off of the road on the side of an exit ramp. It could also be good news that the exit had NOTHING so no worry of traffic, but also nowhere to eat.

OK 6pm on a Sunday in the bible belt, broke down, 1½ hrs from home with 7 people, umm...right. Our spare car isn't big enough for us all, my sister's isn't either, my parents? nope. I have 1 sister who has a minivan BUT she was on the trip too. She left early that morning though, maybe she's home. 30 minutes from the nearest real city, probably an hour from the nearest airport, I just don't see Enterprise delivering in a timely manner. I don't even wanna know what an 88 mile cab ride costs. So my dad and brother in law can both come get us or maybe my sister is home already so my dad can borrow her van. More bad news, she's not home. What? She's 20 miles BEHIND us. So she'll be there in 15 minutes . The tow truck has 2 bench seats...even sweeter. I am very thankful for my guardian angels that day. Though my sister and her family are awesome too and I have to love AAA. The 3 babies and I road with my sister and her babies in their minivan. Brian, the 2 older ones, my brother in law and his older kids rode in the tow truck. The tow truck even stopped at the gas station so they got snacks. We got McDonalds. Though I can't honestly say a 1½ hr van ride with a 10 month old, 2, 3, 4 and 5 year old is exactly quiet. We even had to juggle carseats around again at McDonalds to quiet some.

Oh don't worry, there's more to come...2 weeks worth of "more".