Two bum cars

I drove Nic's car to church last week so it would get driven - didn't want him to come home to a car that wouldn't start.  I don't like to drive it because it only has two seats in the back - so Maximus has to ride in the front.  Obviously, not an ideal place for a 5 year old, no matter how far I scoot the seat back.  So Monday morning we took the seats out of the car, put them back in the van and got all buckled up to head to school.   .... Only to not have my van not start.  Turns out Maximus left the back door open (he likes to use it for some reason) and the battery was dead.  So we put everything back in Nic's car and left for school.

We had a busy week.  Beach, eating at a new burger joint by the beach, dinner with friends (3X), school, mops, soccer practice, luncheon.... So I didn't prioritize getting the van fixed since I had Nic's car to drive.  I knew I could call Typhoon Motors and have them come charge it for me, but I never really had the time to get it done during their business hours.  Well, I could have made time for it, but like I said, I figured I would do it when I felt like I wasn't so busy (which, btw I like because then the week goes by faster).

Well, Nic's car has this light that goes on every once in a while.  But we have no clue what it means - the manual is in Japanese.  How unhelpful.  But it would always go off after driving it a bit, so I never gave it any thought.  Oops.

Today we tried to go to Kadena to get Maximus some new shoes.  We left at 3:30 and the kids didn't eat much at lunch so I figured we would stop for an early dinner at Chili's Too (a "fast" version of Chili's) before we headed to the BX.  I had gotten the house completely cleaned in the morning so we were looking forward to getting out of the house on this dreary, rainy, windy and cold day.

After driving for about 10 minutes, poor Nic's car stopped giving me acceleration. So on Rt. 58 I had to pull over with flashers on - and I laughed.  I called my friend Liesl and, bless her heart, she hunted her husband down to come get us.  Thankfully, with my handy, dandy Deployed Spouse's Card I get free towing.  So by the time Jose came to pick us up, Nic's car was already towed and on it's way to Typhoon Motor's so they can look at it on Tuesday.

(Did you read that Nic? I called the towing company and Tyhpoon Motors all by myself - and I didn't even get anxious doing it :) - I think I should get a prize or something!)

I am so thankful for our friends, the Beatons, because Jose then jumped my van for me, when we got back to Kinser.  He said it needed to keep running, and offered to drive it around for me (see what great friends we have?) but I figured I could just dive to Kadena (which is at least 30 minutes away) anyway and we'd be good.  So that's what we did finally, at 5:30. (Not before making a stop at BK, yes again.  The kids were beyond starving and sadly, its the only drive through on Kinser)

The kids were so great today that the first thing I did at the BX on Kadena was buy chocolate chip cookies for them.  Which was probably the second best part of their day - the first was seeing Nic's car get towed - Maximus said, "Wow, that is SO COOL!" And he giggled all excitedly.

So hopefully, Nic's car isn't too damaged because then we'd have to sell it for scrap metal :) And then Nic will be jogging to and from work everyday, hehe.