Weekend update...

Ahhh.... what a great weekend! I was sad to see it end!!

Last Friday morning I got a call from Matt, and he was wondering if I had made any plans for the coming weekend. In Matt lingo, this usually means "Have you made plans with friends for either Friday or Saturday night and if so, what are we doing"? Yes, I am the keeper of the schedule and the maker of plans. Pretty much anything that happens in this house has to run through me. After I told him nothing definite other than dance pictures on Sunday, I asked him what he had in mind. His reply.... Oh, nothing......

Riiiiiight..... Like I believe that. He never calls to find out what the plans are unless he has something in mind. Typical boy. After a few loaded questions, he told me that he had found a couple of cars in KC that he thought we should take a look at, and wondered if I wanted to go down to Kansas City for the weekend, and suggested that we leave Saturday morning. I was all for it -- not really thrilled about the idea of a new car, but the thought of getting away ..... that was another story.

So after running home and throwing in laundry, I called him back and suggested that we leave Friday night instead. So, with the go ahead from me, he called a couple of dealerships and put deposits on two cars and made hotel reservations at this Sheraton. The rest of the day was a rat race on my end -- picking up Katherine from preschool, feeding them lunch, dropping them off at my mom's house and heading to my OB appointment, running back to get the kids and then racing to gymnastics. After all that running I was exhausted! By the time I got back home and unloaded the kids, Matt was home and we started throwing stuff together for the weekend.

Friday night we got into Kansas City around 8:30 and then showed the kids around and had ice cream. The kids were thrilled and exhausted. Just being back at the Sheraton brought back so many memories.... Before kids, Matt and I used to go down there and stay for a weekend about every other month or so -- we'd go shopping, out to a nice dinner, just hang out. But... since kids arrived, we didn't make it a priority, and find the time. Things are about to change! LOL.

Saturday we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel, and then stopped by the first dealership. ** Oh, about the car *** I loved my Lexus. I drove the small SUV and it was the perfect size. The main problem was that it wouldn't hold a third car seat which just won't work for us come this fall. So.... we made the decision to buy a new car right away rather than putting new brakes, tires, etc... on the Lexus, which we were forced to trade before September anyway. As soon as we came to that decision, Matt went into overdrive scouring the internet for possible cars. After some research, we decided to get a Toyota Sequoia, which is one of the "smaller" SUV's that will accommodate three car seats. Don't get me wrong -- it's still a gas guzzling road hog that will take some getting used to on my part, but what else was I to do? Get a mini-van??? AAAHH, no.

Well.... Saturday morning things fell into place and we ended up getting a good deal on the car we wanted and ended up buying it. So -- buy-bye to my beloved Lexus and hello to the mammoth that now barely fits in the garage. It's got some super cool features, but man... this thing is big! Poor Caleb -- he was lobbying so hard for a pick-up truck, but thankfully he loves "Mommy's new big car"!

After we bought the car, we took the kids out for lunch and then headed back to the hotel so that they could swim. For some odd reason, Caleb had NO interest in going into the pool, so he and I played by the side while Matt and Katherine "swam". OK, Katherine can not swim. In fact, she made the decision to get off the step without Matt right there and almost drowned. She desperately needs swimming lessons! (Which I'm signing up for today).

Saturday night we went over to Brian and Val's house for some good KC BBQ and to hang out. It was so good to see them! Definitely something we'll have to do more often! We talked about going to the Omaha Zoo sometime in May before it gets super hot and I'm large as a house, so I'm going to have to strong arm Val into giving me a date!!

Sunday morning we got up early because Katherine had her dance pictures at 12:00. (For those without a little girl in dance lessons, right before the recital, all the girls wear their recital costumes and come to the studio for group and individual pictures.) Anyway......

Right after we left the Plaza and before we got on the interstate, the low fuel light went on the in the car. Since neither one of us really wanted to backtrack, we got on I-71 with the intention of pulling off at the next exit. Normally, not a horrible idea, but Sunday, it proved to be beyond stupid. The next exit was Linwood (I'm pretty sure), and as we pulled off, we found a button telling us that we had 7 miles to go until EMPTY. That's right -- two kids in the car and we were running on fumes -- oh, and the best part.... we quickly realized that we were in the heart of the ghetto.

We didn't see a gas station right as we pulled off, so we had to make the all important decision -- do we turn right or left??? We both decided left. Let's see ..... we passed countless condemned buildings, boarded up and/or barred windows, thugs galore, a man walking around swinging a crowbar, and yes... we were about out of gas. Otherwise, we'd have gone back to the interstate, but unfortunately that really wasn't an option.

At this point, Matt looks at me and says, "You know why there aren't any gas stations, right???? They can't stay in business. They get robbed". OMG. I'm fighting back tears thinking of my two innocent babies in the backseat and praying -- literally PRAYING for our safety. Let's just say -- both Matt and I were sweating and I was more than mildly irritated remembering the conversation we had HOURS ago on the way back from Brian and Val's house. "Honey, let's just stop for gas now so we don't have to do it in the morning". For some reason, Matt wanted to wait until morning, and I agreed. Let's just say, I won't be so agreeable next time.

Finally, MILES down the road we see an Amoco, and breathe a heavy sigh of relief. Right as we pull in, we notice that there aren't any pumps. That's right, this gas station closed too, so on we drove. Finally, we found Inner City Petroleum, and with tears in my eyes and prayer on my lips I put 911 on speed dial. I was literally that afraid. Poor Matt had to go in and prepay, and the girl working was behind bullet proof glass.

Let's just say I couldn't get out of there fast enough! Call me a small town girl all you want, but I was seriously freaked out. I'm sure it made the situation a thousand times worse with Katherine and Caleb in the backseat sitting there wide eyed and innocent. If anything would have happened..... And yes, we got looks -- stares actually. At one point a jeep drove up to our car as we were filling up, stopped, looked in our car, and drove off. OMG!!!

I've never been so glad to see Johnston in my life -- and so thankful that we had to make our ghetto visit at 8:30 on a Sunday morning! If it was this bad on a Sunday morning, I can't imagine what it would have been like after dark....