Busted Part Three...

OK, I might actually get this finished today. Don't hold your breath though. HAHA! Closing ceremonies were just as great as Opening ceremonies. Most of the kids were able to get their MudDI waters pin sets finished when some boys from Wisconsin showed up to trade with them. They were super nice and the girls were thrilled.

Ceremonies started out with the huge Power Cube! When opened it revealed six different puzzles that were completed by 2 elementary teams, 2 middle level teams and 2 high school teams. Each set of team competed against each other for the chance to win a $1000. It was so much fun to watch and to cheer the teams on! After that they announce the winners in each category of challenges. The girls actually sat on the edge of their seats to see if they would win. It was sweet. Kelsi and I knew better. HAHA! Private DI was last and before announcing the winners in each challenge that would show some of the challenges up on the big screen. Well Katie who hates loud noises and was pretty crabby through the whole ceremony saw her clip of her running around like a crazy flower. She was so excited and we were all screaming for her. Of course neither team won anything, but we were so proud of them. The 3rd graders took 36/43 and the 4th/5th graders took 52/54. At least neither team finished last. :)

After Closing ceremonies we went back to the dorm and dropped off our stuff and then made our way to the after party. There was pizza and drinks and tons of snacks, nachos, candy anything you could want. There was a DJ and Games to Go for the kids to play on. We danced, and ate and had a blast. Only downfall was when Katie got lost. It was scary but we found her soon enough and she learned her lesson. Party ended and midnight and that was when Meghan finally hit the wall and melted down. She didn't get to do the face painting that the other 3 girls had gotten done because the lady had to be finished. Katie cried too. They were all exhausted and they needed to go to bed.

I think I got to bed by 1 that night after packing everything up for the trip home the next morning.

Day six:
We hit the road at about 8:30, got coffee and breakfast and were ready to go home. Sheri was driving my van and we had Kaitlyn, Meghan, Lauren, and Mikayla with us. Well about 40 miles into Kentucky my cvan alarm goes off and the van is over heating. We called Bob and stopped on the side of the road. I am freaking out thinking we are never going to make it home. Tracy went walking up to find the mile marker and Bob investigated under my hood. At that time Kentucky's Safety Patrol pulled up behind Tracy and us to see what we needed. Apparently my Serpentine belt had come off, and my air conditioner pipe was cracked through. Sara the Safety Patrol called her mechanic and he agreed to stay back from his trip to Gaitlinberg to look at the van and fix it but he was in church and couldn't do it till 2 PM. It was like 10:30. So I am upset and crying because this is my van. Chris is at home freaking out cause he wasn't there etc. Finally the tow truck guy shows up with a flat bed trailer and gets my van loaded up. We had put Tennessee or BUST on the back and it was definitely BUST! The tow truck guy gets it loaded and off he goes with Tracy who said he was smoking, talking on the phone and crossing 4 lanes of traffic with my van on the back of his truck. He literally took us to some backwoods shop in KY! Bob was laughing that it was a scene out of Deliverance. We ditched the van at the shop and went off to have lunch in London, KY! After lunch we went shopping at Walmart till the guy called about the van. Good news was that we could drive it home without the a/c, but that would need to be repaired when we got home. Funny thing is it was new as of the day before we left ND.

So the mechanic put in a new waterpump because there was some play it int - that was a new pump as of Feb, and reset my serpentine belt. Taped up my A/C and we were off. We got to Seymour IN, where we had stayed the first night at 6 PM. Took us 9 hours to go 5 hours. UGH! No swimming for the kids in Madison that night and no comfy beds at the Marriot either for us adults. We pulled into Madison at 1:30 AM! UGH! Oh and in that time I thought my Ipod was stolen too. It was a stellar day.

Day Seven:
So Memorial Day was a beautiful day. I found my Ipod! Thank God. AT least it wasn't stolen. We hit the road at 8:30-8:45 and didn't stop till we hit Maple Grove, MN. We were making great time and would be home by 4:30 PM. YEah!!!!! So we took our lunch to go and hit the road. Around the St Cloud exits the van started feeling like we were driving on a really bumpy road. It was get better than worse, then better than worse. Sheri called Bob and asked if the road was bumpy. He said yes, and you're not losing your wheel. So we said OK and continued to drive. I let go of the steering wheel and the van wasn't pulling or anything. But it kept getting worse and Sheri and I decided to pull over. Sheri called Bob and told him. We were about 1 1/2 miles from Avon, MN. We looked at the wheels, they were all straight and seemingly not falling apart. I called Chris and told him and he said go to Avon and meet Bob and have him look at it. We relayed that message to Bob and started driving. We literally drove two feet and the van went Thunk and tilted off to the right front! I thought I had driven in a hole. Sheri opened the door and said the wheel fell off! OMG! Are you fricking serious!

Yep there it lay with two lug nuts on the side of the road. I flipped my hazards on. and Sheri and I just hugged each other. Katilyn was crying, Marissa was crying and I was flipping out. I called Chris and he flipped out. We called Bob, they turned around and came back. What f'ing luck! I was just floored. We were all laughing at that point cause what else could we do. State troopers showed up, got us a tow truck and we hauled half the kids up to Albany at the DQ. I know the troopers thought we were nuts. Chris gave Lhonda the boys and headed out to pick us up in Albany. I was just thanking God that we had decided to pull over when we lost the wheel. Had I been going 75 in the left lane like I was it could have been awful. We could have been hit by another vehicle etc. I am just sick thinking about what could have happened.

So the van got towed to Albany, Chris came and picked us up and the girls were all thrilled to see him. They were talking non stop to him. Bob joked that my St. Christopher medal didn't work, but then I told him that St. Christopher is the patron saint of safe travel, not the patron saint of your van won't break down. So it did work. We were all safe. We made it home at 7:30 that night. THANK GOD!!!

So the story with the van. When my a/c was replaced it needed to have three screws tightened down. One in the back and two in front. The back is supposed to be tightened first, the belt set then everything is tightened down. Apparently the mechanic never tightened down the back bolt and we lost that. The system then tilted and the belt came off flying up and taking out the a/c pipe. As for the wheel? 3/5 posts that my lugnuts screw into were rusted through and the remaining 2 snapped. Why those three were rusted we have no idea. Maybe it sat in a snowbank too long, we don't know. It should be fixed by the end of today and Chris and Bob will go pick it up on Sat. I refuse to drive it and I have a feeling it will be traded off in the next couple of months.

So overall the trip was an awesome one. At very least it was one the kids or adults will ever forget. WE all had a blast and we are all home safe. I am still very tired, but we are getting back in our routine and guess what???? We are very psyched for next year's DESTINATION IMAGINATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!