Cool Breeze and Silver Linings

(Disclaimer: Parts of this post are sponsored. All images are my own or that of the company in which I’m representing. All thoughts are my own and my honest review of the products. Thank you to L.L.Bean for sponsoring this post! Post contains affiliate links.)

After celebrating a beautiful wedding, (one which Theo and I didn’t attend, more on that later) and traveling for 17 hours, we are back! It isn’t every day that your only brother-in-law gets married. Being able to use this special event to spend time with family was an enormous blessing! Yet, everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

Let’s rewind. A few weeks ago I was taking the boys to get their hair cut. As I turned on the car to leave, I realized I couldn’t. Our car is a push to start, and after pushing, and the car not starting, I thought – it’s ok, this is clearly user error. Take two! Once again…nothing. Alright, three’s a charm! Like My Cousin Vinny, no no…6 times a charm for me. Or well – Ed Michael.

After going in to panic mode, (I’m level-headed, I promise) I call EM and tell him that the car won’t start. He asks me if I’m joking. Clearly! Who doesn’t call their stressed out husband at work to joke that the only family car WON’T START?! Soon after a quick expletive, my knight and shining cufflinks, came to our rescue in his Uber. Thankfully the hair place that I take the kids to has a train table and the sweetest employees. Needless to say, we made ourselves comfortable.

Now here is the kicker – our car isn’t old. It’s relatively new actually. A 2017 Chrysler Pacifica, which up until that moment we loved and hadn’t had any problems with. So why on earth were we having this issue? After many a google search we realize that our possible problem would cost $3000 to fix. With loads of prayers, and possibly sheer luck, EM was able to get the car to start. We made it home and all was well, bar my refusing to drive the car for 3 days. Mama worries.

Fast forward back to this past Thursday. Sick mom, sick Theo, and a 15 hour trip ahead of us. We prayed that God would get us there safely. Which He did. Then it happened. The minute we arrived in the parking lot of our resort, the car shut off. Yes, SHUT OFF. Next time I’ll be more specific in my prayer request. Suddenly it came back on and we made it to our cottage. Ready to enjoy the next few days we rested.

The first day.

We stayed at the beautiful Wapanachee Cottage on Lake Morey. It was the perfect New England getaway for these southern folk. A soft morning fog on the lake and true fall air. The lake was so incredibly still and so incredibly breath-taking. Though Theo was sick, and I had a pulled muscle in my neck (yeah, did I forget to mention that?), we were excited to be there.

Seeing me read a book these days, that doesn’t involving seeing Spot run, is about as rare as seeing a unicorn. The benefit of staying in a house with your in-laws…built in babysitters! So with cozy L.L.Bean Ragg Socks on, a book in hand, this mama was ready to relax!

Yet, things are never as easy simple as they appear. Later that evening as everyone prepared for the wedding rehearsal, EM went to check on the car. It was dead.

The second day.

Stressed beyond all imaginable belief we had a game plan, call the closest Chrysler dealership and get the car looked at. As beautiful as Lake Morey and Fairlee, Vermont is, it is not exactly close to … any sort of city. Two Chrysler dealerships later, and EM and his dad find an open one an hour away. Which at that point seemed nearby.
They were informed that we were top priority and that the dealership was sending someone with a tow truck to us right away.

At this point the wedding was in T- Minus not enough hours. Time was a tickin’. Theo getting worse as the days went on simply was unable to attend the rehearsal and wedding. Something which broke both of our hearts. Thanks to sympathetic family members, I was able to get text, photo, and video play by plays of the event.

The mechanic arrives and decides to run diagnostics on our van. As the majority of our system is electric (I just learned that) it wasn’t something that most could figure out simply by looking at it. Turns out there was NOTHING wrong with the car. Um, ok. What was wrong, was that when the previous mechanic exchanged a recalled part, he did not fully attach the wires, cables, tubey thingys to the battery. So what had happened was…our battery was slowly draining! Till it just couldn’t go any longer and died! He charged our battery with a super charger thing (like my technical terms?) and went on his merry way.

Barbara was back up and running and we were back in business. Sort of. We still had a 15+ hour car ride ahead of us the following day and we needed to get a new battery. Which we did, thanks to a generous father-in-law.

The third day.

While unable to enjoy the wedding itself, Theo and I mustered up the strength to make it to brunch. An incredibly long nap, and a good nights rest did Theo a world of good. I was finally able to see the stunning location my brother and sister-in-law chose for their venue. After days of stress and worry, we were finally able to enjoy the New England weather and beauty surrounding us! Granted, as it was still 87 degrees in Virginia and a balmy 60 in Vermont, we had to dig out the Hi-Pile fleeces, and lace up our Bean Boots! Which I didn’t mind one bit! Bring on all the hygge vibes!

The fourth day.

Staying at the “sleepover house”, as the boys called it, was wonderful, even with all of the unexpected surprises. We quickly fell in love with the serenity and natural beauty of the lake, and began planning future trips. I unofficially, officially decided that the Wapanachee Cottage would forever be our family vacation spot. Not something anyone opposed.

Just look at how beautiful it is! Whether covered in early morning fog, or glimmering under a quick afternoon sun, it’s perfection.

Sad to say goodbye, we headed back down to the Commonwealth Monday morning. Sit in a car for 15 hours. Check. We had provisions, we had movies, we had tissues for runny noses, and Advil for pulled muscles. Oh, and a new car battery. We were unstoppable!

How does the saying go, don’t count your chickens before they hatch? Well our chicks were significantly overdue. After a seemingly painless – bar Evelyn getting carsick while still in Vermont, and Theo losing his ever-loving mind – we made it to the bridge tunnel. The stretch of water that separated us from home! We were so close, yet, so. far. away.

We get to the toll booth and hear that there was an accident earlier in the day and that due to the nature of the accident we should expect 30 minutes worth of delays.

Lost sanity, and 5 hours later, we made it through both tunnels and got off the bridge. Yes. FIVE HOURS! One of which was spent underwater in a tunnel. Living nightmare doesn’t begin to describe this ordeal. So after 17 hours in the car, fighting Theo not to unbuckled his chest clip, all while he screamed, “Get me out! Stop driving this car!”, we made it home.

The only silver lining was the incredible view of the bay at sunset, and a rare site of an empty bridge.

In the end, was it a perfect trip? No. Was it a memorable one? Most certainly. EM got to stand by his brother’s side on the most important day of his life, and we got to experience new places not only through our eyes, but through those of the little ones that fell in love with the Sleepover House.