Drama, drama, drama.
Zack flew down to Texas on Wednesday and yesterday drove with Ty and the kids up to Dallas. The plan, and it was a very good plan, was for him to drop the kids at the airport in Dallas, where Ty and the babies would fly up here and Zack would drive Ty’s car.
Cue the floods, snakes and pestilence.
The week began with a knock on the door from the Sheriff’s department, telling them to evacuate the cabin since the Blanco river was flooding.
Have you ever lived in a one room cabin with two toddlers for a month? The only thing that could make that experience even more fun than it sounds is to make it rain 12 inches in 12 hours and be chased out by the flood.
Up here in the north, we were all very excited that the time for the big move was finally upon us. We planned on dinner and invited Katie, Adam and the great grandparents for dinner.
Then, around noon, I got a text from Zack saying simply “Dinner off. Catch a flight tomorrow.”
That’s it. No reason, just that Ty would miss his flight.
I didn’t know if the problem was washed out roads, too much traffic or just a miscalculation as to how much time it took to get two little kids ready to travel. I didn’t know if he sent that text from the cabin or somewhere on the road or even Dallas. Was the flight itself cancelled?
Email updates from the airline assured me the flight was still on and several attempted calls finally connected with someone who knew a little.
Megan assured me that the boys left home with the kids.
Apparently an accident between Austin and Texas caused a jam that kept the men (and babies) trapped at a stand still for nearly an hour on the road and they weren’t going to make the flight.
To make matters better, Babalouie, who had been suffering the tribulations of the diaper wearing set for several days, was extremely uncomfortable in his car seat and had been screaming most the of the way up the road.
The prospect of being stuck in a hotel room with screaming infants for an extra night must have filled Zack’s heart with Joy.
I saw no reason to cancel dinner, just because the kids wouldn’t be here didn’t mean we wouldn’t want to eat and we don’t need Ty here to have dinner with Katie and Adam. But at least I didn’t have to get the cat hair vacuumed off the furniture until tomorrow.
Then came another text, around 4: “Made the flight, no luggage”
After breaking clear of the traffic jam, the men had intrepidly continued for the airport. Ty’s flight, as I knew from the updates, was similarly delayed; just enough, in fact for Ty and the kids to make it by tearing through the airport at full speed. This meant leaving all their luggage, including both the baby seats, in the back of the car. Just Ty, the diaper bag and the kids.
At least Ty had time to change Babalouie into a clean diaper and so he stopped yelling before they boarded.
Having been filled in on the details of what amounted to an escape from Texas, I knew what to do; I went to Value Village and bought the kids some pajamas and a change of clothes. Then I went to target and bought baby seats for the ride home from the airport. My plan was to not remove any tags etc. and to return the seats as soon as possible.
When Jay and I picked them up at the airport, I expected to see a very harried Tyler and two bedraggled kids.
Not so!
Ty was actually laughing when I caught sight of him and the kids were having a ball, running in tight little circles on the sidewalk. You’d have thought they’d had nothing but fun all day.
Maybe Zack was the one screaming in the car all afternoon.
We got home, Katie and Adam came over, the kids were delighted to be out of planes, lanes and automobiles and dinner was delightful.
Babydoll had requested Domino’s pizza so we ordered one and since she really only wanted two bites, we had it as an appetizer while Jay grilled the brats that had been simmering all afternoon.
She wasn’t in the house for a half an hour before Babydoll asked me if Bananas and Punkin were coming over. I told her we’d see them tomorrow.
I’d forgotten how hectic it is trying to get two tiny kids some dinner. Babalouie is walking now and trying very hard to talk. He wolfed down his dinner and pounded a bottle of water like a champ. Babydoll was exhausted by the time the brats were ready so I went downstairs with her, hoping to get her to sleep.
Ha. Right, Nana.
We read three books, I finally ate my cold dinner and then we went back up.
Babalouie was nearly passed out on his dad’s lap so we swapped kids. I took sleepy boy into the TV room and left Babydoll with the rest of them, watching the fast pitch softball tourney on TV and screaming their lungs out.
Yes, I said fast pitch soft ball.
I know; weird.
In a quieter, darker environment, fortified with a bottle of water (dehydration is the biggest danger to tinies who’ve been suffering from diarrhea), Babalouie fell sound asleep in my arms. I put him to bed and went out to see the final reveal in the episode of House Hunters Renovation that we’d been watching.
No sooner had I sat down with a sigh than Jay came in and asked if I was going to clean the kitchen.
Really?
I JUST EFFIN’ SAT DOWN.
Is what I wanted to shout at him. But I didn’t. He cooked the whole dinner for everyone; he shouldn’t have to clean it all up. Plus, I knew it wouldn’t take too long.
Soon, Ty got Babydoll to sleep and the party broke up.
Tomorrow, Ty has his final walk through on the new property.
I can’t imagine how beautiful it must look, now that everything is green!