(Photo taken by Erin)

Today we had plans. We were going to a waterpark in a neighboring town for the tots’ swim, and then maybe we’d check out a local pottery-painting place. It was a warm day, and we were all excited about swimming. We put our swimsuits on under our clothes and stuffed towels, snacks, and sunblock in our bags. It was going to be a fun day!

Well, we all know what happens to the best-laid plans, right?

We hit the road a little later than we wanted, but still had plenty of time to make it to the waterpark before the tots’ swim was over. Then about five miles from town, the car started smoking and we smelled something strange. Hmmm, that’s not good.

We pulled into the nearest gas station and opened the hood. My dad and husband are both fairly skilled auto mechanics, so you’d think I would know my way around an engine block, right? Uh, no. I wish I knew more, but about all I know is how to check the oil and add more wiper fluid. Erin knows a little more, but not much. We poked around and couldn’t find anything glaringly wrong. We thought maybe something was leaking, but weren’t sure. We decided to attempt the last few miles to town.

That’s pretty much how far we got. Just as we reached the first big intersection, the car started smoking again and lost power. We made it into the parking lot of a handy Jiffy Lube where one of the mechanics came out and helped Erin figure out what was wrong while I took an increasingly hot and crabby Annalie (“I want to goooo swimmiiinnng, how much longer is this gonna taaaaake?”) into the air-conditioned office.

Fortunately for us, the problem was relatively minor (a busted transmission hose and leaking transmission fluid). Even more fortunately, Nate the kind and helpful Jiffy Lube mechanic who diagnosed the problem said that if we went to the neighboring parts store and came back with a length of replacement hose, he’d take care of it for us.

That’s what we did. Unfortunately, by the time we got back from the parts store the line-up was much longer and we had to wait a while. The office had free hot cocoa which kept Annalie happy and occupied for a few minutes, at least till she spilled it down her dress. But the wait went on and she grew understandably whinier. The poor kid, we’d promised her fun! And swimming! And water slides! Instead she was getting an interminable wait in a tiny boring office with no toys. Not to mention she had only eaten about two bites of her sandwich before we left the house and was hungry too.

When the car was finished, Nate the Kind Mechanic didn’t even charge Erin for the labor or the transmission fluid or anything! That shining bit of chivalry colored the world rosy for about ten seconds. Then we had to tell Annalie that we had missed the tots’ swim. She got mad and cried a little and even exclaimed, “I’m so da-pointed, Mommy!”

We consoled her as best we could, assuring her we’d be back the next day and that we were disappointed too. I hugged her and told her that sometimes life is like that, you plan and scheme and organize, and still nothing happens like you wanted it to. I know she’s too little to really get it now, but in a way I’m glad things like this happen sometimes. I want my kid to learn how to deal with disappointment now, so when she’s seven or ten or 23 she won’t be throwing tantrums when things don’t go her way.

(Photo taken by Erin)

After I’d buckled Annalie in to her carseat, I dug out the container I’d brought along with the rest of her PB&J sandwich and handed it to her. She inhaled the whole thing in about three minutes flat, and sucked down a bottle of apple juice too, so half of her problem was probably hunger and thirst. While she was doing that, we drove to a cafe and picked up lunch for me and Erin before going to a park so Annalie could at least run around and play before we headed home. Despite the occasional whining and the tears at the end, she really was so good and patient all afternoon considering she was expecting to be going down waterslides, not sitting on a hard chair in a boring auto-shop waiting room. The least we could do was give her some park time.

Annalie attempted to play on a strange sculpture/playground that looked like a giant backbone while Erin and I ate, but it really wasn’t very easy to play on. The more I looked at it the more convinced I became that it was an art installation that just happened to be sort of climbable. Then Erin and I realized that there were a half-dozen yellowjackets buzzing around the table where we were eating, so we decided it was time to move on. Which was fine with Annalie, because what she really wanted to do was go check out the train engine at the top of the hill. We climbed around on that for a few minutes before we spotted the normal-looking playground just over the hill. So Annalie did get to slide and swing a bit too.

But the best part of the day came at the end. We stopped at the store on the way home to pick up a couple of things. While we were there, we noticed their summer clearance items included a couple of wading pools. It turned out one of the pools was on clearance for only $4! Of course we bought it. Annalie was so very happy that she was going to get to swim today after all.

What’s funny, though, is that even though many things went wrong it was still a good day! We got to hang out with Erin, which is always fun. The car had problems, but they weren’t serious and we got it fixed with relatively little hassle and no money spent! We tried a new cafe and ate yummy food, we saw the campus of Erin’s school, we got to explore a new park with interesting places, and we got to swim. All in all, it was a good day, even if nothing went according to plan.

There are plenty more photos on Flickr in the photoset Visiting Erin & Rocco.