Rain, Hail, Ice Cream Cones & One Exhausted Mama

Thursday was a normal day at the ranch. Except a boy who seemed to spike a quick fever at 6:15 p.m. and was down for the count (after a long and full day of giggles and smiles!) at 7:15. It hit him almost immediately and that was it. A brief wakeup at 4am for some Tylenol and back to sleep until 10:35!

Needless to say, Friday was going to be spent at home. Fever was down and no Tylenol needed for the day, but at the risk of more exposure or exposing others, we remained homebound. And MAN. As if getting a baby and toddler out and about during normal circumstances is easy. Forgetaboutit when one of them sleeps that late and is out of sorts.

My only quiet was from about 9:45-10:35 in the morning. And then, no breaks. None. Since he woke so late, I didn't even attempt an afternoon nap, which made the long day seem like an eternity.

The toddler is at the equally awesome and totally exhausting stage of verbally stating everything that is happening and repeating himself nonstop until you acknowledge his words with some kind of reply or praise. It's wonderful, but little sister hasn't been sleeping well and not a single nap all day for him... makes mama want some serious peace and quiet. I hear ya, Brooke!

My computer seems to be on the Fritz, conveniently the day before I usually back up everything on the hard drive (first of the month). It just seemed like everything was going that way.

There was a lot of PBS watching. Too much. During Claire's long nap, I filled the kiddie pool in the backyard and even boiled some water (I'm crazy) to warm it up a bit so they could go in the pool after she was done with her nap. Except as soon as I finished filling it with water, it started to rain. No big deal, only 3 hours of slight rain predicted.

She's up from nap at 4:15. Two more hours until Daddy is home and Mama has run out of steam and ideas. I did attempt (somewhat successfully) an educational activity copied from a friend, but that was the bulk of my efforts for the day. I decided it was time to get out. But it was raining and I heard thunder and saw lightning. Not a good time to hop in the car and take the kids places. And really, I didn't have the energy for in and out of carseats. But maybe just to McDonald's for ice cream cones. After all, it is summer. I grab a stack of papers I needed and set them on top of my car while strapping the kids in their carseats. And take off for the 1.3 mile journey to McDonald's in the summer thunderstorm.

I get halfway and realize OH CRAP. THE PAPERS. THEY ARE NOT ON TOP OF MY CAR ANYMORE. BUT NOT IN MY CAR EITHER.

The Costco coupon booklet I organized and circled with items we needed, a few other random papers and lists and THE ENVELOPE WITH $25 IN CASH TO BE DROPPED OFF AT THE BLOCK PARTY ORGANIZER'S HOUSE. I planned to be totally efficient and slip it in her mailbox on the way back from the cone run.

I decide I would just go through the drive-thru since I was basically there already and had a toddler anxiously awaiting the promised ice cream cone, eat and go back home. Maybe they fell off in my driveway or garage. And it's raining, so the chances of retrieving are probably high since people aren't out walking or biking. I only cared about the cash at this point because I mean... that's a pretty expensive McDonald's cone, y'all.

The guy hands me two cones. They were already made, ugh... was hoping to tell him to make one extra smaller, but instead had to eat a ton from B's before handing it back otherwise a huge mess would await me and a toddler would be freaking out because he hates messes.

As soon as he hands me two cones, it starts HAILING. Not little hailing. HARD. FIERCE. BIG.

I'm usually lucky to be parked in the garage during these crazy storms, but of course the exact 10 minutes I planned to leave the house today just to get a breather and it hails. The kind of hail and thunderstorm and massive pourage of water that when you drive even at 10mph, you throw water 30 feet high and nearly hydroplane. There were definitely times I thought my car was going to get hit because visibility was so poor.

Just 1.3 miles from home. Holding two ice cream cones that are melting and attempting to drive at a safe speed while worrying about hail damage and cracked windshields and such. The toddler is whining because he wants an ice cream cone and Mama just can't be bothered right now. CAN'T YOU SEE THE HAIL AND ZERO VISIBILITY, KID???

We arrive on our block and I see the papers that fell from my roof about 3 houses down from ours. I throw on my flashers, put the car in park by the curb and exit the car. I grab the drenched envelope that had been run over by plenty of cars, it appeared, and drove into the driveway, just as the hail and torrential rain stops.

And wouldn't you know, the ice cream truck we hadn't seen come down our street in nearly a month comes driving down the road about 15 minutes later.