Making Lemonade

Yea, so pretty interesting day...

Jaidon had school off today for Veteran's Day, and we've been planning to have a 'Guy's Day' since last week. It's been literally months since Jai and I have had any real time for just us, so we were both really looking forward to it. Last night we planned on heading downtown, seeing the big library and the Seattle Art Museum, and then freelancing from there. Josie would be in school doing tumbling today (her favorite day/activity there by far).

Well, this morning when we went to take Josie to school I found this:

Looks like they busted open the window and took out the diaper bag. Realizing it was only a diaper bag, they dumped it on the ground there and left. But hey, the sun was shining, so we walked through the park to school. It really was gorgeous outside, and we had fun chasing the ducks. :-)

Got back and did the whole police report, talked to the leasing office, etc stuff. Then pulled out the shop vac and cleaned out the entire car. There was glass everywhere, in, under seats, car seat, etc. Finally cleaned it up, and located a wrecker up in Everett. Unfortunately we can't be without a car on school days, so priority one was to get that window fixed up before school tomorrow morning.

I was pretty annoyed at first, but I realized that this was a great opportunity to make some lemonade. Jaidon wanted to have a 'guy day', and really, what's more guy-ish then digging around in a wrecking yard? We headed up north, and the shop let us tear into the parts on our own, which was awesome (and saved a pretty penny). Hardly a soul around as we picked apart a couple different trucks, finding a window, spare tire carrier and roof rack, as well as a bunch of little plastic bits and bobs that our truck's been missing.

It was wet, muddy, greasy and awesome. The sun was out (it came out when we arrived, and disappeared as we left, weird eh?) and we just got lost for a couple of hours. Jaidon collected pieces from all over and built himself a sweet little machine (below), and then an entire city next to a giant mud puddle, which he named Sandburg. We talked about guy stuff, bounced off old tires, squashed through the mud, and smiled.

We got home with plenty of time to throw the new window in and walk over to pick up Josie, who was having so much fun she didn't want to leave. :-)

So, hmm.. Yes, my car window was busted into last night, but nothing was taken. Jaidon learned that in life stuff happens that's out of your control, and you've just gotta roll with it. Bottom line, we had a blast. While I think we would have had a good time with our original plan, perhaps it wouldn't have been quite so poignant? Perhaps I should say Thank You to the wanker/s who busted in last night?