but the apartment is still in one piece.

We went to Bellingham this weekend while the kids were at Brandon's house. Everything was fine and all of us had fun in our respective locations. On the way back to Everett we came upon a four mile back up on I5. We got to sit still, get out and walk, etc for about fifteen minutes. Apparently it had been blocking traffic for a couple of hours before we got there. At least we got the end of it. In the middle of the sitting there I said that at least we were getting the one thing that always goes wrong with a trip out of the way. Aiden said he was glad the kids weren't there for it.

We got the kids and went to Issaquah. We decided that feeding them lunch before we got in the pass was a better idea than waiting for Ellensburg. After lunch, the car would not start. It wouldn't do anything. That's okay, we were parked right next to a Schucks. We walked around the front and saw it was temporarily closed. Awesome. Aiden found a guy who was willing to jump start the car. But it wouldn't cooperate. After quite a few minutes the van finally started and the guy left. We sat there letting it idle for 15 or 20 minutes.

I called Brandon in the mean time to see if he would be able to come help us. He said to see if the car died again and then let him know.

After letting it idle for a while we decided to try it out. It backed out just fine but died when I put it in drive. NOW we were stuck in the middle of the KFC parking lot. AND we were blocking the drive up window. People in Issaquah want their KFC, let me tell you. The van has one of those transmissions that won't let you put it in neutral without the car running. Which is reaaaalllly helpful. I found the part in the book that tells you how to do it (clearly written in Japanese and then translated badly). We FINALLY got it into neutral and pushed it to a different place.

I started calling places to see where I could go to get a battery but I thought our van was a 2003. So I'm on the phone with Costco holding and holding and then the guy picks up and tells me they carry the battery for 1999-2002 and 2004-2009 but NOT 2003. I just started laughing.

Aiden finally tipped me off it was a 2004 and things went much smoother from there. Brandon and Morgan came down, the kids and Aiden walked over to Target, a lot of phone calls went on, we pulled the battery and went TWO BLOCKS to the Firestone where I paid $107 for a new battery and was warned that it might be my alternator. But they checked the battery and it was less than 2 volts. Apparently that is not good in a car battery. hmmm

Brandon loaded the new battery in the van, we checked the dash for the telltale sign the Firestone guy warned us about for alternator, and finally we got on the road.

A four hour lunch stop in Issaquah is by far more than I ever wanted to have.