First Day of the Semester

This was the first week of spring semester at the college. What that meant for us was that while we had been doing school now for a couple weeks, this week we threw driving Erin and Bayley to classes into the mix. Wednesday was their first day of classes. So, our day went like this:

Erin, Bayley, Kegan and Rhys got home from Seminary a little after 7. The goal this morning was to be heading to the YMCA by 8:15. This is a huge deal for us, everyone up and fed and in the car by 8:15, but we did it. It was a little chaotic as we ran up and down stairs locating towels, swimming suits and duffel bags for everyone, not to mention car keys and cell phones. And the mess we left behind in the kitchen when we kissed our Daddy goodbye at the door (that was a switch) wasn't pretty, but we did it. Bayley had to work that morning (hence the early swim time) so she was our lifeguard instead of getting to swim with us. We arrived back home about 10:30 sans Bayley, to clean up our mess before we could begin school. The pretty little schedule I have put together for this semester says that we have an hour for math after swimming on Wednesdays, but I had Erin's class time down as starting at two. It starts at twelve.

I had just enough time to sit everyone down with instructions to do their math before I had to leave to get Erin to the college. I took Ronan and his multiplication worksheet with us. The drive to and from the college is about a forty minute trip. Erin's four hour baking class met for one hour on Wednesday, as the kitchens were under construction over the break and were not yet ready to be used. I was home long enough to sort out who had and who hadn't finished their math, and give some directions regarding lunch, before I headed back to pick Erin up from class. Erin and I were nearly home when we decided that a back tire was definitely making an odd clunking noise every time it turned around. In the driveway back at home I examined said tire and discovered a large bolt embedded in it. Driving left to do that day? Pick up Bayley from the Y, bring her home, take her downtown for her evening writing class, pick her up after class. Booger.

Aside from filling them with gas and occasionally scraping ice from the windshields, I have very little to do with the maintenance of our cars. I was vaguely aware of two things, one; a bolt in your tire is bad, and two; Kris had told me sometime in the past that he had a deal with some tire place somewhere in town to fix or replace flats for free. After interrupting Kris in a board meeting with several texts and phone calls, he was able to lead me to the proper paper work so I could contact the right tire place. I called them, they said they could fix it in an hour and a half, I had precisely an hour and a half before I needed to pick up Bayley. So, I put science class on hold, let Erin take over dinner preparations and headed out to the tire place with Ronan and his math again.

It took me less than 10 minutes to get there, then I stood in line for 20 minutes and by the time I got to the front, they were estimating a two hour wait now. I didn't have two hours. The tire guy looked at my tire, said he thought I could drive on it for a bit yet and scheduled me for a 5:30 appointment, the latest they had in the day, and only 15 minutes from the scheduled beginning of Bayley's downtown class (at least 20 minutes from the tire place).

At home again I hurriedly got chili cooking (Erin had the cinnamon rolls under control), before I had to pick up Bayley. Brought Bayley home for a twenty minute layover before I had to take her to class. Got her to class with only one wrong turn downtown (I know, big deal, right? But it is a big deal when you are driving a bus!) By now Kris had called and was on his way home from Pueblo, so he met me at the tire place and oversaw what turned out to be the replacement of both inner rear tires, because a bolt was not my only problem. See, a wise friend told us when we purchased a bus with dual wheels on the back, that we could have a flat back there and not know it, because the car will ride on the other tires. Guess what? He was right. Both inner tires were flat and we didn't even know.

A crazy first day of the semester. Kegan, Kris and I arrived home with our new tires and ate some delicious chili and cinnamon rolls. I picked up Bayley from class that night in the Honda, which is infinitely more maneuverable on the downtown streets. Fionn fell asleep in the backseat on the way there. And on Thursday, Ronan finally got that math done.