One Last (Eventful) Road Trip

Over the last two years, Katy and I have taken several road trips just the two of us to visit family.  In October, we took what I knew would be the last of these road trips.  I had grand ideas about making it extra special by making pit stops to visit family and landmarks along the way.  All of these grand ideas, however, didn't quite work out due to illnesses, bad weather, and a very unfortunate incident involving a failed luggage rack.  

The actual visit with family, however, was awesome.  For two nights, we stayed with my grandma, my cousin Rachel, and her daughter Isabella.  It was the first time Katy and I met Isabella, and the first time my grandma had both of her granddaughters in her home at the same time.  Katy and Isabella had a lot of fun playing hide and seek, holding hands, and getting to know each other.  

Katy went to her first move with Isabella!

We went to church with Grandma Dorothy.

Potluck with family in the area. 

During our visit, my aunts and cousins hosted a baby shower for me.  It was a lovely baby shower with family, a few friends, and a whole crew of kids running around.  My sister-in-law made a beautiful cake for the party, and everyone gave such generous gifts.  I went home with so many helpful baby items that I had to pack several things in the luggage rack.

It was a cold, wet and windy day when we left for home.  Soon after entering the freeway, I saw something blue fly down the freeway behind me.  I thought this odd because I didn't recall passing anything blue in front of me.  Then I saw a box of diapers fly down the freeway behind me and instantly knew the luggage rack had opened.  I pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway and spent close to 20 unsuccessful minutes standing in the cold wind and rain trying to close the roof rack.  At some point Katy, began crying hysterically and a box on the freeway began exploding diapers everywhere, making the scene all the more dramatic.  

We finally pulled off the freeway very slowly, found an awning at a nearby business to park, and waited for my father-in-law to come help us.  It was during this time I discovered why Katy, who was still crying, was so upset.  One of the items we lost on the freeway was her pool floatie.  The only thing that finally calmed Katy was ordering a new floatie on Amazon.  Two months later, Katy still talks about how her floatie went flying out of the car onto the road. 

Thankfully, the floatie and a couple boxes of diapers were the only thing we lost, other than about half a day of our time and lots of calm nerves.  The boxes containing handmade blankets and a stack of giftcards were safe inside the car all along.