Things That Go Bump in the Night

Last night we heard a strange thud, followed by an earth-shaking shudder.  I was upstairs with the kids and Chris was downstairs, and we both ran to the front hall screaming: "DID YOU HEAR THAT? WHAT WAS THAT?!?!"

We tore around the house trying to find the source of the sound and found nothing.  We wrote it off as thunder.

Quick tangent:  yes, we had a thunderstorm last night.  I think it was nature's way of playing a leap-day joke on us.  Seriously?!?! When have we EVER had a thunderstorm, complete with wicked lightening, massive thunderclaps, and golf-ball sized rain drops in February?!?!

Anyways - back to the story.

This morning Chris was getting ready to take Marin to daycare.  He pushed the garage door opener and heard an awful SCREEEEEECHHH followed by a crack, followed by more screeching.

Turns out that 'thud' we heard last night? It was the springs to the garage door breaking and the door falling.

This created a small problem.  The cars were in the garage, and we needed them out so we could take the kids to school / daycare and go to work.

Chris, Aidan and I went out to the garage to manually lift the door.  We got it up about an inch.

Let me tell you about this door: it's original to the house, which means it's 25+ years old.  It's also solid wood.  Sooo...... it weighs a TON.

Now we have a major problem.  Two cars trapped in the garage, and us stranded.

Ever the helper, Aidan pipes up: "Mummy - we can walk to school!!!"

I looked at my watch - it was 8:37.   School starts at 9:00.  The fastest I've ever walked to school took 15 minutes, and that was me pushing a stroller and not with kids walking.

We ran inside, told Quinn and Shannon to get their stuff on, and were out the door by 8:40.

I can't imagine what we must of looked like to the cars passing by.  There's me with my coffee cup, Shannon's backpack on my back, and Aidan, Quinn and Shannon toddling behind me as we sprinted to school.

Know what?  We made it to school by 8:55.

Nothing like a brisk walk in the morning to get your juices going!  

As Aidan said (the eternal optimist that child): "At least we're getting our fresh air Mummy."

Chris and I are currently looking at new garage doors.... cha-ching.