Ode to Maggie

Well, there we were in the Vons parking lot to meet up with Rich and the Joshua class to head to the Bay area for the first offsite Joshua trip of the year. Starbucks and GPS in hand. Grande light ice chai and the Magellen GPS to be exact. We called her Maggie. I was driving this sweet Hume van that had seen better days, but actually it ran really well for a Hume vehicle and we had no break downs on the whole trip, that is rare for a Joshua trip. But the roomyness left much to be desired. Especially with two carseats. Ellie was behind me and Jaron behind the passenger, so everytime anyone was riding in the back, which was quite often, we had to pull Jaron's seat out, have them climb over the base and squeeze into the back, then put Jaron back in, shut the, not so light, door and be on our way. That was one smart person who thought to make mini vans with a door on each side. Anyway, good ole Maggie took us a farely windy, round about way, to the church where the kids were staying the night, then almost all side streets to the hotel where we were staying. It was pretty special. But she really pulled through bringing us from the suburbs, (antioch, oakland area) to the big city of San Francisco on Monday. We had a fun day there to start the trip before working with Habitat for Humanity the rest of the week. It was so fun, we walked from Pier 39 to Pier 1 for lunch, (Thank Goodness for the BOB stroller!) with the staff, then just our family walked back and went to the aquarium, then to Ghiradelli Square and back, where we met the staff for dinner, then met the students to drive back to the church. The aquarium was really fun, we got to walk through tunnels of sea life, first to represent the bay, then one with deep sea creatures like sharks! I wish I could show you Ellie singing "baby shark doo doo da doo doo, baby shark" on her daddy's shoulders, so cute! Then you get to pet sea rays, starfish ,sharks and other little sea creatures, Ellie was not much for that, but she liked to watch. Then we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf where the sea lions hang out, there Ellie got to bark like them and do a little dance. Then we headed to Ghiradelli where we got to taste a little chocolate of course, on the way back we got a little peak at the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Anyways, all to say, it was a fun day, and I love the big city. The next couple days the kids and I just hung out while the students worked in Habitat's warehouse then went to a work site to do landscaping. All in all it went pretty well, except for one kid stepping on a nail and having to go to the ER with Rich. It actually ended up being pretty entertaining because this kid , who hardly ever takes advil, was on Vicadin. He got pretty lupy and left many sentences unfinished as well as at one point talking to his sandwich, besides confessing his love for nearly everyone. Hilarious. So like I said, we were staying in a hotel, yes all four of us in one room, we figured out if we put Jaron in the bathroom, life was much better. Of course when we stopped to listen and heard a little banging, Rich was like, "Is he fixing stuff in there?" and I was like, "no, he's banging his pacifier on the toilet" Now that's sanitary, but there was no way we were going to disturb the little monkey. Then came the last night, we packed up and put the kids to bed, then went to sleep ourselves until about 12:30am when Ellie started throwing up. Oh the Joy! Sleeping bag, pillow, pack n play, floor, baby red, you name it, it was covered. So I put her in our bed while we began to clean. Probably not the best idea, she threw up again, so off came a sheet and pillow case from our bed, and we continued to clean. Of course Jaron was in the bathroom, so no shower for us, luckily the sink was seperate, but it's not like we had extra blankets, trash bags or any other nice ammenity of home, but we made it. She learned the art of the trashcan throw up and tried to get some sleep. Then the way home came, I left earlier than the rest of the group and just brought one girl with us. Well, it started a little rocky, I was sure there had to be a better way than Maggie was taking us, but we figured she'd get us there eventually, then Ellie threw up again, so fun! So we made a stop to Walmart for papertowels, ziploc bags, and pedialite for the rest of the trip. Luckily that was the last time she got sick, but it was so sad to eat lunch in front of her and not let her have any. But once we were on familiar freeways, and both kids were asleep, the ride went really smooth. So, I know this was a long one, but it was a fun adventure, and I'm so glad I went.