All in a weekend

The story of last weekend starts about a month ago when Allen's sister "blew-up" their car.  I was explaining this to a friend the other day and they asked what this "blowing-up" exactly means.  I suppose I have been married to a mechanic's son for too long now and take it for granted that most people understand car mechanic lingo.  Seriously, we were driving down the hi-way the other day, saw a car stranded on the side of the road and Allen remarked that the drive shaft had fallen out and that car wasn't going anywhere...who knows these things?  Anyway, I've picked up bits and pieces over the years.

With the car that "blew-up"... basically, the car's engine got too hot, ran out of water, or oil, or something and the engine quit working.  Apparently, if you drive a car too long this way a rod can shoot out of the engine and through your hood.  I've never witnessed this, but have been told it is possible.  Its supposed to be pretty dramatic and I think it would be exciting, of course not on your own car....

So, the blown-up car was no use to the Jones family and they decided to go ahead and buy a new car altogether.  Everyone in the family immediately considered what should be done with the blown-up car and thought of the poor college students up in Indiana whose own car was about to "blow-up" or something worse. ;)  So, my father-in-law, the awesome mechanic, went to a junk yard, pulled a good engine out of another car, and put the two pieces together and voila!  A car for Mary and Allen.  Its an awesome car too!  Leather seats, heated leather seats, heat that actually blows out of the vents when you turn it on!!!  Amazing!

So, Terry brought this little gem up to us a couple of weekends ago.  We were tickled pink and we've been totally enjoying it.

Skip to last weekend (the weekend of Halloween)...

We have these wonderful friends, the McDonalds, up here in Indiana.  Basically, they are considered our family.  They've adopted us, we've adopted them, we're all happy.  So, two of these McDonalds are named Ayvah (age 7) and Calvin (age 5).  They each had a birthday in October and to celebrate, their mother hosted a dress-up birthday party on the 29th.  The rules were that everyone had to dress up in a home made costume as an animal....Allen and I were quite excited and made our costumes eagerly awaiting fun and games at the McDonald's house.

 I am a bluebird and Allen is a dog.  I originally meant just for Allen to be a cute puppy with floppy ears, but I found a chain to go around his neck and when I sewed the ears on his hat it ended up looking really punk. :)  So, he became the "rapper dog" - yo, yo, yo!

The birthday party started at noon and we were already running about 20 minutes late, sitting at a stop sign on Curry Pike, halfway between our house and the McDonalds...when BAM!!!  We heard two cars slam into each other...then about 1 second and BAM!  The second car clipped the left side of our brand new bumper. :(  (Well, not really brand new, our previously "blown up" but brand new to us bumper) 

So, the important point to this story is that  I had SEWED my wings to my shirt.  They weren't just something I could slip off...I was in costume for the long haul.  So, there I was standing on the side of the road, wings, boa feathers, and all waiting for the police.  I'm pretty sure the cop that took pictures of the wreck got me in a couple.  So, somewhere in the police database I will now be forever remembered as the girl in blue. Luckily, Allen's costume was not sewed on.  He removed his hat and ears, his neck chain, and after a reminder from me, his tail that had been tied to his belt loop (which we lost amid the slight chaos).

We were way-layed at the wreck site for about an hour and 15 minutes and missed the beginning of the party.   But, no one was seriously injured, just sore...the wreck was deemed the first drivers fault, and eventually we were on our way.  

At the party we met the rest of Noah's ark:

A bumble bee, leopard, butterfly, skunk, duck, kangaroo, panda, ladybug, elephant, monkey, another bumble bee, and Batman!  

It was quite a party.

The kids of course had a ball hitting pinatas, and searching through piles of leaves for stuffed animals. 

 But I think the big boys may have had just as much fun:

In the end, despite being sore and slight damage to our car, the day was awesome.

And the next day was just as good.  We participated in "Trunk or Treat" at our church and decided to dress our car up as the whale from Jonah and the Whale.  Our friend, Craig, agreed to play Jonah, and we attached magnets to paper fish so the kids could "fish" out of the whale's mouth.  It was another fun filled day of candy, kids, and friends.

The whale was a hit and the kids were amazed that you could catch paper fish with just string and paper clips. 

You can also see that our nice "new" car really wasn't damaged terribly in the fender-bender. Its scratched up a little and the tail light covers are broken, but it could have been much worse.  

All in all, it was a great Halloween weekend, one for the books.  We are thankful for our friends that love us and great fun that we will remember for a long time!

Mr. Skunk and the D. O. G....Yo! yo! yo!