Adventure with Mama

Current Mood: Relieved

Talk about a real adventure we had today! It was fun, scary, heart pounding, and exciting all at once. Today marked a very special day for me and my kiddos. It was the very first time I took both of them out.... ALONE!!! Whoa! I know! It was totally unplanned and spur of the moment type of thing. Looking back, I should have put more thought into it... I think.

We have been getting hit HARD with multiple storms lately and it hasn't rained like this since we moved here. Its pretty crazy, flooding all over the place. Infact we are literally almost stuck in Sun City since two out of three major road ways to the freeway are completely under water and blocked off to the public. Pretty scary. But that didn't stop me from taking the kids out... ugh.. what was I thinking.

Since Christmas is just around the corner there isn't much time left to do last min. things. I just couldn't wait out the rain anymore and HAD to pick up Alex's pictures that were already waiting for us in Moreno Valley. The next two days are going to be extremely hectic and I will not be able to get them. So after Alex was fed I had the bright idea of zooming off to Moreno Valley to grab them (30 mins away). I would have to take both Mia and Alex since Adrian was still sleeping and since he had errands to run when he woke up I knew I couldn't get them later. It had to be now.

The sun was almost peeking through and the rain had stopped for a while. Mia was already dressed since she had an accident in her jammies last night. So it was do or die! I grabbed a jacket for Mia, put Alex in his warmest jammies. Loaded both kids in the car and off to our adventure we went. I wanted to make it back before Adrian woke up and before the rain started up again.

Poor little Alex he was MAD and started to cry. Mia was insisting that I play "baby baluga" and "Christmas Time" by Alvin and the Chipmunks on the radio.. over and over. Things seemed ok until I hit our first road block down Murrieta Road and Ethanac. Ethanac is the main road to get to the 215 freeway and it was completely underwater and police cars were blocking the road. So all of us cars on Murrieta road had to make an impromptu U-turn. When it was my turn, I not only almost got stuck in the mud but my car stalled out!!!! I started to panic! and thought to myself "What am I doing?!?!?! Now I am stuck here with the kids in the middle of the road... blocks away from our home and Adrian doesn't even know we left the house!!!" I quickly shut off my car then turned it back on and luckily it turned back on and I didn't have any more trouble. I debated on going back home but decided against it... we were on a mission to get Alex's pictures!

Alex continued to cry the whole way to the freeway on the other side of Sun City off McCall. I hit EVERY single Red light that it was almost comical. Mia and I even made up a song about trying to turn the lights green and we would clap and cheer when they did. I finally made it to the freeway after some street traffic and we were on our way.

The roads were still wet but not puddled and it was not raining or even sprinkling. YAY! We were making good time until we hit Perris (the next city up) and BAM! traffic jam. We came to a crawl. Oh no!!! Luckily Alex fell asleep and didn't wake up and Mia was amused by her "Chipmunk" song which was on repeat for the 50th time already! UGH! but she was singing along to it so it made it really cute for me. Luckily once we past the 74 turn off the traffic cleared up. I was shocked on how flooded the whole area was. All the farmland around us was completely under water. It looked like lakes everywhere.. literally! I was nervous about driving in such wet conditions so my focus was the road.. I was focusing really hard.. then suddenly I heard a huge ROAR and a gush of wind hit me from behind. For a split second I thought Mia had somehow opened her door!!! I quickly looked back and saw she had opened her window! "MIA!!! CLOSE THAT WINDOW NOW!" I yelled at her! As she tried to I just controlled it from my end then locked it so it wouldn't happen again. Man my heart was pounding....

We continued on and finally made it to Babies R Us. Alex had woken up and started to cry again! Oh no!!! I quickly jumped off the car and grabbed a cart. I put Alex's car seat with him in it, in the big part of the cart and barely managed to squeeze Mia in the front sitting part. Luckily shes a petite girl or it wouldn't have worked out. I quickly pushed the kids in the store and went to the photo department.

Alex was screaming by then and I couldn't stop him. Even Mia tried to console him by turning around in the cart and touching his hands but it didn't work. I got my pictures and off we went back to the car. I quickly put the kids back in the car and as soon as I jumped in myself it started to sprinkle... uh..oh.... then rain!!!

By the time I hit the freeway which was not very far away it was already raining heavily. Great! I really don't like driving in the rain, let alone having my kids with me. I was nervous. The Chipmunks song was still playing and driving me nuts, Alex was screaming and my heart was pounding. Luckily the rain wasn't too bad where it affected my driving but still it was nerve wracking.

About 10 mins into the drive we hit a massive downpour!!! I got scared, but luckily my window wipers were able to handle it and we made it through. Phew.... as soon as we got past that cloud things got better and no rain fell anymore. I thought to myself, "wow what a scary time luckily we are almost home and worst is over" WRONG!!!! As soon as we hit Perris we hit another downpour and I am telling you out of all the years I've been driving and have been a passenger I have never witness or been in such a downpour in my LIFE! It just got worse and worse and soon the cars around me disappeared in the shower of water all around me. I stiffened up, tried to remain calm, slowed down and tried to predict events. I was in the middle lane and a part of me wanted to merge to the slower lane so I could pull off the freeway if I needed to, but another part of me didn't want to since I could no longer see the cars next to me. The rain was so loud as it hit my windows that even Mia got scared and said "Whoa!". I could no longer hear the Chipmunks song and I am not sure if it was due to the rain on the windows or the noise of my racing heart beat in my ears. I have never been so scared before in my life.. and it was only because I had the two most precious people in the world to me sitting in the back seat. I said a little prayer asking for God to help us get home safe and soon after it cleared right up and we didn't hit rain again... PHEW!!!

What an adrenaline ride. I took McCall home and by then Mia was knocked out. I was happy because I could finally turn off that darn Chipmunk Christmas song off!! We made it home and Alex woke up again... not happy. I took the kids off the car... got Mia some snacks and milk and started to feed Alex again. Just then Adrian woke up and came downstairs. I told him of our adventure and he was shocked that we even left the house in such bad weather. I know! I know! Never again!!!! I am just glad we made it home alright and we got our pictures, but I have learned my lesson... just because its sunny where you are doesn't mean its sunny all over!