It Just Wouldn't Be The Same!!

I don't know how many readers (you know the flocks of readers that I have) remember my story, way back when, about the camping trip from you know where? I will have to find that post...

Every few years we have one of those trips...where things just seem to go wrong, and yet we perservere through the trials and still have a blast.

This was one of those years.

We have a Japanese student for 2 weeks, she arrived on Thursday night. On Friday night we packed up and headed out of town for a weekend of camping. We were actually making great timing, which we didn't really expect on a holiday weekend.

We were on one of the busier highways in Ontario, known for its cottage country traffic, when all of a sudden, the road sounded different. Pete said, he thought the tire was flat, and I thought it was just a different grade of pavement we had moved onto.

He was right...

So we pulled over, from the fast lane to the shoulder, on this really busy highway, with 18 wheelers zooming by us and we sat in the van...trying to figure out what to do.

I tried calling my mom, who was already at the campsite, because we weren't too far away...but she was too busy enjoying the fire;-) So we called my dad and he suggested the OPP...

I also texted my friend, (who had just given me her phone) to see if she could find a tow truck company that was still opened at 10pm...

All the time, the 5 kids and the dog are sleeping in the back seat...but you know, when the car stops moving how they wake up? Yup, they all did!! They were really wrangy and our student started making them origami crafts! The girls were thrilled:-)

A tow truck showed up and I told my friend to stop calling others. We had kind of said some silent prayers for someone to show up that wouldn't charge a fortune...

So, this tow truck guy said that he would help us and to not worry about the money, he just wanted to get us off the highway. We all piled into the back of the truck - 6 of us and the dog - and he took us to a shop at the next exit.

For $100 we got a tow, a tire and the labour to put the tire on. He was amazing!! It is nice to know that there are some good people out there.

An hour later we were back on the road and ended up having a really great weekend. It was nice to see so many family members and watch all the kids playing together. Our student seemed to enjoy herself too. She liked the smores, and I am not sure that she really liked the spider dogs, but she liked the fire and she even got to learn how to make a fire with flint.

I think we lead much busier lives then they do in Japan though, she is always really tired and loves to sleep! We are looking forward to the rest of our visit with her and then we have a second student coming just after she leaves.

It is cool to learn about a whole other culture, it is like bringing Japan to us instead of us going there:-)

Anyhow, I am going to head out and get lunch made and supper started...have a great week everyone!