The Burb

My generous in-laws gave us their old suburban when child #4 arrived at our house. We are grateful everyday to have a vehicle to transport all of our family that doesn't take a gold medal in gymnastics to get everyone into their car seats. We have had a few issues with the burb, almost all related to:

Mileage: Prior to our ownership the burb made it all across the country several times. It has over 200,000 miles.

Driver: I have no claim on driver of the year. Nothing major- a mailbox here, lots of curbs there, once a long time ago a horse trailer. I do have to note that I have never caused human harm, just lots of vehicle bumps and bruises.

Caleb: The kid loves to play a funny joke and turn on one of the reading lights as he is getting out, hence running out the battery.

In-House Mechanic: Al can fix anything, and I mean anything around the house that breaks down, with one exception- cars. He knows how to gas it, refill washer fluid, and jump it. He has no natural abilities on anything else auto mechanical.

Which leads to last night. We tried to keep the kids "contained" in the car while we had temple interviews at the church. When the car got cold and Al tried to turn on the car, nothing. He dragged everyone inside and took AJ back out with him to assess the situation. Al learned as a child that the eldest son must always accompany the father when a "situation needs to be assessed." That left me with four tired kids waiting for an interview. Jake and Aly conspired to each run a different way around the church, leaving me to decide who to follow. After corralling them again, it was my turn to be interviewed. Left with little other choice, all four came in with me. It is probably safe to say that it was the first time that the stake president had ever given 5 people a "personal interview" at the same time. Fortunately, Al pulled through as the in-house mechanic and got the car jumped and started again.