Our First Road Trip

We left for Houston on Thursday to go visit Ryan's parents with our Explorer loaded to the brim. Who says the pack and play really saves that much room? Anyway it was quite traumatic for our dog who always sprawls out in the backseat. Now she was sitting copilot with Ryan. We left about 1:45 and stopped to get gas. Then we realized we had left the water running on the plants in the backyard and Chelsea had been making lots of noise. I knew her diaper needed changing. So we headed back home. I changed the diaper whih had leaked all over her clothes while Ryan took can of the water. After changing clothes we were on the road again. Chelsea fell asleep about 15 minutes into the trip and slept the entire way. Thank you Lord. Missie did farely well too sleeping in the front. We arrrived in Houston around 6:00 We had made great time. Literally when we pulled into the Clark's driveway and I openend the door Chelsea let out her first cry. We whisked her inside fed and changed her and she was happy as can be. Chelsea got to meet lots of new friends and family in Houston who have been praying for her. She is a lucky little girl to have so many people who love her already. She smiled, giggled and laughed entertaining them all. It was a tough job but she did it quite well. On Saturday we headed home around 2:45. Again Chelsea was alseep about 15 minutes into the trip. Everything was going great until..... I saw all these cars passing us and I asked Ryan to get into the other lane. That's when we started feeling the rumble. Ryan pulled over to find that our back left tire was completely shredded. Oh boy. What an adventure. I wanted to call AAA but Ryan insisted he could change the tire and we could be back on the road in no time. So he started gathering his supplies to change the tire and couldn't find the handle thing that releases the spare tire. He was looking everywhere in the car manual to find it. The instructions were so obscure that it was ridiculous. We had no idea where it could be. Then Ryan found another paper with a pictur diagram and before long we located the handle. Ryan changed the tire and after a 45 minute stop we were back on the road. Now remember we had a dog and 9 week old in the car. Missie was so besidde herself she didn't know what to do. She was running from one side of the car to the other, panting loudly and whining. She didn't understand why she couldn't get out. Finally I walked over, got her leash and took her to the grass to let her pee. She seemed happier after that. Chelsea on the other hand was sleeping soundly in her carseat. She never made a peep. I thought for sure we were going to have to stop again to feed her before we got home. Afterall I had fed her at 2:15. It was now 6:00. We have so much to be thankful for. We are all safe and everything turned out just fine. Ryan was able to get the car to a safe place to change the tire and God really took care of us. I believe it could have been much worse. Well Chelsea made it all the way home without a sound. At 7:30 we fed her and she was even able to sleep pretty well last night. God is so good that he protected us and provided safety. Our first road trip was an adventure- one we won't ever forget and Ryan is going Monday to buy new tires.