I should have taken a picture of the van... given how much time we spent there this week! On Monday, Jason and I went Christmas shopping. The boys were with mom and dad ... we went to Indy, got home late on Monday, and then Jason went to Terre Haute on Tuesday morning to pick them up. We knew that there were 'weather warnings' out and thought that we'd go to the Indiana State Museum for awhile and then head home before the freezing rain was supposed to start at 6PM.
The museum was fun... Ben loved the wooly mammoth, wolf, and cheetah especially. Owen loved the bear. I was in line for Santa pics and the boys were riding the train when I got a text from a weather service saying that Greencastle was under a level 2 emergency ... essential traffic only. It was about 2:30 at that point and looking outside, it was completely dry in Indy. About 30 mins later another text said that most of the roads in Putnam County were closed. We left the museum at 3:30PM.
Two and a half hours later we had made it about 4 or 5 miles. We weren't even registering 5MPH. The road wasn't too bad but when Owen needed a pit stop (Goodwill parking lot), Jason found out how slick the ground really was... no one fell but it was very bad. Back on Hwy 40 we drove for another hour and then stopped briefly at the Goodwill outlet to kill some time while the boys were sleeping and let the traffic "thin out" - ha. Twenty mins later it was just as bad. We stayed in the crawling traffic for awhile longer and then ventured off of 40 to make some headway toward Metropolis and the nearby locations. We decided to stop at Applebees to wait it out a little, get some food, and let the boys stretch their legs. Just about an hour later we hit 40 again, thinking it was a better situation and that I70 must have re-opened because we were seeing fewer semis on the road.
For awhile we were fine, then we saw the backup... it went for miles and unfortunately, despite numerous efforts and phone calls to friends to find ways around the backup, we were stuck. Semis were unable to make it up the slight inclines due to the ice. Hotels in Plainfield were full... so no choice but to continue forward. Around 11:30 PM we made beds for the boys in the van and turned off our headlights. Mom and Dad called to say that the Terre Haute news was reporting 5-6 hr from Terre Haute to Indy. They were off... it took us just @ 11 hrs by the time we finally got home. The boys had gotten some rest, but we hadn't gotten much at all when we arrived home around 3AM!
So that made Christmas Eve a really lazy day.. more so than we had planned even. We mostly hung out at the house, iced cookies for Santa, and delivered gifts to 2 of our neighbors. We had pizza for dinner ... taking the easy route... and then went to church service at 8. Having the boys in service when we're not used to it is a chore -- but one broken up by frequent trips to the bathroom with Owen!
The boys were in bed by about 9:30 on Christmas Eve... anxious for the next morning to arrive!
The museum was fun... Ben loved the wooly mammoth, wolf, and cheetah especially. Owen loved the bear. I was in line for Santa pics and the boys were riding the train when I got a text from a weather service saying that Greencastle was under a level 2 emergency ... essential traffic only. It was about 2:30 at that point and looking outside, it was completely dry in Indy. About 30 mins later another text said that most of the roads in Putnam County were closed. We left the museum at 3:30PM.
Two and a half hours later we had made it about 4 or 5 miles. We weren't even registering 5MPH. The road wasn't too bad but when Owen needed a pit stop (Goodwill parking lot), Jason found out how slick the ground really was... no one fell but it was very bad. Back on Hwy 40 we drove for another hour and then stopped briefly at the Goodwill outlet to kill some time while the boys were sleeping and let the traffic "thin out" - ha. Twenty mins later it was just as bad. We stayed in the crawling traffic for awhile longer and then ventured off of 40 to make some headway toward Metropolis and the nearby locations. We decided to stop at Applebees to wait it out a little, get some food, and let the boys stretch their legs. Just about an hour later we hit 40 again, thinking it was a better situation and that I70 must have re-opened because we were seeing fewer semis on the road.
For awhile we were fine, then we saw the backup... it went for miles and unfortunately, despite numerous efforts and phone calls to friends to find ways around the backup, we were stuck. Semis were unable to make it up the slight inclines due to the ice. Hotels in Plainfield were full... so no choice but to continue forward. Around 11:30 PM we made beds for the boys in the van and turned off our headlights. Mom and Dad called to say that the Terre Haute news was reporting 5-6 hr from Terre Haute to Indy. They were off... it took us just @ 11 hrs by the time we finally got home. The boys had gotten some rest, but we hadn't gotten much at all when we arrived home around 3AM!
So that made Christmas Eve a really lazy day.. more so than we had planned even. We mostly hung out at the house, iced cookies for Santa, and delivered gifts to 2 of our neighbors. We had pizza for dinner ... taking the easy route... and then went to church service at 8. Having the boys in service when we're not used to it is a chore -- but one broken up by frequent trips to the bathroom with Owen!
The boys were in bed by about 9:30 on Christmas Eve... anxious for the next morning to arrive!
Ben & Owen after Christmas Eve Service... Owen was not cooperating!
Jason got some new Ostrich boots for Christmas... pics of all 3 boys and their boots on Christmas Eve.
Icing/eating Santa's cookies...
The short ride on the State Museum train just before the L O N G ride home!
No comments:
Post a Comment