A few hours of my day today.

12:10 PM --I'm supposed to be picking up Ana and Elena from swim lessons, instead I'm at Goodwill buying Elena the cutest school clothes.

12:40--Finally arrive to pick up Ana and Elena (yes, I'm terrible) and surprise, surprise, they're not waiting where they're supposed to be.  I pull up to the curb and leave the car running while I run up to the pool doors to see if they're inside.  The doors are locked. I come back to discover that I've locked the van with it running, air conditioning on, and Isabel and Sebastian buckled up in their carseats.

12:55--Ana and Elena show up with the lady that runs the pool, they'd been off trying to call me.  I've been trying for the last fifteen minutes to get Isabel to wiggle out of her carseat, unsuccessfully.

1:00 PM--The pool lady calls the police department.

1:15 PM--An officer shows up, takes down our license plates, asks if the kids are okay, then leaves.  We presume he's going to get some tool to open the car. It starts to rain.

1:30 PM--Some students show up and I ask to borrow a smart phone to look up Leo's number.  I call him and ask him to call Nationwide for our 24 hr Roadside Assistance.  It's now a complete down pour,  the pool lady finds me an umbrella in the lost and found so I can stay by Sebastian to keep him calm.  Isabel is playing with lots of her castle toys and is happy as can be.

1:35 PM--Leo calls back and says they will be there in a half hour.  No sign of the policeman.  Rain is still pouring down.

2:15 PM--No sign of Roadside Assistance or the cop.  I call Leo and get Nationwide's number since I AM more assertive than Leo.

2:20 PM-- I give Nationwide a call.  This becomes a thirty minute phone call.  The rain is starting to stop.

2:50 PM-- So in the thirty minute phone call I find out that our service request was mysteriously cancelled, with no notes taken as to why.  But unhelpfully they offer to make the service request again but I will have to wait another 30 minutes for them to arrive.  I say that's not acceptable.  The insurance guy connects me with the police department (who we had called in the first place) and they say they don't deal with that, we have to call the county sheriff's office.  The insurance guy connects me through to the sheriff's office and they promise to send someone.

3:00 PM--The same policeman that was here at 1:15 PM shows up again, and chews me and the pool lady out "for not telling him there was a problem."  I about bite my tongue in half.  Eventually he does apologize though.

3:05--The firetruck and ambulance arrive.  They start breaking into our van with a slim jim (is that what they're called?)  Sebastian is no longer sad.  Instead he's so excited to see the firetruck.

3:15--Van opens, the sidewalks have already dried from the torrential rain.  Isabel and Sebastian are fine.  We drive home.

Not my favorite way to spend an afternoon.