Day 1 - The Crazy Vacation

We've been carefully planning this vacation for the past several months. Every detail considered. Spared every expense. Made arrangements with the best. Faith even made a test run with our van to Saskatoon visiting Luke and Lindy while I led the youth missions trip there and tried out all of the new neck pillows, seat organizers, and toys. We packed last night after one day at home to wash clothes before turning around and heading out the door. Yes, this is us, and we are slightly crazy.
So this morning we got into the van after a night of cooling down from the heat we've been experiencing. It finally did become bearable enough to sleep last night. It helped that the local dogs weren't barking and there were no thunderstorms last night - that and we were exhausted. And once we were loaded up, we were off.

We got to Devon and grabbed gas and breakfast to go. And that's when it happened. I pulled over because Judah was having stomach issues. Nothing happened, but we got him a sand pail from our beach stash just in case. Sure enough, he had to use it. So we pulled into Leduc, used a service station washroom, and cleaned Judah up. Was he carsick?

Judah was almost as green as his beach bucket...

Not 10 minutes later he had more trouble. This time with added smells and sounds. It happened once more before we made it to Red Deer. Double 'doody'. His innards were liquified, so we knew it was a stomach flu. We changed his clothes, cleaned his beach bucket, bought some Tums, and hit the road once more.
We just made it out of the parking lot when we heard Judah making lovely noises again in his seat and saw him reach for his conveniently placed pail once more. Poor boy.
We were all determined that this vacation would happen, but the other kids were concerned that we might turn back if Judah didn't improve soon. And then a revelation hit us as we passed by Bowden - we were headed to the United States and forgot our passports! A call to AMA and Border Services reconfirmed our need to return home for them. You'd think we would have seen enough seasons of The Amazing Race not to make such a classic blunder, but it was morning and our minds had been in multiple places.
So I stuck the van into reverse and backed into the nearby on-ramp into Bowden and dropped the kids and Faith at her sister Joy's place while I went for a 5 hour detour. At least Judah got a break from the van. He did soil himself and vomit again though. In his excitement to see Auntie he also dumped his fresh bucket onto the car floor mat. Yay.
Once I had rounded up the documents and ate the coldest Quarter Pounder ever with the most watery Coke ever (I kid you not - but the fries were amazing), I returned for everyone. In the meantime I had been listening through Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and then set the worship music to random in search of wisdom and encouragement. We got back into the van, put on a third set of shorts for Judah with a pull-up for good measure, and were off once more.

Burgers, fries, onion rings, and milkshakes, please.

We got used to the sounds and scents somewhat. Since our schedule got messed up, we were on Deerfoot Trail in Calgary at rush hour, so we chose to pull off at Peters Drive-In for a bite to eat and went in our merry way. Needless to say, the few fries and little milkshake Judah had returned as a pink mess. "Dad, feel the bottom of the bucket! It's really warm." Yucky, Judah.

We did eventually make it to Cranbrook tonight whether in pieces or blowing chunks. In the words of Chicken Little, "Every day is a new day. Even when you feel like the sky is falling." We loved watching the wind turbines go past and stopped at the world's largest truck in Sparwood. All are asleep in their beds and I ought to join them. Pictures will come. Thanks for the Facebook laughs, encouragement, and prayers during this mini crisis. If anyone will redeem this situation, it's God.

- Mark