Sigh, I should have listened to my husband... He suggested changing the tires on my van yesterday, but we had a vet appintment for Lassie, so I postponed it till Monday. So yesterday, I planned to do everything before the appointment, so that I can drive back in a daylight. But of course, Lydia wouldn't take a nap until afternoon and everything got delayed. When we were ready to come home, I called Jacob at work, met him at Wal-Mart and drove back to our mail box at the bottom of the hill together.
Jacob drove his car back home first and ran down the hill to come get us. He was going to drive the van, but he thought it would be a good time to teach me how to drive the van on ice.
Jacob said our hill was pretty bare, but I got stuck 2 days ago there. Well, this was because I put it on a 2L gear; I should have left it at D. But I also remembered our neighbor saying he sprinkled salt on his hill, so I said I wanted to try our neighbor's hill.
Our neighbor's hill is longer and less steep. But I didn't factor in that their hill was darker. I was doing pretty good until almost at the top of their hill. Only 3 feet away from the top, the ice was thick and we got stuck...
I tried and tried, but it kept slipping, so I asked Jacob to take over. He tried too but he was getting the same result, so we decided to go back down to try our hill.
Then we found a bare spot on the way down. We should have ignored it, but we thought, "Maybe we can use that spot to get the momentum!"
While Jacob was turning around, the bare spot, we thought, turned out to be a thin, clear ice. We kept sliding backward toward the edge.
Jacob stopped the van when it hit the snow. When he tried to turn around again, it did not go forward, but when he hit the brake, it went backward.
I was not screaming. But I was breathing fast. Jacob said, "Calm down, or I get nervous. If you are going to act like that, you need to get out."
I tried to not breathe so fast, to no avail. Jacob said to himself calmly, "Mnn, I wonder what's behind us." He got out, checked the back and opened my door. "It's a cliff."
I said, "I'll get out. I'll get the kids out too. You shouldn't wear a seatbelt. If the van slides down, jump out."
By this time, it was completely dark and dangerously cold. When I saw Emma shaking like a leaf in her thick coat, I decided not to walk home but ask for help.
Thank goodness, our neighbors were home. They welcomed us in. Jacob saw us when he was running back home to grab an ice picket.
Our neighbor, Scott, led us to the fireplace and gave our girls candy canes. His son, Dylan, made hot chocolate with marshmallows. It was our first time to see the inside of their home. It resembled a log cabin in Naches. Everything was decorated in a coutry style and it gave us warmth. Scott saw Jacob coming back, so he went out to give him a hand.
Dylan, who probably never had to babysit in his life, did everything he could to entertain our girls. Very quickly, our girls warmed up to him and talked, talked, talked. I was thankful. I was thankful that we did not fall off the cliff; our neighbors were home; and furthermore, they were wonderful.
I talked to Dylan too. In the past 3 years, this was our first time to talk. Since we lived so far from each other, we never had a contact. I still have not met his mother, who lives there everyday.
Scott towed our van back to the middle of the road. Jacob made it this time on their hill. Maybe after half an hour, Scott and Jacob came into the house. We chatted more in the kitchen while trying to get our girls ready. Emma was so comfortable that she tried every way to stay there.
We finally got ready. Jacob drove us home while Scott and Dylan made sure that we got up the last hill. Jacob was going pretty fast. Was I screaming? ...No, but I decided to listen to my husband next time, while breathing fast.
Quietly pondering in the hay maze... What is she thinking?
through the cherry orchard. We went downhill and uphill, looking at old and baby cherry trees. It was funner than I expected.
While we were waiting for the apple cider to be poured into jugs, these girls were busy playing with water. Of course.
