Breakdown in Paradise

After church on Sunday we stopped by the Health Food Store in town for our monthly "big" grocery shopping trip. We filled two carts and under the heat of the afternoon sun, we strapped the kids into their carseats and stuffed the Land Rover full; packing bags into every nook and cranny.

With the car full of groceries Brice went to start it up, only to find it stall out repeatedly. We putted out of the parking lot, but the car continued to die. It was clear we were not going to get far.

All I could think about was the hundreds of dollars worth of groceries that were sweltering in the Summer heat - ice cream, popsicles, steaks, chicken, frozen dinners, eggs, cheese, milk, orange juice...UGH!

Luckily the car made it across the street to a lovely little park where we parked in the shade to await the tow truck. The kids got out of the car and we opened a package of peanut butter flavored Soy Ice Cream bars (that weren't going to make it through the heat anyway) and ate them.

Our faces and hands sticky with chocolate and peanut butter ice cream, we played in the grass and swang on the giant swing.

We made daisy chains and adorned ourselves with them.

We climbed on the wooden fence and practiced gymnastic tricks.

Yes, it was a bummer that the Land Cruiser died on us, but we made the best of it and in the end the tow truck got us (and our groceries) in home just in time.

The only damage was to the ice cream bars (which we ate the majority of anyway).

It turns out the Land Crusier has an auto shut down when it gets overheated to prevent damage to the engine.

Once it cooled down, it ran just fine.

I think it was a subtle message for us to slow down, relax, and chill out.