Snowed In and Broken

Well, we are finally here!  It took us nearly a week but we finally made it!  And what a crazy week it has been! 

Our original plan was to leave Michigan on Sunday to drive to New York City, but they started predicting a snow storm for Sunday.  We almost left early on Saturday to beat the storm, but since we couldn't get into our apartment until Monday evening and I can't remember the last time the weather man accurately predicted a snow storm we decided to wait until after the snow.  Normally they call for 8 inches and we get all excited that Jon might get a snow day and then it rains.  Go figure- this time they were actually right.  We got a foot of snow.  Up in Clarkston by Jon's school they got nearly 20 inches.  We were literally snowed in on Monday.  All of southeast Michigan and northern Ohio were shut down.  We were still snowed in on Tuesday.  The main freeways were closed getting out of Detroit and then all of Monroe County below us and the first four counties in Ohio were shut down- no one on the roads except emergency vehicles.  By mid-day Tuesday it was starting to feel like getting these boys to NYC in time was an emergency!  The good news was that Jon was off of school so we got some extra time at home with daddy.  On Tuesday night Grammy and Grampy visited one last time because we had high hopes of leaving Wednesday morning.  After our visit we let the boys do a special "movie" night- they got to watch a half hour Peg + Cat so we could have one last family snuggle on the couch.  Sounds peaceful, right?

Wrong.  After the show we told the boys it was time to go to bed.  Matthew slid off the couch and ran to brush his teeth.  Caleb jumped up and screamed bloody murder.  And he didn't stop.  My heart sank a half hour later when he was still fussy and clingy and pointing to the very top of his foot.  We prayed it was just a good bump and put him to bed with some Tylenol.  Except that he woke up crying in the morning and wouldn't even attempt to put his foot down.  Might as well get a quick x-ray before we leave!!  I did everything in my power to find some place to get an x-ray outside of an emergency room.  An emergency room during flu and norovirus season sounds like a special kind of hell to a person with OCD.  But no one else would see us until we had an x-ray from the ER.  UGH!  Never mind the fact that we were still practically snowed in and with the wind chill the temperature that morning was -40 degrees.  But off we trudged to the emergency room.  We took our own rubber gloves.  I would have taken a few Xanax if I had any!

Luckily the ER was empty.  We got right in without having to sit down in the waiting room.  We had Caleb in a stroller so he didn't have to sit anywhere.  They took three x-rays and we saw the doctor within 15 minutes.  He manipulated Caleb's foot and commented that he didn't think it was broken because Caleb was totally silent.  He came back with the x-rays a few minutes later- not one but two buckle fractures and a hairline fracture!  Seriously?!?!  The kid has a half-pipe in his playroom and this is how he finally breaks a bone?!?!  The ER doctor put Caleb in a splint and said to follow up with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon in a few days.  Thankfully Jon called our pediatrician who we just love- and he was able to pull some strings and get us a 1:00pm appointment with a friend of his at Henry Ford Main downtown.  Getting there was an adventure in and of itself.  At least we realized that there was no way we could leave for New York- the roads were absolutely awful.  But an hour later (for what should have been a 20 minute drive) we got to the hospital, put on our rubber gloves and headed up to see the surgeon!  He was fantastic and gave us great news.  Despite the three fractures, he felt the splint was sufficient for keeping Caleb's foot immobile.  He said two weeks of no walking but that after two weeks Caleb would probably be feeling fine and it would be hard to slow him down.  He also gave him the go ahead to do whatever filming he felt comfortable with and sent us on our way.  We'll have to go back as soon as we get home for a follow-up x-ray to make sure  the bones haven't moved at all and were healing properly. 

So by this point we're three days late!  Monroe county and the northern Ohio counties shut down again mid-morning Wednesday.  We were back to being trapped.  Jon still had off of school so that was awesome, but we were getting anxious to get on the road.  By afternoon, the temperature had climbed to a balmy 15 degrees above zero.  Hallelujah!  They could salt the roads!!  At 2:30 we made the decision to head out with the goal of making it past Toledo alive.  It was touch and go for awhile.  The roads in Monroe county were truly as bad as they had said they were.  They were open- but by no means drivable, though my mom managed somehow.  It took us more than two hours to get out of Michigan.  Normally it takes about 45 minutes.  Toledo was a bit sketchy too, but once we hit the turnpike it was smooth sailing.  We made it just shy of Youngstown, Ohio before stopping for the night.  Thursday morning we were on the road by 8:30 and drove the full seven hours to New York City!  I don't know how we got blessed with such great little travelers, but broken foot and all- the boys were just fantastic the whole way!  We were all excited to make it to our apartment and get the heck out of that car!  The boys played all evening while my mom and I unloaded and unpacked.  I brought as little as possible but it still took quite a lot to move two kids halfway across the country for more than a month!  But we are here and our apartment is fantastic.  We are on the 19th floor of a high rise just like the boys wanted.  By the time I got them to bed last night I totally crashed, which was probably good that I didn't have much time to think about falling asleep alone.  We've got a crazy busy day today and then Jon's plane will land at 7:30am tomorrow morning.  I guess the good news about being delayed four days is that we only have to go two day instead of six before our family is together again :)

Snowed in and broken.  Rigby takes care of Caleb on the couch :)

There's nothing worse than driving through Ohio, but we crossed into Pennsylvania early Thursday morning!

If you are ever driving through Milton, Pennsylvania- STOP HERE!  Best lunch we've ever had!!!  And we even got them to give us their tomato soup recipe when we convinced them that we were from out of town!

Really New Jersey?  That's the biggest sign you could afford?  

Boys finally fell asleep as we crossed into New Jersey.  Behind them is the entire back of the Flex (seats down!) packed with all of our stuff!

Crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge

Almost home!!!!