Have you ever had the urge to test your patience? your spouse's patience? your marriage? your 13-month old's ability to withstand 104 degree heat with barely anything to entertain them? If so, I have a great experiment for you...re-live our Father's Day Weekend!
Our mini-trip started out smoothly. We made the 3.5 hour drive to San Antonio Saturday morning so E. J. could do a work-related thing and while we were there, we also took advantage of being close to an Apple Store to have my computer repaired. Things were working out smoothly. My warranty is two months from expiring and my hard-drive was on its way out, so they replaced it, free-of-charge!
We met up with some friends for lunch who we hadn't seen in a while and got to meet their adorable little boy. Kathryn enjoyed being motherly and pushed him around in his stroller. It also happens that these are the only pictures I took before things took a turn for the worse...

After lunch and walking around downtown San Antonio for a couple of hours, we headed by to our hotel to cool off for a bit. As you can imagine, it was nothing short of HOT!
Around 5:30 p.m. we headed out to the Riverwalk for dinner. E. J. was exhausted from working late the night before, so I volunteered to drive his truck. As I was pulling into the parking garage, I noticed it was really difficult to turn the steering wheel, but it quickly went back to normal. I turned the steering wheel again to go around the next corner and it was nearly impossible to turn.
E. J. and I quickly switched seats so he could determine the problem. Obviously, we both knew there was something wrong with the power steering. E. J. checked the gages and nothing seemed wrong, but we pulled into a parking spot quickly and he opened the hood of the truck only to find fluids spewing out everywhere along with some smoke. Great.
With engine coolant leaking, we couldn't drive the truck anywhere. Hence, time to call AAA. Also time to make tons of other phone calls, car-rental companies, Dodge, etc. I counted and ended up making 26 different phone calls that night.
Remember: It's about 6 p.m. on a Saturday night and we aren't home, therefore, unfamiliar with most things around us, plus no place would be open on a Sunday to repair the truck. Even better.
It was 104 degrees outside and Kathryn was a little tired and getting hungry. She stayed in her car seat for a bit while I gave her some dinner as E. J. made tons of phone calls.
Kathryn's face sums up the mood at this point

About an hour later, the tow-truck came to the garage...not without hassle, of course. The lady in the garage ticket booth gave him a hard time about getting into the garage without paying. We had the car unpacked and were just ready to get out of there.
Time to get a cab... not without a little more stress though. After loading all our junk in the cab, we get a call from the tow truck guy...he couldn't get out of the garage. Amongst all the stress, we forgot about paying the 10 freakin' dollars to get the truck out of the garage.
We hailed a cab and got another call from the tow truck guy...he needed the keys to the truck and insisted he gave them to me. So we start frantically rummaging through EVERYTHING, as the cab meter is ticking away. Suddenly, the tow truck driver realized he never gave the keys to me and they were actually on the dash of his truck. 10 years off my life!
Fifty dollars later and we were back at the hotel and had enough with trying to figure out a rental car scenario that didn't cost a fortune. We just wanted to eat something and go to bed. E. J. ordered a pizza and had it delivered to our room. After showering, the three of us sat and bed and ate pizza. Pathetic. (Okay, so we don't give Kathryn lots of junk food, but she enjoyed a few bites of pizza. At this point, I really didn't care)
Kathryn was super sweet and understanding and allowed us to sleep in until 8 a.m. the next morning! Right after waking up, it was time to start making phone calls again. E. J. found a great deal on a one-way rental, so we showered quickly and caught the next FREE hotel shuttle to the airport to get our car.
E. J.'s face gives you an idea of how we were feeling
Poor Kathryn. Every time we got in the car she feel asleep and then
suddenly it was time to get out again
Only a 13-month old could pull off this ladylike position in a skirt while waiting for our rental
There she is, our beauty of a vehicle. Really, it just looks like we were going to pull out of Hertz and head to the nearest retirement home

Finally, things were looking up. We got a big car for less than the normal rate on their economy cars and we weren't running into any more problems.
Part of the appeal of going to San Antonio last weekend was also a good excuse to have a fun mini-trip for Father's Day. As a Father's Day treat, E. J. wanted to go to Mi Tierra, one of the most popular (possibly, the most popular) Mexican restaurant in San Antonio. It's huge and of course the food is wonderful.
So we pulled out of Hertz and 10 minutes later....
Yup! We were rear-ended. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt (both of our backs were bothering us for a while, but then again, both of us don't exactly have the best backs in the world). Kathryn didn't even realize we were in a car accident, and the lady who hit us was insured and admitted it was her fault.
Although the damage doesn't look too terrible, it's estimated she did a few thousand in damage because the trunk of the car no longer works correctly and who knows about getting the bumper etc. fixed.
Initially, the police officer didn't want to write up a report because there weren't any injuries, but E. J. knew exactly what to ask for. Cops seem to usually help other cops out, which was very helpful so we had proof of everything and wouldn't have to worry about any issues with the rental car company.

At this point, I can even begin to explain our emotions. We really couldn't help but laugh at everything because we truly felt like we had no control. Although, we were a little worried that we wouldn't make it home alive.
We did get to enjoy a yummy Father's Day meal at Mi Tierra.

We got some treats at their bakery. Sprinkles make everything better.

And so does an afternoon margarita. The light around the straw makes it looks like it was delivered straight from Heaven. It's possible after our day, it had been.

We were are pooped, but Kathryn was the one able to take a nap

We eventually did make it home alive, much later than we initially anticipated, but we were alive and well. Things always could be worse, but thankfully they weren't.
We actually did get some great news yesterday that the problems with E. J.'s truck are covered under the warranty. Phew! Only a couple hundred rather than a couple thousand.
Now, I just need ask San Antonio to treat us a little better this weekend as we head back to pick up the truck.
It's good to be home.