Um, OOPS

Yup, I smashed a car into a tree today. While driving the kids on rain-soaked and leaf strewn back roads to visit some family, coming out of a S-curve I lost control of JV's car, swerved off the road, and wound up lodged between 2 trees. No one was hurt. Diva and Daredevil were shaken up, but #3 didn't even wake up. The kids recovered fairly quickly from the scare and now think they have a good story to tell their friends at school on Monday.

So no injuries, but our Old Faithful, a '99 Toyota 4Runner, may likely never recover. It is MESSED UP. Lots of front body damage, tire gone, and front axle bent from the tow truck pulling it out. This has been JV's car since I got the full size SUV in '04, which he is using this weekend at a trade show. He has been planting the seeds about getting a new car, but we were going to try to wait at least another year. So much for that plan.




Luckily my parents were home and came to pick us up, since JV was at work a couple of hours away. To add to the fun, the state trooper handed my license back to me and said, "Ma'am, did you realize your license expired on 8/9/08?" Oops - I had no idea. #3 was born on 8/12, so I have been a little distracted. He was very nice though, and gave me a warning on that. So luckily I did not receive any tickets.

So, now we wait to see what will happen with the 4Runner and whether we have to get a new car. I need to pick up a rental car, get the 4Runner towed from the lot to the body shop, and go to the DMV to get my license renewed. I think the repairs will likely exceed the 4Runner's value, but we'll see. Darn thing was paid off, so if we get a new car, now we'll have a down payment car payment, which is something we didn't plan on while I'm on unpaid maternity leave. Ugh.

I'm trying not to think about that right now and be thankful my babies are OK - it could have been SO much worse.