We have a problem Houston

As some of you may know, this winter has been abnormal (from what I hear) for Iowa. There have been extremely low temperatures, high winds and lots of school snow days. And for the most part we've ridden it all out very well. Jonathan has gotten to stay home a couple of days from work and on the worst blustery days we put a fire in the wood stove and play games as a family. We've also enjoyed that this house is so much more insulated than our last house. No more walking past a window and feeling a breeze.

Today was the first day that I ran into a problem with the weather (well, my friend got stuck on our driveway once, but it wasn't me so it doesn't count). Apparently, long steep driveways and ice storms don't play well together. Today, Isabelle's school had another "no buses on the dirts roads" day so I had to drive her a couple of miles to the nearest bus stop on the hard-paved road. Coming back I turned very slowly into our driveway, only the front of the van turned and the back didn't so I started sliding sideways toward the rather large ditch. Luckily, the brakes eventually kicked in and stopped the car just in time. With my heart pounding, I slowly tried to back the car up. After a little sliding, it responded, we got back in line with the driveway, and thinking I was homefree I started up it. About 1/3 of the way up, the car was no longer going forward, just free spinning. I decided to slowly back up to the road so I could get more of a running start and I was thinking that if I placed one of my tires in the middle of the driveway where the gravel was peeking through the ice I would getter better traction to make it up the hill, right? Well, this is where I made my first mistake. Oh wait, it was the fourth. I'll get to the first 3 later. My mistake was that my "backing up" consisted of simply letting my foot off the brakes slowly and letting the car slide back down. Which would have been fine, except that I didn't think to put the car in reverse first, it was still in drive. So as I angled it slightly to the side, so my tires would be in a better spot for traction, my back tires caught on good traction, but my front tires didn't. As a result I started fishtailing to the side. At that point I tried everything... angling the tires different directions, drive, reverse. Everything resulted in more fishtailing. So I finally gave up and decided that we would just walk up the hill to the house and Jonathan could fix the car when he gets home tonight. This was all well and good until I came across my first mistakes.

When we went to get in the car earlier, I realized that I had forgotten to change Emily out of her pajamas with footsies, over which shoes don't fit. "No big deal", I thought, "I'll just carry her out to the car." Unfortunately, that now meant carrying her back to the house, without being able to set her down at all. So we start up the hill. I remind Miriam and David, "don't pick up your feet, just slide them along the ground and pretend you are wearing ice skates." They take a few steps, and then slide back down to the car. They take another couple of steps and slide back to the car again. Oh dear. So I take Miriam's hand (while holding Emily in my other arm) and I help her up a few steps. Then I go slowly back to David and help him up a few steps. Back to Miriam, then David and so on. Halfway up I realized my second mistake... I didn't grab a blanket from the car to wrap around Emily. She isn't working nearly as hard as the rest of us and generating body heat. And now she is starting to wimper from the cold as the wind starts picking up more and more. The others are starting to complain about cold hands as well (no gloves). I'm grateful I had managed to put hats on most of them. We continue our long trek. Then the neighbor's dogs come running over excited to see us. While they keep Emily happy and laughing, their exuberance does make it more difficult for the rest of us to stay upright.

After 30 minutes of slipping and sliding, we finally make it to the door only to realize that it's locked and I don't have a key. We normally go in and out the garage door, except that the button for opening the garage is in the car, the car is at the bottom of the hill, it's too far away to open the garage (the signal doesn't reach that far) and we never bothered to put a garage door opener in the car since it was programmed into the console so it isn't like I can carry the device closer to the house. Oh dear. I decide to check all of the doors in the hopes that one was left unlocked. I check all of the upstairs doors... no luck. I know I have to go to the downstairs area, but the hill is steep and I don't dare take Emily down it with me. So I find a sled that was left out and place her in it to keep her off the ice. I start down the hill with the dogs sliding next to me. I quickly realize I'm going to end up on my backside at this rate, so I sit down on the ice of my own accord and try to guide myself with my hands and feet. I admit, it was fun and exhilarating to slide down the small but steep hill with no sled. I'm praying that when Jonathan was splitting wood last Saturday, that he left the back door unlocked. I get to the door. There is ice all over it. I try the handle. It's frozen. Thankful I have gloves on, I knock the ice off the handle and off the seam of the door. I try again. It turns! I'm into the understorage area. Now comes the true question. Did he lock the door between the understorage and the house? He's supposed to, but I'm still praying he forgot. I feel my way through the darkness to the door. It's open!!!! Hallelujah!! I rush through the house to the door I had left the kids at. I open it to a screaming Emily. The dogs had decided to lick her. Miriam was bravely trying to protect her sister by shooing the dogs away. Hooray for Miriam! In fact, it is a double hooray since Miriam, herself, is afraid of big dogs, but she was willing to take them on to save her sister. I'm feeling so proud of her. I get the kids in the house and loaded up with hot chocolate. I quickly make arrangements with the neighbors to pick up Isabelle after school and I call Jonathan with full confidence that he will fix everything tonight.

And here ends my first experience with a Midwest ice storm. I have learned the importance of preparation and proper clothes and gear even if we are only going 2 miles to a bus stop and back. And I've learned that the most dangerous place for us is our own driveway. Luckily, that means that if we are going to get stuck anywhere, it is here, and at least we can walk home. Next time I just need to make sure I have a key. :)