Road trip day five- Oh keys, where art thou?

I think I've now eaten more times at McDonald's in the past week than I have in the past five years combined. It's cheap, fast, and there is usually a playground to let the kids burn off energy.

We had just finished a disastrous trip to the mall when we decided to let the kids to to McDonald's and run around and get out of our hair. At one point I left the table to go change Bailey. When I came back, the table had been cleared of the food and trash. We let the kids run around some more and then we got up to leave. Only my keys weren't in my purse. We were just walking out to the car while I am digging through my purse and the sky opens and the rain pours. I've got the girls out in the rain and my keys are no where to be found.


We threw the girls in the other van temporarily and I ran back inside to look for my keys. They aren't on the table. They aren't on the floor. They aren't on the changing table. We go in the kiddie area on the chance a kid walked off with them. They aren't on, under, or next to any surface in the entire restaurant. We recruit a few random kids to look through the play maze, no dice. Not satisfied with their searching capabilities, I send Megan up through the maze and slides to look. She got the honor because she's smaller.


At this point I begin to panic, the kids begin to cry, and the rain continues to pour. My mom and sister, Tara, take the kids next door to the John Deere store. They take over the store running through the aisles, jumping on and off tractors, and pulling the little ones around in wagons. I've decided that the only logical place my keys could be are in the trash. I believe they were sitting on the tray when all of the food got cleared. I knew what I had to do.


I talk to the manager and he hands me a rubber glove (uh, that is a sentence I hope I never type again). Megan and I pull out the current bag in the can and proceed to go through it. I can honestly say I'd rather change 50 of Reagan's diapers after eating baked beans and chili than dig through another McDonald's trash bag. I felt like I was being dared on a Fear Factor episode. We dig through the bag and despite our torture, come up empty handed.


It turns out that wasn't our bag of trash. They had already changed out the bag and our trash bag was in back, with 200 other bags locked up and getting rained on. They wouldn't let us dig through any trash that had been taken in back. The manager said he looked through the top two bags but refused to look any further.


So, I'm 900 miles from home, in the rain, with two young children, and no keys and no access to spares. I called Bill crying and upset and he reminds me that there is a valet key in the car. I just needed to get into the car first. Megan remembers she and mom have AAA. Mom calls them and we wait, and we wait.


AAA shows up, gets the car unlocked, and there is the beautiful valet key. We are set. Only now it is 3:55, the wedding rehearsal starts at 4 and we are soaking wet, exasperated, and reek of McDonald's trash.


We finally made it to the rehearsal, just about as they were finishing. Then it was off to the dinner at the Shot Tower. I remember going there as a small child and standing in the window watching them making the pizzas. Reagan and the other kids enjoyed watching them just as I did 30 years ago.

What I learned today

• Lesson 1: Don't leave your keys sitting on a tray for someone to throw away
• Lesson 2 2: Don't dress your two year old in head to toe white when the rehearsal dinner is pizza (Oh, you already knew that one because it is clearly obvious? Whatever.)
• Lesson 3: Programmable keys and key fobs cost $310 to replace
  

Pictures from the day:

Reagan admiring herself in her new "tractor hat" she picked out herself in the John Deere store while I was digging in the trash for my keys.

Here is the happy couple: Justin and Jordan at their rehearsal


Family with the little ones






Dinner at the Shot Tower






Reagan and Bailey- you can see how tired Reagan is getting by this point






Looking through the window at the Shot Tower, watching them make the pizzas


Celebrating my mom's (Nana) birthday back at the hotel after dinner