Horrible Terrible No Good Day

I was hoping to show some cute pictures of our trip to the Science Museum of Southwestern Virginia, but instead I get to tell about our horrible, no good, very bad day. My day consisted of one car accident, two unaccomplished tasks and 3 disappointed but well behaved kids.

The kids and I set out for Roanoke in the morning so that we could get all the errands done that we needed and still have time to make it home for Raquel's swim team practice. All started out well, got the kids in the car and we were on the road in a timely manner. The weather was a little undesirable with strong winds and rain but we made it to Roanoke and found the Social Security office just fine (love having a GPS in our car). As we were looking for a place to park, we stopped at a red stop light. Then the guy in front of us decided to reverse, my reflexes are fast but not ninja like, so my attempt to try to stop him with my horn and backing up myself failed and he hit our car. Luckily he was going like 5 miles/per hour but he had a big van that could have done a lot of damage. We pulled over and assessed the situation and called the police (love having an iPhone to be able to look up numbers) so they could come write a accident report. We waited patiently for the police officer and for him to write his report and the guy that hit me was very polite and admitted that it was all his fault. The kids were wonderful while we waited for about an hour for everything to get done and we could be on our way.

We finally made it to the Social Security office after finding a parking place and braving the wind and rain outside. Again we had to sit and wait for over an hour, but I had come prepared with snacks and games on the iPhone for the kids to eat and play. It wasn't until after they had gobbled everything down did I look up and see a sign right in front of me that said no eating or drinking and to turn off our cell phone. Oh well, I'm sure they would much rather have a few crumbs on the floor instead of 3 screaming children waiting in the lobby. After an hour our number is finally called and we go to try to get a copy of Marcus' Social Security card. I brought all the information I was told, we even had stopped by the hospital this morning to get the proper proof of birth paper work. But I was told I didn't have what I needed and would have to come back or mail it in with my drivers licence and by the way it could take 3 weeks to get to you. Three weeks without a drivers licence, come on who can do that.

I'm so frustrated by now and decide that its been a total waste of a morning and we head back to the car so that we can go to the Science Museum and let the kids have fun. But when I look up how to get there I notice the hours and that its not open today. I really wanted to get to the museum so that we could buy a membership. It allows you to go to over 250 other museums around the world for free. We just happen to be leaving for Williamsburg in 2 days and to another museum that we could use it at, and so again a little frustrated.

I think to myself, not all is lost we can still have a little fun and go to the Toys R' Us in town and let the kids play. We head for the mall where the toy store is and I thought all would be well, but again something had to go wrong. I took the wrong exit and ended up having to get back on the freeway in the opposite direction and thats when I finally had had it and turned around the first chance I had and headed home. It really was a waste of time, gas and my patience. I guess Marcus will have to go with out a Social Security card for another few weeks and we will miss out on a free visit to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News this weekend. Hopefully the rest of the week goes a lot better.