Well, it could have been worse...

Each afternoon at daycare, between 4:30 and 5:30 pm is a rush of parents coming to pick up their children.  As such, this is unstructured time for the kids: free play. Since this daycare has a plethora of outdoor space, and several different playground areas to chose from, the early preschool through pre-k kids are usually outside at one or another of these play areas from 4:15-5:15.  My routine usually consists of gathering up the items, reading notes from teachers, picking up Parker and heading out to get Maia from wherever it tells me she is on the whiteboard in her classroom. On this day, it is the slide playground. It's a bit of a walk from school, so I load up Parker and we drive over to it.  I go through the usual brief conversation with teachers, how was the day, and we load up Maia too.  I climb in, turn the key and....

click click click click click.

What?

click click click click click

Sigh. 

Check the terminals, all is connected. Take out the key, try it again. The rest of the class is heading back to school, and I call Ray to find out if he can come get us, or if we should just walk home.  The walk is short, just a few blocks, but it would involve bringing a 3.5 year old and a 22 month old (who thinks running away from mommy is a fun new game!) across 4 lanes of highway.

We decide to stay and wait for daddy. I dig in my purse for... something... anything. One lonely pack of gummy snacks, split between two hungry kids. But they're fine. And honestly, this couldn't have happened at a nicer place. We'll unload and go back to the playground, and Maia helps us figure out how to get in (entrances are a bit childproofed.)

As I'm carrying Parker from the car to the grass, he shouts to the ducks in the duck pond at just the price  moment that sends his paci tumbling into the storm drain.  He is perplexed by this, and asks about his paci for the remainder of our time here. And for a few days after.

So we play in the slide playground. The kids have a great time having their run of the place, and Maia is excited to show me all of her daring moves. 

We play "store" together.

And Parker is thrilled to play trucks.

At last, Ray comes to rescue us. By this time (almost an hour later) the engine will turn over with all accessory items off... but a new battery is in place by the next day. A little hiccup in the budget, of course... but at least we had a good time waiting!