What A Way To Start A Vacation!

Okay. So everyone knows that the Mike, Ben, and I went to Hershey with one of my best friends, Jenn, and her family this week. We decided to go to Hershey's Chocolate World prior to going to the hotel because we arrived in Hershey before the rooms were ready. (BTW, HCW is where you go to see how the chocolate is made.)

In any case, we got there, ate some lunch, and then Mike took the stroller back to the car because it wasn't allowed on the tours and such and noticed a couple of suspicious characters parked beside us. He didn't think much of it and returned to us. We all took the tour, headed back to the car, and then drove to the hotel.

I pulled in next to Jenn's minivan and we chatted while the DHs went in and got the room info. She asked me what was up with my door handle. I looked down and saw that the part surrounding the door lock was missing. The lock didn't look very scratched up or anything and nothing seemed off in the car, so I thought that it was a failed attempt to steal the car or something. As we were talking a little bit more, I continued looking at it and decided to look at the trunk lock to see if anyone had scratched that up. It was fine.

The DH came back and I said, "Look at this!" He was befuddled. So, we popped the trunk to get our stuff out take into the hotel and every single bag had been opened! After a quick inventory, we found nothing missing. Guess they had managed to get in the car and then use the trunk release in the car to pop the trunk. Obviously, they were just looking for some quick cash/travelers checks because they were kind enough to leave my laptop. (Praise the Lord!)

Jenn watched the Ben while Mike and I filed reports with the state and local police as well as a call back to HCW. Since nothing was missing, no police came to look at the car. HCW stated that we were the first car to be broken into in that lot and gave us a dozen chocolate chip cookies which we picked up today (they're okay, but I prefer tollhouse better). I missed Ben's first time swimming as Jenn and Doug took him and the girls while we were taking the car to a local Toyota dealership to see what could be done to keep other people from breaking into it while on vacation. (Since nothing could be done, we kept it parked at the hotel in direct line with one of the hotel's survalience cameras and everyone piled in Jenn's minivan to go places.)
We decided to go to Applebee's for dinner. We called ahead since we had a party of 8 that needed two highchairs. They weren't doing call-ahead seating because they weren't on a wait. We left the hotel and Jenn called five minutes away from the place and were told they weren't on a wait. We get there, walk in, and get told that we'd have to wait 10-15 minutes (which turned into almost 20 before we were seated). Of course, after my day, I launch off on a tirade about how we called 20 minutes ago and told them we were coming and again 5 minutes ago, to which we were told that we were the first people on the waiting list. We sat down to wait. Now, mind you, it wasn't a terribly loud tirade. My father could have (and would have) done worse. After 10 minutes, the hostess tried to placate us with menus, which I refused. (I HATE when they do that. That's something that you get to do at the table.) We finally get to the table. The waitress comes by and takes a drink order. Comes back and takes a food order. Mike forgot to put in his appetizer order. He tried to get the waitress's attention the 3 times that she was at the table behind ours to no avail. The food comes and she swings by for the "how is the food?" stop. Never comes back for drink refills or asks about desert and then presents a check which we had to get split.

How could I have missed the popped lock cover? Very easy. How many people still use the key to unlock the door of their car? Almost everyone has that keyless entry remote fobble that they use. And then when you're distracted with getting the kid in the carseat and the stroller and diaper bag stowed away properly, it's so easy to miss things. I probably would never notice it someone keyed my car until days later. We bought the car (Toyota Camry) because it was rated one of the most reliable cars by Consumer Reports only to find out this week that it is the most stolen car!

So that was Monday! Tuesday and Wednesday were much, MUCH better. We had a great time at HersheyPark and Dutch Wonderland. Look for the LOs coming soon. On the way home today, Mike and I had decided that we were glad that we didn't just turn around and go home on Monday.

No Arrests Were Made

So, I drove all the way up to the outlying city's police department and sat in a very cold and unfriendly waiting room until the officer decided to show up. At least Ben had fun. The seats were those new-fangled metal grate type things and they made cool noises when he beat on them with his sippy cup and hands. The officer arrived. We went out to the car, he stooped down in front of the right front fender, studied it, and then proclaimed that it couldn't have been in the accident on Friday. (He was an accident reconstructionist, so he knew what he was looking for that other officers would miss.) Thanks for coming...have a nice day...blah, blah, blah. At least there was no tickets involved. Just a long car ride.

Police Called...

So this afternoon, as I'm getting ready to put Ben down for his nap, I get this phone call from the police department of an outlying city around Cincinnati asking for my husband. After much guarded answering and careful questioning, it seems that the license plate for the car I drive (that's in my husband's name) was reported as being involved in an accident on a day and time that I was at home. So, tomorrow afternoon, I have to drive 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic, to this outlying city to let the officer look at my car and show that there is no accident damage to it thus proving that it wasn't in an accident. While I'm happy to be a law-abiding citizen, I'm a little paturbed that I have to put myself out there to clear our good names for something I know dang well we weren't involved in. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? or is that only IN a court of law?

On the way to the grocery store tonight, my husband was very fretful about getting involved in an accident going to or from the store. How would we prove that we weren't involved in this other accident? And what would happen if I got involved in an accident going to the zoo tomorrow? Anyone could hit my car in the parking lot.

On the flipside, I've got this sneaky suspicion that I'm walking into some sort of trap. I go flow of traffic and occasionally that makes me a speeder. My husband, while not liking to speed, does sometimes speed to go flow of traffic. He just took my son up to visit his mom on Saturday and drove past this outlying city on the highway. I'm wondering if this isn't some new ploy by the police where they take down the license plates of the speeders instead of pulling them over and then call them in about something else and then present them with a speeding ticket. We'll have to see....