Terror at the Car Wash

With all the traveling to Utah and back we have done lately (our car did 3 trips in 3 weekends!), our little Camry was beginning to look like this: Except picture a nice thick coat of bug guts all over the windshield and front bumper, caked on by hot sun. It was lookin' good.

So I was down by the river (in a van . . . ha ha you have to be as old as me to remember that one) running yesterday, with my dog and baby. I decided it was worth the splurge to go somewhere to pay someone to get those nasty bugs off our car. I think some of them were still on from last summer. sick. So I went to this place, since it wins "Best of Boise" every year, and was right on my way.


I seriously splurged. $10 for a car wash? I hardly ever, ever pay for my car to get washed since I can do it myself (or more realistically, get my husband to do it) for free. But the nice guy who took my money said that if I went through the wash and it didn't get all the bugs, I could do it again for free. So, we went through the car wash, which is the loudest and longest car was I think I've ever been through. (it better be for 10 freaking bucks!)
It was so loud and scary, in fact, that this little one:

Huddled under the seat shaking.

And this little one:

Started screaming her head off. I mean, bloody murder screaming. I've only heard her cry like that when she got her shots. So, what could I do? I felt really bad for torturing my dog and baby. After we got out, I had to pull over and it took pulling Ashlyn out of her car seat to get her to stop crying. I really felt like mom of the year.

But wait, it gets better. Being the cheapskate I am, I got out of my car to inspect whether the bugs had been removed, thinking vividly about the 10 bucks I had just forked over for the scare of my little one's life. And sure enough, though most were gone, I couldn't justify that it had been worth $10 because some were still there. SO, I made the ultimate decision..... to go through again! Poor, poor Lucy and Ashlyn. The same thing happened, except this time Lucy huddled down on my lap, shaking and quivering, and Ashlyn again screamed bloody murder. This time I just laughed the whole time. Seriously? Here I am in this expensive car wash feeling like the worst mom ever, dragging my frightened little dog and 4-month old through it not once, but two times. Awesome.

But I can say that our car is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. The rims are even shining, and not a smashed, sun-baked bug survived. Hallelujah! So, every time I walk out to my gleaming car, I am happy to see the beauty of how clean it is, but I am also reminded of the

Terror at the Car Wash!