The Attack of the Killer Stroller

That stroller Little M is in looks innocent enough, doesn't it? We are convinced that there was something sinister about this child-carrying contraption!

Our vacation started smoothly enough- we got to the ferry on time and sailed across the border without being grilled. We stopped at a Walmart somewhere in Washington to pick up an umbrella stroller for Little M, who is still in a cast, as I did not want to rent one at Disneyland or bring our own big, well-used one. I found one for $14 and was quite pleased until we arrived at our next destination- the Outlet mall area and the darn thing tried to kill my husband...

He and I climbed out of the van into a downpour of rain and hurriedly tried to open the silly stroller, only to find that it had one of this plastic zip strip thing-a-ma-bobbers on it. The Skipper tackled it with the van keys, trying to rip it open with one of them. Instead of freeing the stroller, the key broke, and what he ripped open was his wrist! Imagine a spurt of blood pulsing out, spraying us and our vehicle, and a glimpse of his palm/wrist area that reminded us of the Body Works exhibit before my quick thinking husband slammed his other hand on top to clamp and stop the bleeding. It was immediately obvious that no band aid was gonna fix this one, so I scurried around the parking lot to find directions to the nearest hospital. God sent a wonderful store manager called Michelle to our rescue, who stood in the pouring rain with us, with no coat on, while she called 911, as the hospital was over half an hour away. Now that the initial panic was over, and my husband had not fainted from lack of blood, my mind started mulling over the fact that our health insurance didn't kick in until that night at midnight. (We decided to go a day early and stay over night in Seattle in order to make sure we made our flight the next day) Go figure, eh? I was mentally calculating how much a call to 911 was going to cost. Mostly though, I was just thanking the Lord for sending help as I watched my white, clammy faced husband while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. The paramedics were really wonderful- we all piled into the ambulance while they bandaged up The Skipper and gave us directions to the nearest clinic. Our kids even came away with a stuffed dalmation for each of them. After we piled back into the van and found the walk-in clinic, my husband was treated almost immediately- I think the vision of a blood splattered couple, one with bloody bandages covering his wrist, followed by a brood of wide eyed children caused the receptionist to put him at the top of the list! Within an hour, the Skip was all stitched up and we were good to go. He was a little annoyed with himself, but mostly we just kept shaking our heads about it! Since then, we have had lots of good laughs about it. Here is the damage:




Once we got into Disneyland, we realized how many people shopped at Wal Mart, as there were many other identical strollers around. Ours was taken while we were on a ride, so we ended up with an older version of the same stroller that was left behind. Then, THAT one disappeared on the way home- we THINK it was left in the parkade in Seattle, but our OTHER theory is that it those strollers are possessed and that it left the lot, clinging to the underside of an unsuspecting family's minivan, Robert Deniro style. (if you haven't seen that movie, I will not be making any sense to you at all) Maybe I won't be making any sense even if you HAVE seen the movie- but when you are just coming off a family vacation, sleep deprived and sick, it is really funny, trust me.