We’re on our annual summer road trip, although I didn’t have the stamina to listen to the kids bicker all the way to Florida so it’s a much shorter trip than last year.  Before anyone asks, I don’t have a single piece of hardware with me on this trip.

We’re staying in a pretty sketchy hotel outside of Portland, Maine, and at 7:30 this morning my husband made the mistake of going out to the car before I was fully awake and aware of what the kids were up to.  I heard them fighting at the door, but early in the day I’m usually pretty successful at blocking it out (later on, not so much).

When my husband returned, the kids realized that they couldn’t get the door open, so I had to get involved.  I don’t know how she did it, but my almost-4-year-old, who is Godzilla disguised as Shirley Temple, twisted the chain lock and then inserted it in the slide.  I could not for the life of me make that thing reach the hole so I could pull it out.

So while my husband waited patiently in the hall for me to figure it out, I tried every method I could think of to lengthen the chain.  No dice.  At the moment I admitted defeat and went to see if we could fit out the window (we couldn’t), the maintenance guys walked by and offered to help.  My husband asked for a screwdriver, and then I heard him say, “Don’t worry, my wife’s a professional.”  🙂

Our new friend Hafiz (pictured at right), passed me a screwdriver through the 2″ opening the chain would allow, and I took one of the screws out to get the chain disengaged.  He came in to see what had happened and neither of us have any idea how Norah was able to do it.  All I know is if she does it again she’s getting a Time Out.

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