We Call Her McGuyver For a Reason

Greetings again from super hot and muggy Florida!

Yesterday we left my sister's house (where we had such a great time in her new beautiful castle! Thank you Krissa and Fred for being such amazing hosts!) and drove 2 hours to Apopka Florida to visit my in-laws and my sister-in-law Dana. The kids were super excited about this since they have great memories of being here last year, swimming, playing mini golf and just having a relaxing time.

So last night, the kids were literally pooped. We had gone to the pool, ordered pizza, visited with everyone including Dan's cousin Nicole who is here visiting from New York. I was just thinking about getting the kids to bed, when I heard some commotion coming from my father-in-law's office. I went in to see what was happening in there.

And then I saw her - McGuyver.

For many years, I referred to my mother-in-law as this icon of adventure. For perhaps the first ten years of my marriage, this was done in secret, but one day I said it right to her, and now it is just out there. She really should have been a hero of stage and screen with her abilities to solve a problem, big or small, in a creative, and sometimes dangerous way.

What McGuyver was doing tonight was trying to blow up the air mattress for the kids to sleep on. She had the mattress unfolded, the pump in hand, and was furiously turning it on and off. But not a breath of air was coming out. Frustrated, McGuvyer continued her efforts. After watching her struggle for a few more minutes, I asked her if I could take a look at the pump.

This is what I saw:

If you can't read the fine print here, it says that the pump needs to charge for 12 hours before it can be used, and it doesn't work if it is plugged in. Bummer. It was already 9:00pm and we didn't have 12 hours to spare.

McGuyver, we need you! And hearing our call, she came to the rescue.

Thinking that perhaps a hair dryer would do the same as the air pump, she began her work. And tedious work it was. It seemed that the air flap wouldn't stay open so not all of the force of the air from the dryer was getting into the mattress. Ahhh....if this isn't a job for "you know who", I don't know what is.

At first, she took a risk and fished out a paper clip and began trying to attach it to the mouth of the nozzle on the mattress. With a scream from Dana though "Ma, you can't stick a paper clip in there with the hot blow dryer! Geez!", she searched furiously for another option.

And came up with this:

Can't see it well enough you say? Sorry - here is it a little bigger:

Yes folks, it is a straw, wedged in the hole to keep the flap open. And it worked! It really worked!

Proof that it worked is Matt, a short five minutes later, laying in bed looking very tired.

Not every kid can say that McGuyver is their grandma.

:)