Ayi-yai-yai!

Well the weekend is over and what a weekend it was! Friday was a normal day and a regular Friday evening; B hosted a poker game at our house and stayed at home with the kiddos while I had a girls night. (Okay, girls 'evening'? I was home before 10pm, lol).

Saturday we hung around the house and didn't do much other than decide to take the boys to see a movie, after their naps. Our theater was showing both Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me in regular 2D so it was their choice. After picking Despicable Me, we were off. Movie was cute, a little harder to enjoy while wrestling/convincing/bribing a certain almost 20 month old to sit in his seat. Let's just say that he ate a lot more Twizzlers than he probably should have, m'kay?

We leave the movie, just like normal. Load up in the Swaggerwagon with no problems and leave the parking lot. We get to the stoplight immediately outside the theater and have a red light. We're waiting to turn, but had no chance to go right on red because of oncoming traffic. We'd been sitting there for a minute or two, not moving and at a dead stop, when all the sudden we were rear-ended...hard. At first, we couldn't figure out what happened then I realized we had been hit. The kids were crying but okay, just scared. Got out of the van to find that the Ford Ranger behind us not only had rear-ended us but had hit us so hard (from a dead stop mind you) that his airbags actually deployed. He was pissed, his daughter was crying but okay as well. I called the police and they wanted us to pull forward if possible so we weren't blocking the intersection and they were sending out an officer.

We pull forward and then get out to actually look at the damage. In the words of Ricky Ricardo: "Aye-yai-yai". I was floored at the damage that was incurred from being stopped and yet amazed that all 3 kids were perfectly fine. Esspecially bubba and pooks since their seats are in the third row and closest to the impact. Here are a few pictures of the damage (taken the following morning at home)
Obviously we can't open the trunk/gate at all. Amazingly our taillights weren't damaged and still work and the car is drivable. It does sound quite interesting; the muffler is hanging on sideways. From my non-professional opinion, it looks like they will have to replace the rear bumper, the gate door and possibly the left side panel (it's dented but I don't know if they'll be able to pop it out or if it will have to be replaced). The muffler needs replaced and they'll need to check the alignment on the entire thing; because our front wheels were angled to the right, now when we drive it it pulls to the right.

And his truck? Well his airbags deployed but other than that his front bumper had a tiny dent in it (that may or may not have been there previously). He willingly admitted that it was his fault; he was talking to his daughter about not running away from him in the parking lot and for whatever reason, accelerated. HE called himself an idiot and apologized, asking if the kids were okay.

The police officer filled out all the paperwork, asked if I wanted to go to the hospital to get looked at but I passed knowing that I could always go later if something was wrong. (I wasn't having any immediate pains or cramping, I wasn't bleeding and I knew that as long as I felt Sweetcheeks moving, she was okay.) Although no one was hurt, we will have to replace all 3 of the boys' carseats and possibly our stroller. The NHTSA recommends replacing a seat if it was involved in an accident where airbags deployed and if the door closest to the seats was damaged. Since the door closest to the boys is the rear gate...yeah it was definitely damaged.
While the seats look fine, apparently the impact the seats absorb around the straps can cause "stress fractures" in the plastic. The seat appears fine but is actually weakened...so if we were in another accident, they might not hold up like they should. (if the impact of another accident was severe enough, and the seat wasn't replaced, it's possible that the seat could break and be ejected from the vehicle seat or even the vehicle.) That is NOT a risk I'm willing to take. At all.

Our stroller was in the trunk and while I can't get to it now, I would imagine it took in quite a bit of the impact as well.
All the seats and stroller should be covered by insurance so hopefully they'll be replaced without a problem. I am completely and utterly grateful that no one was hurt and that everything should be replaced and not at our expense. I am going this morning to get an estimate and hopefully to replace the kids seats; I just need to figure out protocol before I do.