Evacuation!

You know how the best of plans seem to fall apart? Well, ours for Monday had some strange twists. It was Steve's first day at his new position, Scott was staying late at school for Lego Club, I had an appointment in Seattle to do a survey at 5 pm, so Stephanie was home alone doing laundry and homework. Our friend, Cherie was bringing Scott home after he was finished and Stephanie would be in charge until one of the parents arrived home. That was the plan.

I left the house around 3:20 pm (I really dislike driving by myself in Seattle, so I gave myself lots of extra time to make sure I could find the right address and parking). Stephanie had already started the laundry. Then, when I am on 405, Stephanie calls me and tells me she is at the Stanger's house...they live in the culdesac behind our backyard. The police had come to the door and told her she had to leave. She could grab a few things but she had to leave.

Thank heaven for bluetooth technology! I told Stephanie to contact Cherie and ask her to keep Scott after she picks him up (her son is also in Lego Club). Then later, Kim Stanger calls me to let me know that one of the houses on our street "might" have an explosive device in it, hence the evacuation of all the neighboring homes.

Somewhere in all this I manage to call Steve and apprise him of what is happening. I don't have much battery power left in both my bluetooth and phone, so our conversations are short. My imagination sure is going wild! However, my appointment in Seattle is set in gold and the children are safe, so I continue on with my plans. On my drive home, I tried hearing anything on the news, but nothing, so I'm pretty sure at this point that everything turned out fine.

When I get into Monroe, I saw no police presence and was able to get home without any problems. Steve was in charge of collecting the children and that went smoothly too. I then called my neighbor and asked him what happened. He asked me if I wanted the long or short story. I opted for the short story. At the house across the street, the owner saw a suspicious package and called 911. They evacuated the neighborhood and then later found that it was not explosive. I didn't bother to ask what it actually was. I'm hoping to get the long story from Tami. Jim I could tell was tired of repeating it. :)

Anyway, it was really interesting to get the story from Stephanie. She was at the table doing her math homework when someone knocked and rang the doorbell. When she went to see who it was through the studio windows, the first thing she saw was the big gun. Then she recognized that the police was at the door. They asked if she was home alone and she said she was. Then she needed to gather a few things and leave the area. She was SMART! She took the list of phone numbers I had posted inside the cupboard by the phone, and her homework, and went to the Stanger's. Then as soon as she got there, she called me. The rest you already know.

I'm sooooooo pleased at how Stephanie reacted to this emergency! When I saw that she had her wits about her to take the phone list (and her homework), it made me feel very confident in any future issues that might arise. I hope they don't, but life doesn't work that way...