Catching Fire - The Day Lily Got Lost..

Monday afternoon I got a text from a friend saying - is your place okay? I saw on the news that a building in your complex is on fire and they have rescued a dog. I immediately felt the drop in my stomach - called the main office to ask which building to have it confirmed that it was mine and that I should come home NOW.


I of course called my parents who headed over right away. Upon arrival I was told my place was okay - it had started at the back of the building, there would be some water damage but the fire had not reached my unit. I then went to look for Lily. They said she had been taken out and everyone was pointing to an area with animals saying - she's over there, she's ok.


But I didn't see her. I just remember saying - she's not there... But, was still told - not sure by who, she is  - she's ok. Until finally it was set straight that the dog in the crate was my neighbors not mine, others who knew my dog started in on the story. They tried to keep hold of her, but no one had a leash.... and she loosened her way free.


See, Lily is my rescue dog. What happened to her before we got her I do not know. But, she is hesitant of people she does not know (to say the least) - and to have firemen and who knows how many other people coming at her at once was too much. I can only imagine her panic - her only escape was to run.


And then, I cried.... well, continued to cry. I had already been crying on my way to the house thinking about the possibility that everything was gone. Trying to be positive that maybe it wasn't and that even if it was it would be okay. Morgan's pictures hit me - that was the one thing I would mourn the most (that and her baby memory container).


I did not blame anyone for letting Lily out - they were helping her. But, she was gone. We spent that night looking - I looked, my family looked, Bob came by before picking up Morgan and helped look - but by nightfall nothing. I woke up a couple of times at night thinking I heard her - but it wasn't.  So, the next day we looked and looked again - people walked around trails and stayed up until 2 a.m. the night before looking for her (John - who appeared to be casing neighborhoods at that hour).


We asked neighbors / anyone in the neighborhood - some of whom had seen the news report (lily made the news) and they would respond - "the dog on the news!" - one lady said she had walked around that afternoon to see if she could find her. More people looking for Lily (the dog on the news).


All to no avail. Until, a neighbor came running up saying she saw Lily crossing a nearby street. She happened to be at the very busy intersection (luckily) and said she honked her horn at traffic so they would see Lily and not hit her. They tried to follow - but she bolted. While they did not have her, they had seen her, and they had a general area - and that was progress in my mind. I drove around calling her - still nothing.


Around that same time - school called saying Morgan did not feel well (of course - it rains, it pours right) - I would never mind picking her up, I just wanted to delay it to try and find Lily first and not have to tell her that she was missing. My mom picked her up and as soon as she was home I had to tell her. The story of the fire did not bother her (more than likely because our place is in tact) but the minute I said Lily got loose she bawled. She kept asking when she would be home, and how would we find her, and what if a driver did not see her.


In that moment I provided hope - at the time what I clinged onto would be true, but also knowing I may not be able to deliver. I told her that we were looking, that lots of people were looking, my mom mentioned Lily was on the news - and that made her smile. After a short while she looked at me and said, Mama when are you going to look for Lily? I said, in just a minute - to which she looked at me and said, Mama we NEED to go NOW!


She got on her shoes, grabbed some snacks (to make it known she was going too) and we headed out to the car. She was my right hand side lookout - I was her desperate left. We returned to the street Lily had last been seen at, but this time I drove around the back of the industrial buildings that are there. There was an area that faced the start of the neighborhood houses and had bushes and such. I called her name and did her recall noise*. We waited a minute and nothing. Just as I started to back up Morgan yelled - Mama - Lily!!!!!!  And there she was - just having jumped out of the bushes staring at us like - "is it you, is it really  you???" And, us staring back with the same expression.


I jumped out of the car and we opened the door to let her in. I think I exuded to much excitement at first - so she would not come over to us. But I stood up calmly and gave her the hand motion plus her "let's go" command and over she came. Before she jumped in she stopped for a mama + dog pet session (because I am not her owner I am her person mama - ha ha). When I looked up at Morgan she had tears coming down her face - she was so happy to have her back. 


Needless to say in that moment I forgot all of my past frustrations of Lily ownership. Is she perfect - no. Does she come with scars - literally and figuratively - yes. But, is she our imperfectly perfect dog / family member - yes!  And she is HOME!!!!


Home is just fine too. We have some water damage from when the fire upstairs was put out (it had begun to lurch over the roof toward our side of the building). So some ceiling will have to come down in a bathroom and maybe parts of the wall(s). But overall we are the most unaffected in our section of the building. Grateful / thankful / blessed / fortunate does not even begin to cover it...  




The standard Sara side notes: :-)


* The recall noise - this was probably our saving grace. When I took Lily to puppy training the instructor taught us the recall noise - any noise you like. I can't whistle so I came up with this high pitch trilling sound. It works every time, and luckily when we needed it to work the most it did. So - thank you thank you  thank you to Jana our instructor and to Lily for learning her recall command.


** The title of this post (a short side story)... When we were back in the house Monday night my dad looked over at the counter and saw my new book "Catching Fire" - I literally had just brought it home Sunday night to start reading it. He said something to the effect of the unfortunate coincidence of that - I now stare at that book and as much as I was wanting to read it - it's kind of hard to pick up the darn thing now.  


*** And, I will from here forward be establishing a different Morgan memory / photo storage plan + back up.... With all the storage options I really have no excuse - luckily I get a second chance.

Academy of Science - Home of the Albino Alligator

Before we went to adventure playground we started off our Monday heading into the city to visit the new California Academy of Science. I have wanted to take her there and see what they had done but was waiting a while to find a day where it may not be ridiculously crowded. 


When you first walk in it takes a moment to seek out remnants of the old building. I still remember the fountains and dolphin greeters at the front -  those are gone unfortunately, but the white alligator is still alive and standing like a statue - where you're not really sure he is actually real.  The Extreme mammals exhibit was super cool - basically envision skeletons of a lot of very old animals - all with much bigger heads and MUCH BIGGER teeth. 


I asked Morgan if she liked the academy and she said - no, I LOVE IT. :-) Although it is different - it is a neat place. I am not sure my favorite part to be honest. I really liked the aquarium exhibit (but I tend to always like the aquarium exhibits) - I would say that was probably Morgan's too - although she did like the rain forest dome quite a bit. Of course, we both liked Extreme Mammals - so it's just hard to choose. Also, to be fair we never made it to the planetarium show (so maybe that would have been it). Our tickets were for the 3:30 show and I did not want to risk staying past 4 and then getting into Monday afternoon traffic over the bridge. But - it leaves something for next time! 


I can not give enough thanks to the internet reviewers for sharing tips that helped us navigate, so in honor of that I will pass along my own helpful things if you go:


* The directions on the Cal Academy web site are perfect to get to the parking garage easily.


* Buying tickets online is a VERY good thing.


* Go straight to the planetarium first to get your show time ticket. We got ours at 11 and could only get a 3:30 show time. Then go to any other exhibit that requires a timed entrance (in our case it was the Extreme Mammals). 


* Go through the rain forest exhibit before the aquarium - you end up there when you exit the rain forest dome anyway!


* When in the aquarium look for the unicorn fish in the big salt water tank. Morgan LOVED that fish - I had never seen one before either. 


* Be a table vulcher and bring snacks.... 


The last I can not stress enough. Luckily  they are one of the gracious places that lets you bring your own food in - and I would recommend at least some snacks. We had packed up a lunch tote full of snacks, juice, and water and am SO glad we did. The lines for food were really long and tables were in short supply, so without someone to hold a table while we waited in line we would have been in trouble for seating once holding our food. I had plenty for Morgan to have a full lunch and she was more than okay with eating the food we brought - yay for that! 


If you've been debating go / don't go - I say go. It was worth the journey - we definitely liked it! 

You know that joke....

... "when you have a fat friend there are no see-saws, only catapults".* Yeah, well I lived it. ha ha ha....


I was looking at a picture from adventure playground and could not help but think of it. In front of Morgan, the homemade see-saw. The exact see-saw that we attempted to use together - all of her 40 pounds against my... well, let's just say I would qualify as the "friend" in this case. :-)

Happy Thursday!

Party Pics

Pictures from Morgan's "kid" birthday party!

Picture SOS

I took this picture of Morgan in a tire swing.... The resolution was not good in the end product - but, with a little "artistic" photoshopping I still wanted to share - I just love it!

A Belly Full of Jelly Beans...

Tuesday morning we started our trek home, but before departing the area we took a quick, couple hour detour to the Jelly Belly factory.  I had originally tried to stop by on our way to Great Grandma's, however I did not know where the factory actually was. I had always seen the Jelly Belly signs, but had not been there (I know, such a deprived child - my parents took me nowhere - ha ha) so I thought it was right off the freeway (it is not). 


I promised Morgan I would look up directions on the way home and we would visit when we drove back. Because a mama-promise is iron-clad we arrived Tuesday morning around 11. I had read online that weekdays are best for two reasons, (1) the factory is actually running so you get to see everything in production vs. just videos telling you about it and (2) it is less busy. Well..... (1) was right on, (2) was maybe not as much so when summer is factored in. 


At first I thought about retreating - looking around / visiting the store and saving the tour for another time. But, we had already arrived and when realistically would we be back on a week day? So, we waited in line. (I am actually so impressed with Morgan's patience - whether it is traffic or lines to get into things she is very patient.*) We waited 30 - 45 minutes for our turn to tour - and then were handed our "stylish" paper hats (required for the tour) and were off through the secret doors.  


The tour took about 45 minutes and was pretty neat. It was cool to feel and taste the jelly beans before they get their coating and Morgan liked seeing them in the machines. We got to see Jelly bean mosaic artwork and at the end request a few sample beans of new flavors that we wanted to try. Morgan picked - chocolate devotion / 7-up / and one other that I can not remember.... 


A few Jelly Belly facts that I did not know: 


 - President Reagan made the Jelly Belly beans famous - I guess he was an uber-fan! 


 - The blueberry bean was made specifically for his inauguration to make a red, white, and blue bean jar design. 


 - The Jelly Belly beans are flavored inside and out - I guess normal beans only have flavor in the coating, these have flavor at every layer. 


- Jelly Beans are basically cousins or morphed versions of turkish delight. 


All in all it was worth the wait and I'm glad we braved the line. Now we can cross off - see Jelly Belly factory tour. :-) 




* On a side note - Mama could learn patience from her, I seriously thought I might cry when we reached the front of the line (ok not that bad, but I was ready to be done in line) - I just wanted it to be our turn so badly and was worried we would have to wait one more round.  I even was thinking in my head "please be our turn, please be our turn". I do promise I am not normally so terrible over lines, it just seemed to be a trip of lines - lines in traffic - lines in exhibits - lines, lines, lines... I don't know how you (i.e. California / Georgia friends and family) all handle traffic day after day - it is nuts!!!!  

Adventure Playground

(A post - about what we did and some ramblings of my own....) 


What we did:


This past weekend we went to the Bay area for an extended weekend to visit Great Grandma / Auntie Nedra and to spend some much needed fun time in the City. (I call it the City - because even after travels to many many cities, it is still THE CITY to me - the best, most favorite, wonderful San Francisco). :-)  


While we did visit one of our "old" favorite places,the Discovery Museum,we also spent some time at some new locales, one of which was the Adventure Playground. I had read about it in past, but we had not had the chance to go nor was Morgan old enough yet - but this time.... we had some time available and the age of six in our favor. 


Monday afternoon we traveled over to Berkeley Marina from "The City" to the Adventure Playground. I was hoping it would live up to the hype and description I had read online from reviewers (minus the need for a tetanus shot) and it did! The minute we walked in Morgan was instantly thrilled. It looked just like a real-life Tom Sawyer's Island, or a fun junk yard for kids - Forts / climbing structures / a building area for hammering and sawing / kids with buckets of paint adding to the aesthetic of the existing structures / a giant spider web climber / and a kid-powered zip line. 


A fantastic shanty town all for their use. Morgan was first drawn to the saws - she just REALLY wanted to saw because while she had used a hammer, she had never been allowed to saw! It turns out that sawing is kind of hard, so we sawed for a bit and then moved on. :-) 

She ran around touring all of the forts that kids had built, climbing up and down the giant spider web, hanging in the pseudo hammock swings, sliding down the "extended" slide, etc. The zip line caught her eye toward the end of the day, however there was a big line and I think she was hesitant to try it (next time though I see her flying through the air on it).  


We were only there for about an hour and a half (they closed at 5) but not a moment was wasted. And, with close proximity to the water - she was able to take a quick trip to the water to wash off paint on her pants and shoes. ha ha 


We will definitely be back!  

And now, the ramblings: 


When I first read the reviews for this place I saw many positive ones, however there was also the looming comment of this place is dangerous - have your tetanus shots in the car! 


The reality is this, yes kids are using real hammers, nails, wood, saws, etc... These things do have a hazard level associated with them, however this is what I think. A) If you watch your kids then the possibility of harm should be greatly decreased B) the things we let kids play with on a daily basis could be considered / are dangerous to them in one way or another, and C) I have never been so impressed with a place and loved to see kids free - free to explore / create / use their motor-skills and imaginations. Not one kid was bored - all were outside running around - it was fantastic. AND, every parent there kept commenting on what a great place it was. I heard them  talking to each other / talking on their phones - all with the same shared comment, this place is fantastic! 


I think it's too bad we've (I use we as a collective society) have created these hand-sanitizer bubbles where our kids play on plastic and in virtual worlds versus having simple real-world fun. Don't get me wrong, some safety improvements are well-warranted and I am a fan, I just think some old school infusion is much needed. 


ps - Morgan did not need a tetanus shot as a result of our visit, however she did get a splinter.  She looked it over quickly to assess, and then went on playing. :-)