New Years Day we drove through snow to get to Kansas City. We were overdue for a visit and with the kids still being out of school until the next week we were all able to go for Royce to get some days in the office after year-end. We stayed with Brian, Courtney, Emma, and Annabel in their lovely new home in Leawood. The kids played so well. Isaac was of course out-numbered but luckily the Austin Christmas Train that circled their tree saved the day and gave him something fun to play with. We arrived late on Wednesday evening and settled in quickly. Thursday Royce & Brian had to work but Courtney and I stayed in PJ's and entertained the kids at their home. It was wonderful to get caught up on conversations and let the kids play without any time restrictions or agenda we had to follow.
Friday morning Brian & Courtney had to work, and Royce did too. Austin's gave me the garage code to get in and out of the house as we pleased. The kids and I drove Royce to work before we visited the McGown's and my former co-workers. We made it back to the Austin's house for Amelia & Caroline to take naps and then we were supposed to head to Royce's office around 4:00 so the kids could go into his office building (anything with an elevator is exciting you know!). The kids were being cooperative and I wanted to make a quick get-away from Brian & Courtney's house so I tried to be as efficient as I could getting to the car. It was cold out and nobody needed to be goofing off outside. I grabbed Caroline and had Chloe & Isaac make the first trip to the car with us to get as many kids loaded and ready to go as I could. So I got the first three in the warm car and went back into the garage to go inside to get Amelia and then it happened: I turned the knob and the door didn't open. I was locked out of the house. Amelia had flipped the dead-bolt knob on the garage walk-through door.
Me: *knock knock* Amelia! Unlock the door, Honey!
A: I can't! It's LOCKED!
Me: I know Honey, please unlock it.
A: I can't reach it! (which I believe, because it was a stretch for her to reach it in the first place)
Me: Keep trying Honey, please keep trying. Turn the button (I know she wouldn't know what a 'knob' was but she understood 'button' so I went with it)
A: I can't. Momma, let's go see Daddy.
Me: I want to Sweetie, but you have to open the door first.
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About 5 minutes passed of conversation. I called Brian & Courtney only to find out that the only key to the house was inside the house from earlier that morning. Then Chloe got out of the car and wondered what was going on. We ran to the back of the house where previously I had let the dog Bella outside and I had opened the wooden blinds to see her in the backyard, LUCKILY leaving them open. This was HUGE. This back door was the easiest knob to turn on the dead bolt of any knobs in the house. Isaac joined us at this point in time and was crying because he was scared (for Amelia) and cold.
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10-15 minutes have now passed. I convince Amelia to push a chair over to the back door to try to reach the dead-bolt easier. She scoots the chair over but can't get it over the rug so she's still an arms-reach too far from turning the knob. I then ask her to try to get the chair over to the garage door where this all began and she agrees. She scooted it all the way around the bar, through the kitchen, to the back door. Again, a rug and she can't reach. She is discouraged.
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20 minutes and I talk to Courtney again. She says to go get the neighbor Scott. Scott is handy and maybe the kids can go to their house to stay warm and wait. Scott comes over but the kids are reluctant to go play at Scott's house even though Chloe had played with Scott's daughter the day before. Scott gets a crowbar and starts fiddling with the garage walk-through door. He cleanly removes the outside trim and we can then see the depth of the actual bolt and it's DEEP. With a steel plate reinforcing it. *Safe house, Austins!* He checks the other doors too and Amelia is not impressed by a guy in a black coat walking around the doors with a crowbar. She starts crying at this point. She really wants to see Daddy and is thirsty.
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30 minutes Scott's wife comes over and the kids agree to go with her back to their house. This was really key because Isaac was upset but I couldn't really console him because Amelia was so upset too. YES we could have called the police. But all they would have done was break the door down and we were capable of doing that ourselves. I could see Amelia through the formal entryway and also the back door and knew there was nothing dangerous she could get into. At this point I looked up an emergency locksmith and gave them a call. This is a VERY frustrating process! They MAY SAY they serve Leawood, KS; they MAY SAY they are quick in emergencies; they MAY SAY they are 10 minutes away but you can't believe anything they MAY SAY. I know I was being protective Momma Bear wanting them there NOW, but I am able to keep my cool in situations like this and it was extremely frustrating.
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Minutes 30-50 were very saddening. Amelia was so upset. She was scared. She was thirsty. She wanted to see Daddy's work. She sat at the top of Brian & Courtney's grand staircase, sitting criss-cross-applesauce with her hands up on the rail like she was sitting in a jail cell just looking down at the front door sobbing uncontrollably. It was REALLY hard for Scott and I to not break in at that time. But right around minute 50 the locksmith reassured me that their GPS said 15 minutes. Okay. 15 minutes, Mom. You can handle this. Can you see her in this picture reaching up to the front-door window for me to hold her?!? Heartbreaking.
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Minute 50ish Amelia made it down to the bottom step which was right inside the front door. I hid below the window and jumped up to play peek-a-boo and she giggled. Whew. She's calming down! I repeated this a few times. Then I asked her if she wanted to play peek-a-boo at the back door and she agreed. I told her I'd race her to the back just to keep her playful. Scott waited at the end of the driveway for the locksmith to arrive. Amelia and I played peek-a-boo at the back door for a minute then I asked her if she could find anything in the toy room to stand on to try to 'turn the button' one last time. She agreed and came back with a terrible first-attempt of a really floppy Moses basket for dolls. Knowing it would be a failed attempt I let her try just to keep things on her terms. "Good job, Amelia!" I tell her. "Now go get something even BIGGER!" Her eyes opened bigger and she was excited for the challenge.
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Minute 70. She came back with a Princess folding chair. P E R F E C T. She sat the chair down ON the rug, stood up, and click. She unlocked the door. I grabbed her, gave her the biggest hug, and we met Scott in the garage through the garage walk-through door. "Well how'd ya do that?" he asked. "I played on her terms." I answered. I called the locksmith and cancelled the request. Of course they weren't happy, but hey, when time is of the essence and they claim to be quick TIME IS MONEY. And I'm very, very glad I didn't have to pay the locksmith fees.
Scott walked Amelia and I to his house and the kids were SO excited to see Amelia. I sent this picture to Brian & Courtney to let them know the good news.
I've got her!
An hour and ten minutes later I had my girl and I was ready to go. Scott helped me walk kids to the car and stayed with them while I checked Brian & Courtney's house one last time before leaving. I found Amelia's sippy-cup lid on the kitchen floor, which was odd, as I knew I had washed the cup before loading kids. I looked at the fridge and the cup portion was in the water dispenser completely filled to the brim with water. It was too heavy for her to get down. Poor girl. She was thirsty and she had tried her best. It's a good thing she didn't get it down because it was so full she would have spilled it all over herself which certainly would not have made things any better. I gladly gave her the cup in the car and she drank ALL the water on the way to get Daddy. Needless to say we didn't go up into his office as it was after hours and closed! We had plans to meet the Wiehe family at T-Rex for supper and this Momma was ready for a margarita!
It was sooooo good to see the Wiehe's. We got to gaze at little Chase's enormous blue eyes. Kaylin, Chloe, and Isaac didn't stop talking the entire time. We got to relax and enjoy unwinding from a stressful day, and got to see some plans for Cale & Jessica's new home. So very exciting! The only thing that would have made it better would have been getting a picture of Jessica and I wearing our dinosaur hats. Next time, Jess. Next time.
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The next day we headed West to start our trek home, stopping in Manhattan for Royce to go to the K-State basketball game with one of his employers. I took the kids to Dan & Linda Deines' house where they were ready to entertain the kiddos. The kids helped Dan crinkle paper for the fire, he set up the telescope for them to look through, they watched the fish swimming and staying low to stay warm, ate an ENTIRE carton of strawberries, and finished it off with wheelchair rides from Linda and leg-rides by Dan. Such a fun stop!
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Amelia, I want you to know how much I love you.
I'm so glad everything turned out okay.
I will have more gray hair eventually because of you.
I believe I'll stick with my blood-pressure meds until you're a little older, too.
Just in case we're not through with your games yet.
