Power Goes Out-Mall Evacuated

Sunday, as some of you know, was 104 here! Since C was working, and our air conditioning doesn't work, I thought I would take the girls to the mall. I could run a few errands and then we could see a movie. Good plan...right? So I thought.

O fell asleep, before we even got to the mall. I put her in the stroller and figured by the time we were ready to see the movie she would be awake. C called us and said he was in the mall working. We headed for the store he was in. It was nice to see him. We walked through the mall with him, but he had to go and finish his work.

We walked around, looking for a place to just sit until O woke up. We had finished our errands and just wanted to rest. There was absolutely no place to sit. The mall was so packed. It was worse than Christmas. Everyone was there to be inside were it was air conditioned and they were there for the day. Every bench and chair was taken. I told CK we could go and see if there was a place to sit in the family rest room. As we were headed over there I noticed some of the stores were closing because their power went out. I didn't think anything of it. That had happened a few times in the past as I was shopping and when I worked in retail. As we got closer to the food court everyone was looking at something. I thought maybe there was a fight. People were getting pretty crabby with all the heat. Then I noticed the lights flickering.....then the smoke/fire alarm went off. I immediately turned around. I told CK we need to leave. We're not going to be able to see the movie today. CK was upset, I was too.

People were running out of the mall. There was some kind of recorded greeting from the loud speakers in the mall, but you could not understand it. I'm sure it was saying to evacuate. As we walked calmly out of the mall. CK was getting nervous. She asked if we needed to hurry. I told her no, it was never a good idea to run or hurry in an emergency. We just needed to calmly get out of the mall. O was still asleep. I have no idea how she could sleep with the alarm going off and all the people rushing out, but she did.

We got outside and headed for the parking lot where we were parked. Unfortunately the only parking I could find was on the FOURTH floor....in the sun! I wasn't sure how we were going to get up there. The elevator was shut down because of the power outage and I had a sleeping child in a stroller. At least CK was awake. I called C to tell him. He said, a transformer blew and I should evacuate. (nice to have the inside info.) I headed for the stairs. By the time I got there O was starting to wake up. I asked her if she could walk up the stairs for mommy. She nodded and said yes. Great!

The girls walked as I pulled the stroller behind me. I told them to stay at the landing and wait for me. All of a sudden on the second set of stairs, the stroller got lighter. I looked and a lady was helping me. I thanked her and she said she was parked on the third flour. Great. I got help for most of the way. I thanked her and we made it easily to the fourth floor. Thank goodness some people are still nice.

Getting up to four was the easy part. Now I had to get out of the garage. All those hundreds of people trying to get out at once. What a mess! I got the girls in the car and headed for the exit. We could hear the Fire Trucks rushing to the mall as we were headed to the car. Then...we sat....and sat. CK was getting worried. I could feel myself getting stressed and panicked. I kept talking to CK, telling her it was going to take a while, but we would get out. It would be okay. The entire time praying and telling myself to stay calm. It was going to be okay. We would get out. O didn't seem worried. I told the girls, and myself, we were in the air conditioned car. It could be worse. I must have made CK feel better, because before I knew it she was asleep.

Then O started..."I want to go home. I want a cookie." Great. The only thing I had was raisins and water. She had raisins already and didn't want more. I put some kids music on. Thank goodness I carry coloring books and crayons with me. That kept her occupied for the HOUR we were sitting in the car...on the FOURTH floor of the parking garage....not moving.

We finally started to move. Then it went pretty fast. We were out of the garage in less than 10 minutes. No one must have been letting us out that entire time. PEOPLE!

As I drove out of the mall parking lot and onto the main street C called to check on me. I told him I was fine now that I was out of the garage. That's when I started to cry. We were out. We weren't going to be stuck up there for as many hours as I had envisioned. I headed for home. What a relief.

CK woke up - I told her we were finally out of the parking garage and we were going to find some place to have dinner. We ended up at good old McDonald's. Electricity, air conditioning...sounded like a perfect place to me.

Mommy attends Stanford!

I have to brag....I have the BEST husband in the world.

This past week he sent me to a Digital Photography and Photoshop class at Stanford. It was one of those intense classes (M-F 8:30am-5pm). Every day, I came home exhausted, but excited. The commute was the worse part, but SO worth it. I learned so much from the professional photographer who taught the class. I took so many pictures. Stanford is such a beautiful campus. To have the opportunity to not only photograph it, but photograph it at all times of the day and night was great.

We had one night shoot. I have never done photography at night before. I'm not sure why, just haven't. It was a blast! I can't wait to do more.

Hopefully I'll be able to take Digital Photography and Photoshop II next summer.

While I was at Stanford all week the girls were with my sister-in-law, playing with their cousins, Daddy and Nonna. They were so good. I am so proud of them. CK got upset one morning and told me "Mommy, can you stay home and play with me today." Poor thing. It was very hard on both girls...and Daddy, but they all did great. Thanks again C for sending me to this wonderful class!

Here are just five photographs of the several hundred I took during the week. I hope you enjoy them. I was in heaven taking them.

Family Day at Great America

We had a family day at Great America. We went on the perfect day....July 5th. The 4th crowds were gone. There was a nice breeze, so it wasn't too hot.

C hadn't been in years, so the girls and I had fun showing Daddy all around the park. The favorite ride was the kiddy roller coaster. The girls loved it. CK said it was scary, but wanted to go on it again. O, of course, LOVED it. Daddy taught her the proper way a dare devil rides a roller coaster - arms UP. She did it with a smile on her face. That's Daddy's girl. (don't forget, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. The look on both girls faces on the roller coaster is the best!)

I am excited to say, we are now ready for Disneyland. O stood for a picture with Dora and Sponge Bob. We have NEVER watched Sponge Bob on TV. The girls only know who he is by seeing "stuff" at the store. O saw him and ran towards him saying "Sponge Bob, Sponge Bob." So, I now have a picture of O with Sponge Bob. Maybe next year we'll be able to go to Disneyland. I'll start saving.