just your typical thursday night

It's been too damn long, so here goes:

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Joe and I take Vincent to swimming lessons.  He isn't even close to swimming yet, but it's mostly just to get him comfortable in the water and to learn basics like kicking, blowing bubbles, etc.  Anyway, I usually pick V up after work and Joe meets us at the pool.

Today was no exception to the rule.

At first.

Vincent has an "ear thing" and tends to freak out a little when he is reclined back in the water so that the back of his head, and ears, are in the water. He hates it. Not quite sure how to get him over that. Today we didn't do too much floating in the water, so he didn't freak out much at all.  It was really fun, actually.  I love doing those lessons with him and Joe.

After our session was over, we walked out to the parking lot where we opened the hatch to our Montero and got him changed into dry clothes, same as always. 

Joe usually gets V situated in the car seat whenever we go anywhere.  I'm actually not 100% sure why he always does that, but he does.  Which is nice.  :-)  But since Joe was going to stop and grab us dinner on the way home, I decided to give him a head start and said that I would take over and get V in the car seat so that he could head out to grab food.

After a "love you" and a "bye" and a "see you later" he was gone.

I was putting Vincent in his car seat and since his new favorite toys are Gumby and Pokey (funny, huh?), I gave him Gumby and Pokey - or "Bungy" and "Picky" as he likes to call them - to play with in the car seat. And as I was fastening him up, he also had my keys because he likes to press the lock and unlock button over and over.

Anyway, he was content while I was getting him locked in and I asked him, "Did you have fun swimming?"

"Yes!" he responded joyfully.

"Do you like swimming in the pool?"

"Yes!" he quickly added again.

He is so cute!  :-)

Anyway, V was all set and ready to go and so I shut the door and went to the back hatch to close the hatch.  When I realized I needed my purse up front with me (which I had left in the way back), I tried to open the hatch and it was locked.

Tried Vincent's door and it was locked.

Tried the driver's door and it was locked.

Every door was locked.  And my keys?

They were on the seat next to Vincent's car seat.  They had fallen there after he hit that "Lock" button one last time.

[Commence semi-freaking out.]

Joe was already gone.  My keys, cell phone, and BABY were all locked in the car.  I was standing there with nothing by my bathing suit, a wet shirt, and a towel wrapped around my waist.

I tried all the doors again thinking they would miraculously decide to open, but they wouldn't.

What should I do? 

I looked at Vincent through the window and he just smiled at me, like I was playing a game with him or something, then he continued to play with his toys.  The keys mocked me as they stared up at me from the seat below.

I yelled at a young man who had just parked next to me and started to walk over to the pool.  I asked him if I could borrow his phone and he obliged.

I tried to call Joe, but he didn't answer.

"I don't know what to do," I said, mostly rhetorically.

Mr. Phone Man replied, "Well, just try to stay calm.  I know there's a police station nearby, so may be they could come?"

Brilliant!

I called 911 and was placed on hold for forever (okay, maybe it was only 20 seconds that just SEEMED like forever).  I felt like the worst parent in the history of parenting as I told the operator what was happening. 

She asked for my phone number and I told her, "My phone...and everything...is in the car with my son.  I don't even know the man who's phone I'm using."

"Okay, ma'am.  That's fine.  I'm going to get a paramedic on the line."

I don't remember much of that conversation other than the fire department answering, asking me a few questions, me telling them my car information and location.  Then the dispatch operator lady got my name and number and said that someone would be there within a few minutes.

While I was waiting, I thanked Mr. Phone Man profusely and he said that he had to go in and pick up his son, but that he would be back out in a bit if I needed his phone again.  I thanked him again and he went on his way.

I tried the doors again as if it was just a bad dream.  Or maybe just to torture myself.  When they didn't open (shocker!), I decided to pass the time playing peek-a-boo with Vincent.  He was just laughing at me, smiling, and not having a care in the world. 

Not even 2 minutes later we heard sirens, which I knew were for us.

Vincent said from inside the car, "Ambince!  Ambince!"  (What he calls "Ambulance"). 

A paramedic fire truck showed up as well as one Police SUV.  They got out and Vincent just stared at them as they tried to jimmy each door open.  Didn't get freaked out at all.  God, I adore that kid.

Not even 5 minutes later the driver's door was opened and all of the doors were unlocked.  And then they were all gone a minute after that.

Once I hugged the crap out of Vincent and made sure that I had the keys IN M HAND, I climbed in, turned the car and A/C on, and looked at my phone.  It was 6:10.  Exactly 1 minute since the car was reopened. 10 minutes since V was first locked in the car.

I called Joe and I think his response was something like "Wow".  I know, I know...I'm pretty awe inspiring, huh?  Anyway, we actually ended up agreeing that calling 911 was the best option.  Especially since he didn't even have a spare key on him.

Vincent's time in the car = approximately 9 minutes.

My time feeling the absolute worst mother on the face of Planet Earth = approximately 9 minutes + every minute thereafter.

That was, hands down, the most nerve-wracking and scariest 9 minutes of my life so far. Hands. Down. As I think about V's sweet little face, oozing happiness, and precious little life, it still makes me feel like I am the worst mother on the face of Planet Earth. 

But Joe's response to that was, "No...Casey Anthony is."

FSAF #??? (#5 maybe?)

I didn't forget about FSAF, and I didn't give up on blogging about it. We've had a few that were way too far in between, and I don't have a point and shoot camera anymore. I could use the DSLR but sometimes it's just too big and bulky to carry. Just taking Vincent requires so much... stuff. We did go to the "aquarium" in Tempe a while back, but it was not really an aquarium in the sense of the word as I know it. I associate the word aquarium with the Boston Aquarium. There was no comparison. It was in a mall. A ghetto mall. We went anyway, and it was mediocre. So mediocre I didn't feel like it was blog-worthy. There were a few more that also were pretty unadventurous. I don't even remember them. Today we went to Usery Mountain Regional Park and tried to hike the Wind Cave Trail. I say tried because we didn't make it to the cave at the top. Vincent is quite large (I'm trying to get as much use out of our Kelty Kid Carrier as possible before he outgrows it). I got about 60% of the way up before V got sick of being strapped to my back. His head is basically touching the sun shade now and I think that was annoying him. I couldn't take it off because I forgot his sunscreen. Also he is large. Did I mention he is large and heavy? Between him and the supplies I had in the backpack it was easily 30lbs. Maybe more. I'm not as in shape as I used to be (I hiked Mount Washington with a 30lb pack back in high school). It wasn't a fail because we had fun. I got a little crazy on the way back and decided to go to Tortilla Flat for lunch. Not exactly on my way back, it was 25 miles out of the way.  I remember the food being really good the first time I went. Today it was just okay. Not bad, not good. Just okay. I'm going to wrap up my random thoughts now. I promise to work harder to:
 A) find fun adventurous stuff to do
and 
B) record it in photographic and blogical form.

Is blogical a word? It is now. Maybe blogographic? whatever.
-Joe

FSAF FAILS

Unfortunately it's now been three Fridays with no adventures. I haven't given up, just so much going on. Three Fridays ago (Feb. 18th) Theresa had friday off, so we were going to let her come along, but she had a dentist appointment at 11am. I figured we'd do something after, but we were too busy and I think we went to look at some houses. Two Fridays ago (Feb. 25th) I actually attempted to take V and Lucy the Wonder Beagle on a hike up Shaw Butte. I forgot how steep and rocky it is though, so I brought the Jeep stroller. Between Lucy wanting to smell everything and the stroller being nearly impossible to push up the trail we only made it an 1/8th of a mile before calling it quits. Next time I'll use my Kelty Kid Carrier backpack and/or leave Lucy home. Yesterday (March 2nd) I had to go into work at 5am to make up some time due to leaving early Tuesday Feb 28th. By the time I got home at 11:30 I was pretty tired and had nothing planned, then T called and needed me to go do some shopping. Maybe next Friday we'll get back on track?

FSAF #3 A day in Papago Park

Today V and I went to the Desert Botanical Garden with Alanna. The garden was cool as always, even though there were no special exhibits going on. We walked around, checked out plants, stopped to feed V on a shady bench, got to go in some Tohono O'odham dwellings (they were a native american tribe indigenious to this area). Ground some mesquite beans, then hit the gift shop while V took a nap. I got a pretty cool book detailing all the edible plants in the southwest, so as long as I bring it or memorize it we'll be all set if we get stranded in the wilderness! After that we decided to go climb up to the Hole in the rock at Papago Park. Hung out up in the hole for a while, then climbed down and hung out in the shade under a ramada. Here's some pics, CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS FOR LARGER IMAGES!!!!!!

FSAF #2 Hall of Flame

Today Vincent and I decided to check out the Hall of Flame (yeah, that's really the name, not my bad pun). I'd seen signs for it when we've been down in Papago Park in the past, so last night I looked it up to see if it would be interesting. If you're ever in Phoenix check it out. It starts with the old horse drawn carts, leather buckets and helmets, some dating back to the early 1700's. They also have a truck you can climb around on, an area for kids, fire fighting gear you can try on, patches, badges, a 9/11 memorial statue of a pony, etc. It ends with some modern equipment, some of which are still driven. It was pretty interesting to see the changes in technology over the years. Here's some pics (click on the thumbnails for bigger images):

FSAF #1 DESERT LOVIN'

No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter! Ever wonder why we like something? I'm not talking about Facebook, I'm talking real life. Today I took Vincent on a trip up to Lake Pleasant to get some pictures and be outside in the beautiful weather. We drove around inside of Lake Pleasant State Park, checked out the visitors center, took some pics of where I almost rolled our truck into the lake last weekend (that's a story for a different time), and walked around on the trails looking for wildlife I was going to head home. When I got back to Castle Hot Springs road I knew I should go left and head home, but instead I went right. While I was doing this Theresa's words were running through my head. When she had called less than an hour before, she said something to the effect of "don't do anything stupid, you have our son with you. You know sometimes you take dirt roads and trails and realize after it wasn't the best idea". She was right, that's how I almost put us into Lake Pleasant upside down in the Montero the previous weekend. So even with her voice in my head telling me not to, I headed north on Castle Hot Springs road off into the desert. Vincent was asleep so I reasoned that if it got really bumpy or sketchy looking I'd turn around, after all I had very little water for myself, no extra bottles for him, and no tire repair kit. As I explored, and took more pictures, I was thinking about the fact I love the desert. I don't know why, but I find it absolutely fascinating and beautiful. It could be because it's the polar opposite of the terrain I grew up around. Back in New England it's all grass and trees, it rains frequently, it snows way too much. Here we get almost no rain, no snow at all, the trees are few and far between, there are cacti everywhere. See, totally different. But I love it. I know it can be deadly, there are venomous snakes and lizards, the summer temperatures always exceed 100 degrees, the winter nights can get down below freezing. So, why do I love it? Is it because we can camp all year round? Is it because it's so different? Is it all the unsettled land we can go out and explore? Is it because desert racing is so friggen cool? Is it because of all the great mexican food? Maybe. Here's some pics (click on the thumbnails for bigger pics), enjoy!