Our newest adventure

I originally started this post the week after the home explosion in our neighborhood, and obviously didn't finish it then. I'll do my best to update it & finish it now :-)

So, we've had an interesting week! (understatement of the year!) Even though I'm behind in the blog, I need to post a more current update. I'm sure everyone already knows what happened to us, but I figured I should probably still add it to the blog, and I'm finally feeling ready to post about it.

snow day!

Last Wednesday, February 27th, Emmy & I had a snow day, and Dan was in Chicago. We had a really nice & relaxing morning, just hanging out & playing with all of Emmy's toys. While Emmy took a nap, I braved the driveway. The snow blower only helped with part of the driveway since the snow was so wet & heavy, so I had to shovel the rest. As I was shoveling away, Consumers Energy workmen were up & down our street, working away, replacing the gas mains. They chatted with me as they walked by, mostly commenting on how heavy & wet the snow was (thanks. i hadn't noticed.), but one nice man did have their dozer truck come over & clear the bottom of the driveway for me.

His timing was perfect, b/c Emmy was just waking up from her nap. So I headed back in & grabbed a quick shower before getting her up. After her nap, our friends Lisa & Brooke came over for a play date. I wanted to have Emmy play in the snow on our snow day, but since it was so wet & heavy I thought it would be hard for her to walk around in it. So instead, I brought the snow inside for her to play with! I have a lego table from my old classroom at home that I put some snow into, and Emmy & Brooke had a great time playing with it.

Sharing a chair and snacks!

Snow!

brrrrr!

So much fun!

And those are the last few "before" shots of our kitchen...

Emmy's favorite spot in the kitchen

Lisa & Brooke headed home around 5 to get some dinner going, and Emmy & I headed into the kitchen to get her dinner ready. As I was getting pizza out of the fridge, Emmy was playing back by the doorwall, sitting in her favorite spot, and it was then that a house four doors down from us exploded.

That's right. A house, 4 houses away from ours, exploded. It was surreal. At first I thought it was an earthquake, because the outside wall in the kitchen shook, cupboards flew open & dishes and spices fell out & broke. Then there was a huge "ka-boom". Very technical I know. But it was really just a huge explosion sound. I had no idea what was going on, and amazingly not one thing hit Emmy or I. So I grabbed her and made my way to my phone. I dialed 911, but before I could hit send, Dan called. Not because he knew what happened, but was just calling to talk. (remember, he's in Chicago). So it probably wasn't the best way for him to hear the news, but he was amazingly calm and prompted me, over & over, to get out of & away from the house. Who knew if there would be another explosion?! As I made my way out of the house, I realized there were windows broken, molding in between the windows had blown out, all of the picture frames (except one) had fallen off the staircase wall & broke, I could not open the side door of the house... It was crazy. As I was pulling out of the driveway people were swarming towards the house that exploded, emergency vehicles & police were arriving, and you could see the huge flames & smoke from what used to be my neighbor's house.

The last frame "standing"

So I drove to my friend Lisa's house, the friend who had just left my home 10 minutes ago! Thankfully she & Brooke were far enough away that they weren't impacted, but they hadn't even made it out of the neighborhood yet when the explosion happened! Luckily Dan was already scheduled to fly home that night, so he was heading to the airport, making his way back to us, but not to our "home". Our parents met us at Lisa & Zacks, and thankfully Lisa & Zack took us in for the night. Lisa pretty much had any & everything I needed for Emmy; a pack & play to sleep in, pj's to wear to bed, a bottle & milk, and books before bed. Emmy was not happy about going to sleep that night, but a little extra rocking & snuggling with mama helped her to go down. After she fell asleep, my parents & I headed to Target to grab a few toiletries & other basics to get us through the next day or so, because we had no idea when we'd be able to get back in our house. After Target, we headed back to our house to let in the guys who came to do the emergency window board ups. The cops didn't want to let us into our house at first, but they eventually did. It was very creepy and bizarre on our street that night. It was eerily silent, despite there being disaster relief company trucks & guys everywhere. They had shut off the power so we had to use flashlights to see in the house, which didn't make the scene look any better. There was broken glass everywhere in the house, and I could only glimpse the damage that had happened to the south wall of our home. I gathered up our valuable items and a few necessities to take with us, as it was apparent we wouldn't be living there anytime soon. Dan came straight to the house from the airport, and stayed to see the windows boarded up so I could head back to Lisa's to be with Emmy.

Thursday morning we woke up & I took Emmy to daycare to try & keep a normal routine for her. After I dropped her off, I picked Dan up & we got some breakfast. It's somewhat blurry in my memory, but I know we were on & off the phone with the insurance people all day. They set us up with a hotel, so we packed up what little we had at Lisa & Zack's and moved it over to the hotel. We took Emmy to the doctor's just to get her checked out that afternoon. The only thing I was somewhat concerned about was her hearing, but the doctor said she looked perfectly healthy. While Emmy & I were in the doctor's office Dan had driven over to the house (it's just 2 blocks away) just to see what was going on. Turns out the police let him get into the house to get more stuff, so Emmy & I walked back to the house after we were done. I put Emmy in her car seat & Dan came out & saw with her so I could get in & get some work clothes & other things I was going to need. After that we headed back for our first night in the hotel.

I think this is where I stop for tonight...