Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Keep Your Keys In Your Pocket

It was Monday afternoon. The kids were bored and Sam had just awakened from a nap that was too short. They all needed to be entertained and so what better way to entertain kids than to go the Zoo! So we decide to go.

Now, to go anywhere with 4 kids, it takes time and lots of trips to and from the car. First trip, Sam in his seat (if not, he will run outside and it's murder to get him back in). Second trip (made by the kids who had already gotten buckled in the car), potty stop. On her way back out to the car, Natalie pulls the door shut. I finish getting Sam in and head back inside to get the keys, diaper bag and Seth. I go to open the door and nothing. The door is locked. I have nothing. No keys, no phone, nothing. And then I realize, we don't even have keys to this door. George would have to come home and let us in the front door. And then I remember that the storm door was deadbolted from the inside (again, to keep Sam from running outside) and we don't have keys to that door. We have a very back door and guess what? We don't have keys to that door!

Luckily, Seth had just fallen asleep and was buckled in his carseat so he would be safe, but grumpy as soon as he woke up. So I head out the garage door to see if any of my neighbors are home. First 3 (the ones that I actually know), no luck. So I met a new neighbor, Bill, who came back to my house (with the guy working on his house) to see if we could break-in. Couldn't do it.

Long story short (too late, I know) an hour and $70 later, I am in my house scooping up my screaming baby and begging him to forgive me. What does he do? Calms down immediately and just starts smiling. I held him for the next hour.

I learned that when you have children, you should always carry your keys in your pocket. And you should have keys to all of your doors:) And if I ever find out which kid locked the door, that $70 is coming out of their college fund!

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

Oh, Anna, I feel your pain! We too for some reason only have one lock that we have keys for, yet we have five doors that lock. I went through the same thing trying to move in, although blessedly without children! I'm glad that you made it through.

Hey we finally got our zoo membership, so anytime you all are up for a trip let us know!

emily said...

oh my. That really does not sound fun. I have locked myself out of my (old) house so many times that I finally gave keys to the neighbors and hid them in the yard. But I didn't have kids involved.

Sariah said...

I locked my kids in the van once. I ran all over the neighborhood, trying to find someone home so i could use their phone (I learned to always keep my cell phone in my pocket,, too). When you lock your kids in the car, the police (or firemen, whatever... just call 911) will always come unlock it for free. If you just lock your keys in, they'll tell you to call a locksmith. Oh, and because it's your kids and it's 911, they are at your house in less than 5 minutes. The kids thought having the fire truck with the siren and lights all going was pretty cool. then the firemen let the boys inside the firetruck for a minute, let them try on the firefighter hats, then gave them stickers that made them "honorary" firefighters.

But I always check the door and where my keys are now.