Evacuation

Zac saw the fire start on Thursday.  People were being careless while shooting again and it started a fire.  By Thursday night, the fire had gotten 1 mile away from the homes.  Zac's sister came up and we all sat on our porch watching the helicopters drop water on the fire.  We weren't worried, it looked like they were doing a good job taking care of the fire.

In the morning, I went running about 6 am.  The fire looked like it was out.  Only a little bit of smoke was left.  An hour later, I was coming back to the house and you could see the flames.  Zac left at 9:30am to go pick up wood for our fence, and we received info that we needed to evacuate.  Since Zac is block captain, and was gone, I grabbed Lily and went door to door telling our neighbors that they needed to leave.  Everyone had a lot of questions (which I didn't know the answers at that time) so by the time I finished going up and down my street it was an hour.  I called Dad and asked if we could come over.  Zac was almost home, so I started packing up.  I told the kids to bring a change of clothes and their most important item.  Eric brought Legos (anyone surprised?), Jennifer brought her stuffed animal.  I looked in Aubrey's backpack and she had a copy of the "Crossroads Journal," a local newspaper.  I asked her why she packed that, she told me that she wanted to have something to read in case she got bored. Zac finally got home and opened the van to this:

Yes, he brought home kindling.  He refused to evacuate, he told the Sheriff that he was waiting for the "looting to begin."  He promised me if it got closer, he would take Lily and Jennifer to my Dad's.  What did we do with this down time?  We went to a different mountain and went hiking!

I have never hiked up to Stewart Falls before (by Sundance) so I went with Amy, Becky, Steve, Heidi and their kids.  It was also another good excuse to get rid of my horrible tan lines.

We had a lot of "looks" from other hikers with all our kids.  Or the fact that we had a ton of kids and only 1 man hiking with us.

All of the kids did a really good job hiking.  I was so impressed.  Especially with Brooklyn and Cami.  They are both 2 and hiked the 3.5 mile hike!

The falls were really pretty.  It was a really warm day, but the entire hike was shaded and you could feel the mist of the waterfall.

The kids kept on finding "walking sticks."  Aubrey was proud of this one.  I wouldn't let her take it with us though.

The kids loved seeing the waterfall.

Aubrey and Addie found a caterpillar on our way back.  Aubrey put him inside a leaf and carried him down with us.  She was so excited and named him "Harry."

After the hike we headed back home.  I checked the Eagle Mountain site and we were still listed as "mandatory evacuation."  Zac still refused to leave.  He told Eric that his Mustang isn't insured so if the fire gest close, he is leaving our Impala and will drive the Mustang some place safe.  I didn't want a restless night wondering if it was getting closer to our house, so I packed up the kids and spent the night at Dad's.  The kids were so excited they got to sleep at Grandpa & Nana's house.  They did really well and had a lot of fun.

This morning it looks like there are a couple flare ups.  We are still under evacuation orders, but our subdivision has been classified as "voluntary evacuation."  Nathan & Bobby's house is still under "mandatory evacuation."  They are expecting some strong winds today as the storm rolls in.  I am keeping a close watch, and we are prepared to leave again if we need.to.  In the meantime, it is really nice having Lily able to take a nap at home.