Today was Friday the 13th...

and boy was it full of bad luck for me.
It started off pretty good - the dogs let me sleep in until 7 AM, the kids slept in until almost 9 AM.

Then it went downhill.

The kids were outside playing with the boy next door when 2 of the dogs started fighting.  I don't mean play fighting either.  Bumble was viciously attacking Ginger - biting her on the ear, the legs, the neck.  I go over to try to distract Bumble and get the dogs separated while getting the kids in the house.  I didn't want the kids to try to break up the dogs.

The man next door starts yelling at me, "aren't you going to do anything?  You need to stop that dog.  He is going to kill that other dog."

I turn (and regrettably) yell back, "Those aren't my dogs and I am not going to go over there and separate dogs that are fighting.  I am not going to get myself injured."  I yell at the kids to get in the house.  Finally, the dogs stop, Ginger gets in the house and we keep Bumble and Kona outside.  Ginger licks her front leg and pants a lot but seems okay.  She is filthy dirty.  I don't know what to do though - can the dogs be put together again?  Is Bumble safe to be around?  I try to get in touch with Mait and Jenny but can't.

After about an hour, the kids need to get out of the house and I need a break too.  I first try to put Ginger in the garage but she starts to scratch at the door (the new door) so I bring her back in.  We decide to put her in the backyard with the other dogs and see what happens.

She goes out and Bumble comes over and apologizes (sniffing her and nuzzling her).  We watch the dogs for several minutes to make sure nothing happens and then decide to head off to the beach.  The kids put on their bathing suits, pack their clothes into a bag, grab towels and we head out.

First, we have to stop at the store.  That is when we notice that Andrew forgot his shoes so I carry him inside and do our shopping.

When we come back out the kids decide that it is too cold to go to the beach and get in the water.  So they change back into their clothes in the car so we can go to the park.

That's when we notice that Skylar has forgotten her pants.  I ask her if she wants to head back to the house to grab them and she says no, she will just wear her bathing suit bottoms.  We are just going to the park for a few so we head off.

We get to the park and the kids start playing.  I stand between the 2 play sets and watch the kids playing and running back and forth between the play toys.  I call Nana and we start chatting.

Suddenly, I notice a police car.  I look around to see if I had missed something or someone.  I turn back and the officer is still walking toward me.  I look behind me to see if there is someone behind me.  I then realize that he is coming to me.  I tell Nana, "I have to go" and click the phone off.

The officer walks up to me and says, "are these kids yours?"

I say, "three of them are."

"which ones?"

I point them out.

He says, "we got a phone call that there was a little girl here that is not dressed for the weather. You realize that it is 50 degrees outside and she might be cold."

I said, "she would tell me if she was cold.  We are here from Denver so this is pretty warm for us."

"What is your name and date of birth?"

"Is there a problem?"

"We just need to know who we are talking to, especially when a child is concerned."

I give him my name and he calls it in.  He comes back to me and says, "we try to keep our parks pretty clean but there is still a possibility of sharp objects and broken glass and things."

I say something and then he says something else about consequences and then I say, "I tend to believe in natural consequences."

Then the other officer walks up to me and says, "I  just have to put a stop to this right now, your behavior is inexcusable.  I am going to tell this to you straight.  I should take you downtown right now.  I should at least be issuing you a citation and at most calling DHS to come pick up these kids."  He goes on about if we were at the beach and he didn't have his life jacket on and he drowns and my excuse is he forgot his life jacket and that is the consequence is drowning that wouldn't be allowed.  He tells me I am a bad mother and it is my responsibility to make sure the kids are dressed appropriately.  Kids like to play outside with other kids and kids will go outside and get frost bite because they are so busy playing and don't notice they are cold.  He goes on and on for about 5 minutes.

I say lots of "yes sirs and no sirs" and just listen politely.   The other officer comes back and says I should leave the park and take the kids home.  I gather the kids and we leave the park.  I carry Andrew and we walk to the car which seems like a really long way away from where we were.  I don't look back to see what the officers are doing but I know who called the police on us, especially when we get back to the car.

I tell the kids that the police were called because Skylar was not dressed for the weather and she says, "I wasn't cold."  Then she proceeds to tell me that the lady that was there with her kids came over and asked her, "are you only wearing panties?"  Skylar indignantly says, "no, this is my bathing suit."

I tell her and all the kids that no unknown adult should be talking to them or asking them questions without me around.

I am very saddened by what happened today for many reasons.

1) I feel like I am in a nanny state more so than usual.  Being told that my decisions about how I parent and what choices I allow my kids to make are the wrong ones and that only police and the government can tell me what to do is just wrong.
2) Were they really that worried about the kids welfare?  They didn't talk to the kids, look at the kids or even evaluate if they had any bruises or anything.  They didn't ask them where their pants or shoes were or where we had come from.  They made a decision based on a phone call from some woman in a park and went with only that information.  We had only been in the park about 10 minutes when they showed up.
3) The woman didn't come talk to me.  She could have struck up a conversation and asked why the kids didn't have their pants and shoes.  I could have told her about our plans of going to the beach.  What if we had come from the beach and just wanted to stop at the playground for a brief visit.
4) So many assumptions and the comments that the officer made that he could take me downtown or call DHS as a threat - are just not appropriate.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully it will be better than today.

Up since 2 AM

It is now 6 AM and I have been up for quite some time now.  I wasn't sleeping well because N and C spent the night and I don't sleep very soundly when extra kids are in the house in case someone needs something.  Tonight though I was up even more.  I was awakened at 2 AM by this strange crying sound.  I thought it was a kid so I walked around and checked on everyone and couldn't find the source so I went back to bed. At 2:26, I was awakened again so I went to the window to see if it was a wild animal.  I couldn't see anything but could tell it was at the end of the other cul-de-sae.  It was a very strange sound but I couldn't place it so I went back to bed - during this time Skylar woke up with leg pain so I had to get her resettled.  Then Andrew woke up because he was cold.  I got him back to bed and then I tried to go back to sleep.  At 4 AM, the noise got really loud so I went back to the window and finally figured out it was a dog.  It sounded wounded and needing help.  I watched the house where I knew there was a dog and I could see movement inside the house.  Now, in this house lives a single older woman with a HUGE dog - a Great Dane.  He is very well behaved and she is very thoughtful so I got worried.  I tried to go back to bed but I just couldn't - something just wasn't right.  I finally, decided to call the Sheriff - not 911 - just dispatch.  I talked to the officer and he said they would do a welfare check.  I know he thought I was crazy but he sent over an officer.  I didn't know the address but I tried to give directions as best I could.  While I was on the phone a police officer drove by and then drove onto our street.  I walked out to the street and talked to the officer and told him which house.  He drove to the house and waited for back-up.  Another officer arrived and they checked the perimeter of the house and then went to the front door.  A few minutes later, they were getting into their cars.  The first officer on the scene came back to our house so I went outside to hear what he had to say.

The lady I thought it was - she is fine and so is her dog.  It was the person next door who just moved in last week that has a dog (didn't know there was another dog on that street).  That person had been arrested 5 hours earlier and they left the dog outside and he wanted back in.  The officer was very nice and thanked me for being concerned about my neighbors.

I tried to go back to sleep but my mind is awake and there is just no way I will go back to sleep.  So I have blogged several days worth since I was behind and organized my email.

I plan to go visit the woman later today and tell her I called and I am glad she is okay and to apologize but I think she will understand and hopefully appreciate that someone was thinking of her.

So far, other than Skylar and Andrew's one wake up everyone has slept well.

We are going to head to the Botanic Gardens today since the weather will be in the 70's and Cairn has a few lessons she can work on for school - adaptions of plants living in different environments.  N can help her out too.  Then tonight I have a Girl Scout unit meeting.