Sunday was an interesting day. It started out like most normal days but did not quite end up the same way. Big Monkey came home from work and we all got ready to go to church. During our drive, we were listening to the emergency tach (like we often do-it’s the nature of the job) and heard of a fire in the next town over. It was a commercial fire and had been going on already for about 15 minutes since the first engine was dispatched. Before we went in for church, the command had pulled all firefighters out of the building and were now staging a defensive attack. The building was pretty much not salvageable at that point, but the goal was to get the fire out and not have it spread.
We went into church and during the music, a local fire chief got a phone call. He went out to answer and then came back. A few minutes later Big Monkey got a call; he went out and answered it and then came back. The fire chief’s phone went off again and he left, only to return to give his wife his keys and then he left. Big Monkey’s phone continued going off a few times and he answered it. After coming back the third time, his phone went off again just as he was sitting down. I asked if we should just go and I’d drop him off to meet the fire truck. Obviously the fire was not going well and they were calling in more help. We left church too and I got Little Monkey out of class and headed to the car. We were in the first row and the second row was totally blocked. There was no getting out. We were trying to decide who owned any of the cars, but we were not sure on any of them. Thankfully someone else apparently decided to leave church for some reason and they were parked in the second row. Very carefully we made out way through the row and somehow managed to get out between the other cars and the fence. We drove out towards the fire to meet the fire engine. The fire had now been going for over an hour. Big Monkey’s truck was actually going to go cover the area for medical and other fire calls. Most of the cities trucks were at the fire, along with many of the county trucks as well. Big Monkey had not had breakfast yet, so we dropped him off at McDonalds. He was able to get his food, and food for the guys on the truck, eat his food and then get picked up by the fire truck. They had grabbed a change of clothes for him and all his gear. Little Monkey and I headed home to try and get him a nap before Big Monkey’s family came over.
Little Monkey decided napping wasn’t really what he wanted to do and he sat in his bed for about 45 minutes singing and talking and then crying. I went in a got him to calm down, reread his good night book and he went to sleep. 20 minutes later, Grandma (Big Monkey’s Mom) arrived with Amos. Even though they were very quiet, Little Monkey still woke up. That was the end of nap time. (Surprisingly, he was really well behaved the rest of the day.) We hung out with Grandma and Amos and also spent some time getting ready for dinner. Aunt K, Uncle K and Aunt S had not arrived yet, so Grandma decided to take Little Monkey swimming. He needed to first finish his Cheerios. He was quite happy to shove as many Cheerios as he could into his mouth. It was entertaining but I was a little concerned he might choke on them. Off they went to the pool.
A little while later, Uncle K, Aunt S and Aunt K showed up. We hung out while Grandma and Little Monkey stayed in the pool for a bit longer. Then we were all getting hungry so we did some prep work to get dinner going. We were having three courses of fondue. Cheese fondue, Broth fondue, and Chocolate fondue. Big Monkey still wasn’t home yet but we were hungry so we started without him. The cheese fondue was great. We dipped two kinds of bread, apples, and broccoli in it. During the cheese course, the fire truck actually dropped Big Monkey off at the house. This was quite helpful because we would have had to go pick him up! He finished off some of the cheese fondue and then we cleaned up. During the break between cheese and broth fondue, we had some Dance Dance Revolution competition. It was quite entertaining to watch the others dance. Aunt K and Uncle K were actually both pretty good at it (on the beginner level).
After playing that for a bit, we sat down to have some broth fondue. We cooked chicken, beef, mushrooms and broccoli in the broth. This one was a little more time consuming because it takes a while to cook the meat. Thankfully the pot we used for this course was electric, which helped to move the process along a bit faster than if it was just on sterno. Everyone ate too much but enjoyed it. We took another break, cleaning up all the dishes and getting the dessert items cut up and ready. In the meantime, Big Monkey took Aunt K, Uncle K and Grandma out to test drive the new toy (This is a post in itself; hopefully I can get it written later today.). They all liked it and Grandma is thinking about maybe getting one if she sells her car. After that fun, everyone decided they were ready to have the chocolate fondue. It was SO yummy. We dipped pineapple, strawberries, pound cake, bananas and Rice Krispy Treats in the chocolate.
We had a group effort to get things cleaned up and in the dishwasher or put away. Once the cleaning was done, we got to go outside to join Big Monkey, Uncle K and Little Monkey. They had been playing in the drive way. We had moved two cars across the street into our neighbor’s driveway (They are NEVER there and their brother told us we could use the driveway if we wanted or needed.). Uncle K, Aunt S and Aunt K decided they needed to head home so they left. Just as they were leaving our street to exit the neighborhood, a car pulled into the driveway where they were parked. Our long lost neighbors had returned.
I told Big Monkey to go say hi to them and then move the car. We had never actually talked to them before. Big Monkey said no because its not a big deal that Grandma’s car was there. Eventually I got him to go over there and say hi. We had been watching them and they were not able to get in the house for some reason. They were trying to get in via the garage door keypad. They told Big Monkey that the code was not working. We decided to replace the battery just to see if maybe it wasn’t working because of that. This did not solve the problem. Big Monkey moved the car and got a flashlight to help them look around. Apparently they did not have a house key with them. They found a couple windows they thought they might be able to get open without breaking it too badly but did not have the needed tools. Big Monkey called the guys on duty and one of the deputies to come over. They did but also decided that even with their tools, they would do more damage than good. A locksmith was probably a better option. We called Pop A Lock and they said it would be within the hour. We offered for the neighbors to come in but they said they should watch for the locksmith. We also offered them some camping chairs but they said they had been sitting for the 14 hour flight back from Germany. We cleaned up our stuff to go inside for the night and Grandma left to go home. The neighbors came over with two beers. Big Monkey thought he was offering them to us for our help but actually he just needed a bottle opener so they could have a drink while they waited! It was pretty funny. The locksmith showed up about 30 minutes later and they were in the house. We haven’t talked to them yet today but they said they were planning to be here for about three weeks. We plan to talk with them a little more this time around.
Posted by sunshinekmp 
