Quite a Day + Frozen on Ice

Hello! Remember me? That blogger who has left you hanging since last week? Well that was unintentional, believe me! I’ve wanted to sit down and get a full day’s worth of writing and photos to upload on here and just haven’t had the chance to do so – until today.

My Dad has been staying with us since last Friday, and it’s Halloween week, which means there is a flurry of school stuff going on, and it’s also that week where we transition from fall (soccer) sports to winter (basketball and now wrestling) which means they all overlap this week.

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You know how those kinds of weeks go. J

In fact, it all really began last Friday, before my Dad arrived. It was the evening we drove up to Portland to watch Frozen on Ice, and happened to also be the day that our schools were placed on lock down.

At about 2pm our tiny bank in our very small town was robbed at gunpoint and the robber took off on foot. The police immediately contacted the schools and ordered them into lock down…just in case. This was 45 minutes or so before they were scheduled to release students for the day.

Of course parents were a little worried, although I was confident that the kids were safe because there was a really good chance that the robber wanted to do was run far away from our town.

They still have not caught him.

I was able to walk and pick up Emma and Noah from the grade school – only parents who had children as walkers could get them. Parents waited outside the front of the building where an officer was stationed, and confirmed with staff which child they needed and staff brought them out one at a time to release with the parent. The officer said that this was okay to do so long as children weren’t walking around unsupervised.

The Jr. and Sr. high schools were a different story though. No one was leaving the building until the officers okayed it. Finally around 3:30 they lifted the lock down after assuming the robber was long gone.

The kids were a little scared to say the least. Emma was already in her classroom at the time, but Noah was in P.E., so he said they all had to run into the nearby bathrooms and wait there.  Anika was walking in the hallway so she had to dash into the nearest classroom she could find….and at the time they didn’t know why they were in lock down.

With so many horrifying events occurring at schools, I’m just they were terrified for those few moments when no one knew what was going on. I’m glad everything was okay and that we had Frozen on Ice that evening to distract them from the day.

We’ve attended one other Disney on Ice show, so we knew more or less what to expect (accept this time it would all be ‘Frozen’ of course) and it did not disappoint! The entire movie was adapted for the ice arena, with everyone’s favorite characters there. All of the infamous songs were performed and the audience was wowed with the mobile set changes, lights, and a few pyrotechnic splendors thrown in as well.

If you have any Frozen fans at home it’s well worth the visit. As usual at these events there are tons of snacks for purchase as well as souvenirs. We sit down and talk to the kids ahead of time as to what we will be purchasing…or not. Souvenirs are fun, but photos and memories are even better and the experience is what we will spend our money on.

All in all it was a great way to end a very crazy day.

~Melissa