Lacey's birthday party....

Yesterday, we attended Jasmine's classmate Lacey's birthday party at the Jambo Park Indoor Amusement Park. It was a wild time! Jasmine on the merry go round. With her friends, Lacey and Briannah. Riding with Emma, Jasmine, Briannah, Tira.

Earth Day....

Today is Earth Day.... well, every day is Earth Day:) Jasmine's class studied recycling and talked about littering. She made a sign that says "The Earth is in your hands":) Then they all made "litter bugs" from trash.

Long day...

Yeah, we're finished! I definitely could not do this type of thing every day. Just the highlights: The fire that my partner and I had to extinguish was a barbeque that was burning out of control. There is a regimented way you are supposed to approach the fire (for the training anyway)... so, Laura (my TSA agent partner) and I approached the fire in the proper way, and started using the fire extinguisher. The firefighters pulled a fast one on me, and only gave me a canister that was about 1/3 full, so I extinguished the fire part way, and had to call my "back up":) They went in, did their job, then the fire miraculously came back on again, so I had to go in *again* and put it out:) It was a good experience, but I don't think anyone is going to have a "back up" if their at -home backyard barbeque gets out of control.:)) We did lots of other drills. Our scenario was that a heavy monsoon hit Phoenix, and there were flash floods, heat waves, plus the utilities were off to the whole city. Trees were down everywhere, houses were destroyed, people were dead or dying or just needed help. We had to search the houses for dead bodies, mark the "people" (mannequins) with "I" (needs immediate care), "D" (delayed care) or "D" for dead. Then we had to search houses for survivors, etc. There is a correct way to search a house that is perfectly dark.... (because it is night time and the electricity and gas has already been checked by us before we enter). We have to mark the door that we have entered into in a certain way, then only go to the right or left for the entire way around that particular floor until we come back to the door we had marked. We found babies with missing appendages:( and people we had to carry out in a certain proper way. We did lots of other drills today too like getting someone out from under a wall or car by "cribbing", and prior to doing all of this setting up a "chain of command" kind of like in the Army, which we spent four hours on yesterday! They (the Federal Government of course) developed this chain of command *after* 9/11 so that any rescue groups/fire/police etc. all use the same chain of command in a natural disaster or even if they are monitoring the Super Bowl, for example. It was 98 degrees today and I got fried. Jasmine just said "Mommy, why is your face so red".:) I am so glad I don't have to do this regularly... plus I forgot my Alleve!! I would have to take two more *levels* to be "deployable", but I don't know how I would ever be deployable with Jasmine.... So ready to go to bed right now:)

CERT Training....

Today was the first day of my long awaited CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training at Firehouse 19 Sky Harbor Airport. I had to wait until they gave the class during the daytime while Jasmine is at school... rather than evening or weekend. I didn't realize that there are four fire stations just at the airport!- one for each terminal, but they serve the city of Phoenix also. It took me forever to get there because even though the Fire Station is the station for Terminal 3, so many of the exits and entrances to the airport were closed due to construction. After living here for 28 years, I know the airport area really well. However, I have no idea how I got there or how I will get back tomorrow, because I found the place just by chance. Station 19 is a "green" firehouse with Energy Saver stainless steel appliances:) plus they keep most of the lights off everywhere for energy conservation. I got to eat lunch in the immaculate spotless kitchen!:) Huge place with conference rooms, training areas, etc. I didn't see the whole place. Anyway, all I can say is holy- schmoly! My brain is on overload. Massive amount of information in one day... and it's only the *first* day. On the last day, we have some type of "practical" test where we each have to put out a small fire.. .. something like a kitchen fire. Plus we have to split up into groups of 5 and do some type of exercise as if there has been a big nuclear accident or terrorist attack. We have to triage the "victims" into "immediate", "delayed" or "dead", administer "first aid", keep "medical records" for each person.... and take the "dead" ones to the nearest ice rink! I kind of knew, but didn't really realize how overwhelmed the firefighters and police can get just from one big fire, so if there would be some very large emergency/terrorist attack, etc, they really need help from volunteers to get there first, start the process if possible (within reason), then report to them what has been done. There are only 500 firetrucks for the entire city of Phoenix... which really is not very many at all. He said that many of them are "specialty" trucks... just for chemical fires or whatever specialty. The instructor is Mike Cook who is a firefighter, but his particular "specialty" is "technological rescue"... which means that if a house has collapsed or is about to collapse from a fire, earthquake, etc... he is the one who goes in or figures out what to do to keep it standing long enough to get the people out. I didn't realize that there are so many "specialists" in firefighting... some just for forest fires, others just for metal related fires, some just for chemicals. Kind of like Western medicine- many specialists. Oh yes, we also learned a technique that I had never heard of before called "cribbing" where we have to (for the test), slowly build up a slab of concrete or wall in a level manner to extricate a person (dummy) under it. It is basically just about how to get a person out from under a car, wall, or heavy object without harming someone else or doing more harm to that person. We talked about so many other things.... and I cannot even remember it all. 72 hour kits, how to properly mark the house/building that your team has searched for living or dead people, the proper way to use a fire extinguisher, etc. The number one cause of house fires everywhere in the country is people not using a licensed contractor for electrical work and trying to do it themselves! I didn't know that! One of the most important things I learned is that for your "72 Hour Kit", the best candy to put in there is PayDay bars because they have no expiration date and last forever!:)) In the class we have 2 dog trainers for "Search and Rescue Dogs", one 15 year old boy who was made to take the class by his grandmother who works at the airport, me... and about 20 other TSA agents, security guards, and just people who work at the airport who apparently are required to take the class. They also give the class to high school, junior high schools, churches, elderly people, and any group who wants it. It really should be advertised on TV and everywhere else as "highly suggested" for most of the population. If everyone took the class or something like it, there wouldn't be such panic and mayhem with any kind of man-made or natural emergency. Then... they have around 10 more classes you can take that are more "specialized". All of the classes are free, but you have to purchase your own equipment. Tomorrow will be another long day:)

Scoutarama...

About a month ago, Jazzy and I were in the grocery store when all of the sudden we heard...."Hey look, there's that little girl who dances with our sisters". "Let's go get her".... It happened in slow motion and I tried to run, but wasn't fast enough. Suddenly we were surrounded by Cub Scouts and a couple of dads. "Could you please buy some Scoutarama tickets". I didn't know what a Scoutarama was, but felt somewhat obligated. I saw the date they were holding it, ... April 14th, and thought - why in the world would they want to have it in April? It will be 100 degrees by then!

I almost threw out the tickets when we got home. So, obviously we went today. It was a nice cool day- extremely unusual. Every Cub Scout Den from the entire state of Arizona was there. They had it at Kiwanis Park in Tempe,

and it took up the entire park.... which is an entire city block. There were all kinds of science projects, obstacle courses, "calf" roping, arts and crafts, singing performances by the Cub Scouts.. (ouch my ears!), home made rockets going off, little derby car races, chess tournaments, and little mini seminars given by the little Scouts on how to start a fire, make an oven out of a cardboard box, and other interesting things. Cabella's, REI and other companies were there to show the latest and greatest new camping/hiking equipment. There were probably around 1000 people there! Just something that I really wasn't looking forward to, and felt I had to go because our friends were there from our dance troop, and then it turned out to be really fun! Jazzy watching a chess tournament. Making all kinds of crafts. One booth we visited had to do with dairy cattle and beef production... i.e. all of the different cuts of beef that I have long forgotten. Love how Jazzy made the udder pink and put a pink heart brand on the cow:)) Eating the free ice cream.

My love notes...

Almost every day I get a little love note on my desk. Here is today's:))

Dear Mommy, I love you. You are special. Love, Jasmine

Dinner and a movie:)

Today we saw the movie "The Lorax". I usually don't like Dr. Seuss, but it was really cute. Lorax is the "Speaker for the Trees", and the movie is about environmentalism. Then we went to Pita Jungle for salmon and salad, then topped it off with ice cream. Nice Easter:) !