It is nice going with Angeline because knows her way around Waco. She took us to the location of the first Magnolia and it is now the scratch and dent store.
While the girls were gone the dad's were in charge and they had quite the afternoon. They were doing lawn mower races and a four wheeling obstacle course. They talked us into doing it when we got back. It felt very redneck but it was pretty fun.
I have been dreading retelling this next part but it needs to be told for the memory books and to remember the good outcome. When it came time to leave for dinner it was a little chaotic. Trying to get kids to get shoes on and get in the car was tricky. All I remember is that when I came out of their trailer (where we were staying) it looked like all of the kids had gotten into cars. We had become the main transport for all of the younger boys. Sienna liked going with the older kids in Charlie's car and Ali's car usually had Lynnlee and Lydia. I snapped this picture to show the others who we had in our car. None of the other adults saw the text though.
Because I got in the car after everyone else I asked Marshall who was with who and it seemed everyone was in a car. We had a 45 minute drive to Rudy's. Marshall wanted to stop and take a picture with everyone at the Liberty Hill sign but I told him it was getting later and everyone was hungry so we needed to just get to the restaurant. We should have stopped and then we would have noticed that Sienna had not made it in any car. We kept driving and I related a story to Marshall about Sienna almost getting lost at the Riverwalk the day before. We had all gotten so spread apart into smaller groups walking along the river that at one point we all took a turn and she kept going. Thankfully Lynnlee noticed and I was able to find her before she got lost.
We got to the restaurant and noticed the playground but it was roped off and closed. This was a blessing because we would have assumed Sienna was on the playground the whole time we were there. She is a picky eater so I knew she would not want to eat anything there. All of the kids were spread out when we got there. Some washing their hands, some sitting at the table, and some getting their soda. The adults ordered and took some time to taste test and figure out what we all wanted.
It is set up so you order and then they bring it out to you when it is ready. Also you seat yourself. There weren't very many other customers there. Once we ordered I had a water for each of my kids. I go to the tables where everyone is sitting and I start passing out the waters. I get to Sienna's and I didn't see her. I asked those sitting at the tables if they knew where she was. They all went wide eyed. Then I ran to where Marshall where he was at the order counter and told him that we had left Sienna at Charlie's. My heart sunk and I felt awful. We had driven 45 minutes to get to Rudy's!!! My mind went crazy and was not thinking straight. Immediately Angeline offered to drive me back. We hopped in the car and I began praying for her. Then Angeline called her neighbor. Thankfully she has great next yard neighbors! Angeline explained to her neighbor Kim that Sienna was left there. We knew their house was locked so she couldn't be in there. The trailer door was unlocked, thankfully we hadn't locked it all week, so we hoped she was in there. Also thankfully we had left the A/C on in the trailer all week. Kim went in the trailer and found Sienna hiding under the covers in my bed. (Thankfully she went to a safe place). Sienna was really scared but went with Kim to her house. So thankfully within a few minutes of driving we knew she was safe. Marshall said we should turn around and pick them up but I just wanted to get to her. So everyone else had to cram in the two vehicles. That is where I should have been thinking more clearly but I was just so emotional and worried.
We ran to the door when we got to Kim's. Kim opened the door and Sienna ran into my arms. She and I were both crying but Sienna looked surprised to see me crying. I told her how sorry I was. She said when we were all getting into the cars she got distracted and started playing in the sandbox. We aren't sure how long she played before she noticed the cars were all gone. Sienna bounced back the second everyone got home and we had dinner and then the kids got in the pool. My mind was questioning my parenting, how it happened, how it could have been prevented. I gathered stories from others to piece together the timeline of everything. It took a few days for my mind to settle. Sienna didn't mention it for about a week and she definitely didn't hold anything against me. I think since she went and played in the sandbox she thought it was her fault and maybe she expected to be in trouble when we met back up with her.
This was Ali's family's last night. The kids swam until 11:00. You can kind of see the lights in the top of the picture.
I got left at church when I was younger. I walked around and around the building thinking they would come out of a room. Finally a bishop came out of his office and realized I was lost and called my family on the phone. I guess it happens and thankfully in both cases it was just temporary.
