Fireworks and Fire

I have a lot of blogging catching up to do. 
Let's start with the fourth!

Mom came up to see my new apartment and spend a few days in Empo-town--one of those days being the fourth of July. We didn't have a big feast with homemade apple pie, we didn't grill hamburgers and hot dogs, and we didn't eat any watermelon or potato salad, but we did watch a couple World Cup games! In between the games, we went on walks. 

Our first walk led us to McDonalds for a cheap vanilla ice-cream cone. (I couldn't remember the last time I had a dipped cone and I was super excited!)

You remember seeing these earrings from last year's fourth of July post? I still have them and wear them proudly every Independence Day. 

Our second walk led us to a Kwik shop because I was craving cherry coke. Unfortunately, the cherry flavor button was broken. Mom was craving a hot dog, but we only brought $2 along with us, so we left with no hot dog and a plain coke. 

Our third walk led us to the ESU stadium for the traditional Emporia fireworks show. They were...typical fireworks. 

We went to bed around 11 and at 11:30 I woke up and saw mom staring out of my bedroom window. About 10-15 yards from my apartment is a home for the elderly and it was on fire. All of the elderly were being evacuated out.

Soon, most of my apartment complex was also evacuated. Mom and I both grabbed a couple of things, jumped in our cars, (Brittany joined us!) and drove a little further down the street to park our cars. Then we walked back to keep watching.

I honestly didn't think I'd have an apartment left by dawn. I thought for sure we weren't going to get back into our apartments due to all of the smoke. We started brainstorming places we could stay: friends' homes, a hotel, our cars... I did ask a cop if I could go back in to grab a couple more things and he let me, but stood watching from the door. 

 I have never seen so many cop cars in one place. 

Mom went to try to sleep a bit in the car and Brit and I kept watching. At about 2:30 a cop and landlord checked all the apartments and then let us back in, with the warning that if the fire got any worse, they'd be back and we would have a minute to get out before they would knock down our doors. So...Brit and I slept (not well) in our clothes with a bag packed, ready to go.

They had wire shooting from a really high ladder. When I went back into my apartment I could watch the firemen from my window climb into the attic that was still smoldering and smoking. (We found out later that the fire was caused by poorly disposed of fireworks. Thankfully, everyone made it out safe.)

No second evacuation came. There is new meaning to the question, "If your house is on fire and you could grab one thing, what would it be?" How would you answer that question?