Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I think you should write a murder mystery party for a running group. Find the murder in 20 miles - or you're dead! But, you might be anyway :)

Yep. 20 miles would kill me.

Sounds like you're hitting it hard this week. Maybe you should pick up some wife beaters... just for the confidence

Maybe the vagrant rotates between shopping carts and bikes, whatever is available in nearby parking lots

Scary stuff.. We've had those moments of panic as well with the kids wandering off. Hope y'all are recovered from that!

A little more eventful? That must have been terrifying!

It was kind of surreal. I'm just sitting in my room and my wife busts in asking where the baby is and saying the police have her. She went all the way around the block knocking on people's doors. A couple that just moved in yesterday finally answered the door. We're going to bring them some cinnamon rolls today.

Same thing happened to my now 4 year old. He went looking for his sister (who he thought was riding her bike...so in the front yard) to open his popsicle since I was weeding and had dirty hands. Dad was upstairs working on the computer and we both thought the other had their eye on him. Who knows how long he was gone, he was barely 2 at the time...if that. The neighbors who found the kid in a jacket, no shoes and just a diaper wandering around went door to door asking if anyone knew him and no one did. By chance their neighbor came home and thought to check with us - thought she remembered we had a boy that age, and coloring was similar to our daughter that she knew. When she came to ask, I said "no, we're not missing a kid - he's upstairs with his dad." Well, she started describing the missing kid and my heart skipped a beat. I knew he had his jacket on, but no pants (dad is lazy and doesn't put pants back on after changing diapers) and a popsicle in his hand. I yell to my husband "is Nathan up there with you?" "no" - I take off in a dead sprint toward her house down the street. The cops and there and they are filling out a report and calling for a car seat so they can take him in since no one is claiming the poor child. It was a mess. Felt like the worst parent ever for not even knowing my kid was missing. I am SO grateful that my neighbor thought to check with us, because otherwise he probably would've ended up in DCFS custody for at least a day and we'd been investigated and the whole lot. It was yucky enough as it was. The kicker? As we were all walking home with him, the cop drives off and sees a stray dog roaming around the corner - yup, kids let the dog out, it was ours. Not my proudest day. not at all.

Anyway, long story longer - I understand your 'surrealness' you felt. At least your neighbor knew Emily and how to get her home! Good idea on the cinnamon rolls.

Ok, I didn't want to tell the whole long story, but since you did, I will. And by the way, that's exactly how it played out with us.

I was on Facebook and I wanted to watch this video my friend posted of Anderson Cooper interviewing The Dallas preacher that called Mormonism a cult. But then Emily came in and wanted to watch Peppa Pig. So since I always let her have whatever she wants I hopped over to YouTube so she could watch her 5 min. episodes. After a while I got up. My 14 year old's love interest was knocking at the door. I asked what he was doing and then walked away without answering it. Alas, someone let him in the house, but since it was so nice out, they left the door open. My wife assumed that I put Emily down for the night, but she still wanted to watch Peppa Pig, and since I always let her have whatever she wants, she was still watching Peppa Pig. But after about 40 minutes of Peppa Pig I finally asked her if it was all right if I watched the Anderson Cooper video. She wasn't interested in watching it with me. So she wandered out the bedroom door. And out the front door. And around the the block, knocking on people's doors, ringing doorbells. She actually tried open the door of the couple that found her which freaked the lady out. She made her husband answer it. I'm not sure what all happened after that, but I assume they went around the neighborhood asking who lost their kid. She wrapped Emily up in a blanket and she promptly fell asleep. Finally they knocked on a door of someone in our ward. Even though we hardly bring Emily to church because she always gets pneumonia every time we do, she thought she might be ours. She called the relief society president who gave her our number. By this time the police were there. So when AJ answered the phone, he was a little confused on why someone was calling at 10:30pm, asking for Emily, and saying something about the police. That's when my wife came running in the room asking me where Emily was and saying the police have her. So we went around the block and thanked the couple for finding her, and we had to give the cops our information in case she does it again. I know what you mean about not being our proudest day as parents. :)

Kids! That late at night had to have been scary. We started calling Nathan Houdini after that. He was always finding ways to escape and get lost. Glad the ward members knew she belonged to you!

We lost Alex at the TOU half last year (he was three) and at the Ogden Marathon this year (he was 4). Perhaps we need to get a leash for him.

So, he's a flight risk too? LOL!

We've lost AJ multiple times. One time I was on the top floor of a 31 story hospital. We were visiting a friend and we were saying goodbye. (Not goodbye forever. More of a see you later.) Then AJ wandered off. I was trying to keep an eye on him, but I didn't want to be rude and walk away from our friends. Finally I saw him go over to the elevators. I sprinted over there, but it was too late. There were 5 other elevators so as I was waiting for the next available one I was wondering how the heck I was going to find him. There were 30 other floors for him to get off of. I decided just to go one by one. Thankfully he got off on floor 30. Whew!

He was 2 when that happened. And then there was the time he decided to take the bus home in kindergarten. He never takes the bus home! He gets picked up every day! He just hopped on a bus with his friend. Really bus driver? Just let some kid on the bus that you've never seen before? He stayed on the bus 'til the last stop. Really bus driver? Just let some kid off at the last stop that you've never seen before. Luckily it wasn't too far from our house and some guy gave him a ride on his handlebars until he recognized our neighborhood.

Scary! I am glad, as echoed above, that I am not the only parent who has lost my child and not even known it. My neighbor came over with my daughter one day...said she was playing by the POND. Yikes. I thought all the kids were downstairs...never saw her wonder by.

That's the scariest, the possibility of them walking towards open water. Or out in the street.

One time when AJ was two he was sleeping in his room. So I took a nap on the couch. He woke up, took off all his clothes, opened the front door to our apartment, and wandered off. Our neighbor brought him back. The crazy thing is, he still walks around the neighborhood naked. JK.

That's scary stuff. I'm glad they found her and she is safe.

One time, when my son was two, we lived in an apratment and while we were sleeping, he got up and walked out without us knowing. Somehow he figured out how to unlock the door. Luckily, some old man was out for a walk and found him wandering around the parking lot with only a diaper on. Fortunately, we noticed he was gone just after the old man found him, so he didn't need to go knocking or calling the police. Scary. We've never lost a kid since. I think we are a little too protective now. LOL.

Yikes Dale. Makes you wonder how long he was out there.