Locked up

It's 10:00. The kids were tucked in hours ago. The dogs were just put to bed. However, due to the pouring rain, Maggie (the lab) started barking in the garage. I asked Mark to let her out or put her no-bark collar on. When he went to let her out, the door to the laundry room (from the inside of our house) was locked. To put it plainly, we were locked inside our house with the security alarm 'on'. If we opened any door or window, the alarm would go off.

Let me back up a bit. A few weeks ago, Mason the escape artist had figured out all the plastic "child proof" door handles. So, we installed real locks to prevent him from opening the laundry room door - pressing the garage door button to open it - opening the door into the garage (or crawling out the dog door) - and running into the driveway/street (which he has done). Or his other favorite game is to sneak out to the garage, get into the car, and honk the horn. Once we lock the door to the laundry room, you must use a key to unlock it.

That brings me back to tonight. Since Mark was gone the past few weeks, I have my little routine. I put the dogs to bed. Lock the garage door. Turn on the alarm. Get the key to the laundry room door. Then lock the laundry room door. Apparantly, I neglected to tell Mark my routine. He put the dogs to bed. Locked the garage door. Turned on the alarm. Locked the laundry room door. Left the keys INSIDE the laundry room!

So, after trying to problem solve and pick the lock (with no success), we called the alarm company and notified them not to dispatch police for the next 30 minutes (after explaining our crazy predicament). After further discussion, we decided that neither Mark nor I would fit thru the doggy door. The best candidate for the job was Lauren. Unfortunately she was fast asleep. So, we had to wake her (and she is a sound sleeper). She was just the right size to fit thru the dog door (since that door was locked), disarm the security system, and open the laundry room door.

It was a group effort - and almost reminded me of a MacGyver episode. Mark had the keys to his car (which just happened to be parked outside), so he ran to the car to unlock it and open the garage door. I carried Lauren in the pouring rain with her poncho and a flashlight into the garage. Next, she climbed her way thru the door and completed the tasks. Now, we've put her back to bed; locked the appropriate doors; obtained the necessary keys (and put them inside the house); and alarmed the alarm again. All that in about 30 minutes!