Memo's from the Monkey House

ok, so I haven't blogged in like 3 years.... but here we go- This weekend we took at trip to Leavenworth with some good friends. We left, to head home, a few hours before they did. On the way home our friends got into a car accident. Thankfully no one was injured, but their car spun out, into a guard rail and it couldn't drive. They spent several hours on the side of interstate 2... in that time only 1 car stopped to see if they needed help (luckily they had cell reception, food and water and were merely waiting for the towtruck to arrive) this got me thinking about being prepared... you never know when you will be stuck (either out in your car or at home), and you can not rely on others to provide for you, you need to be ready and able to provide the basics for your family. so...I finally did what has been on my list for a couple of years-- updated and expanded our families 72 hour kits. Including now, a comprehensive one in our van. it feels good to know we are at least somewhat prepared!!

i wanted to show you how I put together 73 hour "Go Bags" for our family. There is probably a better, cheaper, faster, more thorough way to do it, but this is what i came up with. some of this we already had, but it was very limited so we really filled it out.
Each family member has their own backpack, and then we have a l large rolling backpack with more general use type items, this pack will be kept in our Van to double as a car emergency pack. I figure that if we are home and have to evacuate on foot, our van is there to grab it and go, and its just too expensive to have double of everything to have in an extra car bag.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of the 72 hour 'Go Bag" here is a little background From LDS.about.com--
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been counseled to have a food storage and be prepared for an emergency which includes having a 72 hour kit. This kit should be put together in a practical manner so that you can carry it with you if you ever need to evacuate your home. It is also important to prepare one for each member of your family who is able to carry one.
I found most of the backpacks at the thrift store for less than $4. the roller bag, we bought years and years ago from an emergency preparedness group in Utah. So, here is the break down of our "Go Bags"

Here is our main/car bag- included in this is

First Aid kit-

Band-aids (assorted sizes and kinds)
Wound cleansing spray
Antibacterial handwipes
tweezers
non-latex gloves
Anti-viral grade medical respirators
gauze
basic medications
a bunch of other random first aid kit stuff
Ace bandage

Food-

Beef Jerky
Aseptic milk
Apple sauce packets
peanut free granola bars
Dried fruit
Annies bunny crackers
natural suckers
lots of water bottles

Emergency tools-

road beacons
matches
pocket knife
ponchos
space blanket
water purification tablets
hand crank radio
flashlights
bankets
Little potty (with plastic bags)

I'm sure I am forgetting stuff, but you get the idea

Here is an example of a personal "Go Bag" this one belongs to my 3 year old

Inside here we have

Clothes-

Underwear
Sweatpants (soft so as to double for jammies)
long sleeve shirt
socks (i made use of my collection of mismatched socks)

Food-

Pacific Foods Pasta O's
Trader Joe's microwavable Mac n Cheese
Beef Jerky
Apple Sauce
Instant oatmeal packets
Aseptic Milk
Aseptic chocolate coconut milk
Individual sized Almond butter
Peanut-free granola bars
fig bars
Trader Joes suckers
Inka Corn
raisins
Kirkland brand dried fruit
Annies Bunny crackers

Mini first aid/personal care kit

Band aids
Antibacterial wipes
wound cleansing wipes
Anti-viral grade medical respirators
Non-latex gloves
Sunblock
Hand Sanitizer
Epi-Pen (in my allergic sons only)
Baby wipes

And how so i have this all organized so that it is ready to grab and go?

We have them hanging on 2 peg boards in our garage, ready to go. My husband is keeping his in his car, since he spends a lot of time at work or commuting, that bag will also double as a car bag.

oh, and lastly- i made a excel spreadsheet to track the expiration dates of all these products so we can switch them out as needed (eating the stuff before it goes bad, so nothing is wasted!)

so, there you have it. I don't know if its enough food to really last 3 days, but its what we could afford right now. I will add to it as i find things on sale, This was our family home evening today. we made a little assembly line, and put these all together! I pray we never need to use them, but am glad they are there just in case!

Emelia had an Inguinal hernia, that needed to be surgically repaired. We took her to Seattle Childrens Hospital, the staff there was amazing. Emelia was very brave, up until it came time for me to leave her in the OR, at which time Emelia freaked out! she pulled off my hair net, grabbed a chunk of my hair and pulled it while hitting me with the other hand. It was super hard to see her so scared.
She had a bit of a hard time waking up, we needed to stay a little longer while she came out of the anesthesia. The morning after her surgery i woke up to her balancing on top of a stool, on top of a chair, trying to get her balloon off the ceiling! Back to my spunky Emelia in no time!!
Now the hard part is keeping her calm so she doesn't hurt her self.