Recovered

The bike was recovered last night. They brought it to our home about 7:00 pm. Obviously they were able to track down the girl fairly quickly.

Turns out she is 15 years old and attends the same high school as Miss S. The police officer went to the girl's home to talk to her. The bike was out front. The police officer asked the girl's mom about the bike. Mom said the girl said she had found it at a park. And I am wondering:

"Dear Girl's Mom: If you're daughter found a bike at a park, don't you think the owner of the bike is looking for it? Did you really think someone would just abondon such a nice bike?"

Personally, if my kid came home saying they had found a bike, I would do one of two things. 1) Call the police to report that we had found a lost item or 2) Put up flyers around the park to find the owner myself.

So, Mom calls for the girl to come out front. Police officer asks about the bike. Girl says she found it at a park. Officer informs her that he has video showing her stealing the bike from the library.

The police officer told Hubby, Miss S and I this info, along with some more details that I am not including here. The funny thing here is Miss S's reaction. She was a bit flabbergasted that the police officer had not thrown the girl into jail. She kept asking the officer, "What is going to happen to the girl?" She was quite affronted that the girl seems to have gotten completely off for stealing her bike. She felt a bit better when the officer said that after more questioning and a hard look from her mom that the girl started crying. Miss S figures that shows that she is getting into at least a little trouble. Hubby assured Miss S that this is only the beginning of the girl's punishment. She will still have to go to court and will possibly be fined.

Miss S does not think that is good enough. She actually said to the officer, "You really want people like that out walking around? She thought it was okay to steal my bike. She will probably steal again. And you are just going to let her?"

Can I just say, I am really enjoying having Miss S in my home. :)

Stolen

Miss S and Rose rode their bikes to the library yesterday afternoon. They have done this before and have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There is a grand sense of satisfaction that comes frombeing able to transport one's self from point A to point B. Rose inherited my old bike after I broke my tailbone for the second time. Bicycle seats and fragile tailbones do not mix well. Miss S received her bike about a week ago from her lovely CASA workers.

Upon leaving the library, they discovered that Miss S's bike had been stolen. The lock had been busted off. Rose called from the library to tell us. They had notified the library personnel who called the police. Hubby immediately jumped in his truck to go help. Due to Hubby's profession, he has a few connections that can help in a case like this. Along with filling out the police report, Hubby and the girls were able to watch the video surveillance that shows the bike abduction. And this is where it gets interesting.

The thief looks like a middle school girl. Rose actually saw her in the teen room. The girl was leaving as Rose was entering. Video shows her walking out of the library, looking quite smug, with two guys. Video shows her testing the locks on ALL the bikes in the rack. It shows how she settled on Miss S's lock and busted it off. It shows her straddle-walking the bike away. And it leaves me with three questions:

1) The bike rack is right by the front entrance of the library. Was everyone so oblivious that they couldn't tell that she was trying to steal a bike?

2) What kind of home/friend environment is this kid a part of that she smuggly steals a bike? Seriously? I would like to see that environment.

3) Did the girl honestly not notice all the cameras watching her? And did she not think that "Oh, I was just using the computers in the teen room and had to use my library card to access it and that the card has all my personal contact info"?

Anyhoo, Hubby is in the process of tracking her down. He would have already had her, but there are some protocol issues that he absolutely has to follow. But those should be completed soon and then, Dear Little Punk Girl Who Stole Miss S's Bike: WATCH OUT! We are coming for you. You are not as sneaky as you thought.

Quick Update

Wow. It has been almost three months since I have posted. The non-posting is due to a combination of business and laziness. I think that is most summers can be described as a combination of being busy and being lazy. Haha! Anyhoo, here is a quick update on things we did this summer.

• Hubby took Joe and Cakes to Father and Sons. Camping, fires, throwing things, and general male goofiness was had by all.
• I studied for and took two AEPA: Elementary Education Subject Knowledge and Professional Knowledge-Elementary Education. I passed them both. (Thank Heavens!!)
• Our family recertified to do foster care.
• Miss A participated in a dance concert. She performed a hip-hop number with schoolmates. It rocked! 
• Miss J & Miss L participated in a dance concert. Miss J performed in two group numbers and Miss L performed in one. They were fantastic! 
• Miss L graduated from high school. It was a crazy day. Miss L went from being super-happy about graduating to freaking out about what she was supposed to do know. The roller coaster of emotions continued throughout the summer. Poor girl!
• Rose participated in a band concert. She has played trombone this year. She sounds good...which is saying a lot!
• Rose attended band camp. There were four classes each day: Theory, Intermediate First instrument (trombone), Beginning Second instrument (flute), and Choir. They had a concert at the end of camp. It was wonderful.
• Miss Q has shown back up in our lives. We are quite relieved by this. She has been wandering for a while. She was able to graduate from high school. We are helping her get started in college (hopefully) and get on her feet. It will be slow work...
• Rose, Anne, and Joe won awards for their Top Readers Group at school. They rocked the competition, each receiving awards and prizes for their reading amounts. They were so happy.
• 4-H had their year end banquet. It was an interesting night. Rose and Anne ended up being elected as Junior Officers for this next 4-H year. Rose will be Junior Vice President and Anne will be Junior Secretary. This will be a good chance for them to experience responsibility in a new way and to develop leadership skills. It will also be a good chance for me to perfect my driving skills as I chaufer them here and there. ;)
• I had a birthday. I spent it driving to the San Diego Temple with a friend. It was an excellent way to spend my birthday.
• Our whole family plus the Sisters Three attended Hubby's family reunion in Strawberry. We went to Fossil Creek to swim twice, took a hike to Clover Springs, attended a Fourth of July breakfast, played tons of games, and laughed uproarously as my teenage nephew blatantly (and poorly) attempted to flirt with Miss J and Miss L. Good times, people. Good time!
• Saw Harry Potter 7, part 2. As expected, the screen writer completely changed the story in disappointing ways. But I am so happy that I saw it because now it is done!!!  I never have to watch the wretched movies again. I can stick with the glorious stories that J.K. first wove.
• Miss A turned 14. She usually celebrates with her Mom, but was stuck with us due to the circumstances. The goose had quite the list for her birthday. We took her to Chuck E. Cheese, had a chocolate Hannah Montana cake and vanilla ice cream, sang Happy Birthday about fifty million times (each time she blushed and beamed), ate her favorite breakfast of cheesy eggs and her favorite dinner or burritos, had a pinata filled with candy, and watched shows that she wanted to watch. Miss A is quite young at heart. She had a wonderful, wonderful day.
• Our family (minus the Sisters Three who were visiting their Mom) drove to San Diego with another family. It was great. Hubby and I attended a Temple Session while the Mom and Dad watched our kids at a park.Then they went to the Temple while Hubby and I took all the kids to the beach. Afterwards we split up. The other family went to Sea World. We took our kids to see the San Diego Temple then went to the Morman Battalion Historical Site. It was a lovely, lovely day.
• Physical and Legal custody of the Sisters Three was granted to their dear Mother. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am by that!! Their Mother was so happy she came right over after court, packed up all their things, rented a trailer, gave me a hug, and drove off into (literally) the sunset. The Sisters Three are all doing well and are happy to be with their Mom.
• The very next day a sibling set was brought to our home. The girl (Miss Nita) is 4 and the boy (Professor X) is 6. They are cuties!
• And the very next week a teenage girl (Miss S) came to live with us too. So we have a full house again. We are in the process of rearranging our home to best accomodate everyone.
• I completed four Master classes. That is twelve more credits out of the way. Hooray! Only a year left. :)
• Everyone went to the Dentist. It was pathetic. Our teeth are all super clean, but we still got cavities. Only Rose had no cavitities. Hubby has one near an old filling. I have TWO! One near an old filling and one in between my very back teeth...the teeth that are too close together for me to fit a piece of floss through. It is very depressing.
• School started again. Joe, Rose, Anne, and Prof. X are in elementary. Miss S is in high school. It is going to be a great school year.
• Hubby built me a compost pile. It is 8 foot long, 32 inches deep, and 36 inches tall. It is beautiful.

Currently, I am studying for another AEPA: Middle Schools Social Studies. I think I am going to fail. History is such a broad topic and there are so many interpretations of events, I'm not sure that I will have the "correct" interpretation that the test requires.

I'm also getting ready to teach preschool to Cakes, Miss Nita, and a couple of boys from the neighborhood. It should be fun.