Thursday was Kyle's 12th birthday. I actually spent the morning pacing the hotel room floor because I found out parts of the Houston area were being evacuated. I figured it would take forever to get home from the airport, and I knew how much Kyle wanted us to be there to celebrate w/ him. Fortunately, the roads were practically empty. We got home in record time. Naomi, who had the kids for the week, even made a cake for him. What a BFF!! We sang Happy Birthday at Naomi's, came home to open presents, then prepared for Ike--in the dark. Poor Kyle, apparently September 11th is a terrible day for a b-day. That's why we celebrate half birthdays also in our family (half a cake, half a card, no presents).
We flipped the trampline and basketball hoop. And we brought in the grill, potted plants, and the bench that were on our back patio.
The next day, Friday, we did some last-minute prep for Hurricane Ike. I got my essentials ready to get through the next few days.
Emergency essentials: radio, batteries, water, flashlights, cell phone, tylenol, diet coke, medication & walkie talkie
The storm came roaring through around 4 a.m. The kids slept on my bedroom floor and didn't even wake up once--even when I stepped on Emily she didn't budge :) I was mostly worried about tornados, but I felt better because Naomi had an emergency radio. She was going to walkie talkie me if there were any alerts. We lost power for about 8 hours, water until the end of the evening Saturday, and lane-line phone service til Sunday evening.
We're so thankful it wasn't any worse for us here. The kids don't have school all week because of a few minor details: no power in a few schools, no access to school lunch, blah blah blah!! They'll be making up days til July at this rate.
Oh yeah, I wish I had a picture of the grocery store shelves: empty. Not all were empty, but there are pretty 'slim pickins'. Kyle wanted me to make stuffed french toast, but I had to improvise with the ingredients. The price of gas shot up 40 cents to 3.69/gallon. And the lines are loooong. I'm trying to stay home as much as possible to save on gas, just in case it's not 100% available again.
This is a week that I'll never forget!!
6 comments:
yes, we will plan lunch for next week. Glad you have power. Good luck finding stuff to do to keep everybody occupied this week!
You know, you could always come up to Mansfield since there's no school! Adam's been asking to see Kyle, and Avery's dying to see Emily! I'm glad you guys had fun in Denver and you made it home for Kyle's birthday! Adam tried to call him, but obviously got the answering machine! Thank goodness for Naomi making a cake. That might've been hard to find too, since the grocery stores are running low on supplies!
Crazy times! I sure am glad it was as uneventful as it was! Happy Birthday to your Kyle!! I cannot believe how fast these kids grow! And it was SO great to see you and visit!
Kyle has the worst disasters on his birthday! I wondered if you guys still did half birthdays. I still remember coming home from Milwaukee (Brewers game with work people) very early the morning of the 11th. Now he can add Ike to the list- good thing it wasn't worse than it ended up. Tell Kyle Happy Birthday anyway!
Oh yeah- who is complaining about $3.69 for gas? We are still paying over that here! Perception, my friend, perception!
Can't forget the diet coke...it's a definite need during time of great crises...hee! hee! Glad all is well.
Post a Comment