Irene

Hurrican Irene made landfall at Cape Lookout, NC on Saturday, August 27th 2011 as a Category 1.
We live about 1 hour east of there and decided to ride it out.

Here's how it went down:
Friday.
Our work shut down at noon to send everyone home to prepare. We strapped down the grill, brought patio furniture and toys in the garage, filled the tub with water (after being bleached of course), bought 4 packs of ice. It started to rain around noon and we lost power at 11:30pm. Wigwam slept in our room because we were nervous about a leaning tree in our front yard.

Saturday.
Between Noah and I we stayed up most of the night listening to the running radio for updates on tornados that were nearby. At times the wind was so strong and the rain never let up. All you can do is pray for safety.

Wigwam got up at 4am and was wide awake. The rest of the day was full of rain, listening to the radio and trying to keep a 2 year old busy while inside. And trying to explain to her that we could not watch Mickey Mouse, open the refrigerator or make smoothies. The day lasted FOREVER. The eye passed around 10am, a calm relief for an hour, then the wind and rain were worse as the final bans moved through. By 8pm or so the rain had let up mostly and the major part of the storm had moved through. We opened windows for a breeze, which was fairly cool.

Sunday.
We awake to no rain, yea! We decided to start the morning off with breakfast on the grill: whole pound of bacon, biscuits and chocolate chip cookies (why not?). It was wonderful.

Next, to begin the cleanup and minature melt down from all parties. We started with the refrigerator and freezer, most of which was lost. What a mess (think liquid ice cream spilling down 4 shelves). Then to head outside and begin on the yard. Noah started on the roof and then moved to the chain saw. We had about a 6" layer of debris over the entire yard. We raked and raked and when I quit, Noah raked some more. It was 92 degrees. We melted. And raked some more. We have the blisters to prove it.

We were overwhelmed. I do not claim to be Survivor-Woman, nor do I want to be.

We were probably 50% done with the yard debris we decided to quit. I pulled out Wigwam's pool and gave her a bath in it while she played with the bubbles.
We chatted with neighbors and even had some friends over to grill out....well, what else do you do when you have 20 hamburger patties, 7 chicken breast, 15 hotdogs and a steak thawed out?

We were blessed with a warm shower that evening, I guess the hot water tank was full when the power had gone out. Unfortunatley, we started sweating again about 30 min afterwards in our 86 degree house.

I put a sweaty Wigwam to bed in her diaper.
I laid on the guest bed in front of the window and drifted off to sleep until.....
that wonderful sounds was heard. you know the one "dum duuum" and the power was ON at 11pm! Noah came to get me and we shut all the windows and stood on top of the vents ---ahhhh, so cold!
Then the little voice in my head said "please don't go away, please don't tease us".
I started the diswasher and turned on the fan above our bed.

Good night (and don't you dare turn on that alarm clock, I don't care what my work says).

In hindsight I will leave next time this ever threatens to happen, or at least own a generator. I really do feel blessed that we fared to well. I passed many houses trees on their roofs on my way into work this morning. I crossed over power lines in the road and reminded myself that others still do not have power. I took Wigwam to school and was reminded of how blessed we are to afford insurance. I will have aching muscles for a week while we cleanup, but I have a home to shower and sleep in at the end of the day.

Bluegrass Cousins

Trip to the Bluegrass State Conquered!

Twice a year we get all the kiddos together and boy is it wild! Eight kids 4 & under is a seriously busy non-stop party. Once again this was a "we did it" trip, Wigwam and I flew with a layover, delayed flight and canceled flight.

Grandpops playing in the pool

 

The oldest playing dress up with the younger ones!

My niece. Birthday Buddy, is she not adorable??! I could eat her up.

Baby Michael III, cutie pie! Entertained by his wild cousins.

It's good to be 4!

Red Rover, Red Rover. And who is the only 2 year playing this game? Wigwam. It's the running joke in our family that thinks she's 4 along with the others. But it's not a joke, she does think she's 4.

Grandpops! (and Susie)

See, this is what most 2 year olds do...play, but not too far from mom.

To sum up the fun: Wigwam slept for 13 hours when we got home and then took a 2 hour nap. Whew!

D.C. Conquered

Oh yea. We did it. 

Photos are proof.

Start: stoller visits White House 

 Next: Stroller visits Washington Monument. Wigwam is thrilled to be at the nation's capitol. or not.

And then we found fun, Smithsonian jumping:

 

And then we found carousel: bliss.

 One.Happy.Kiddo.

And then we find water to play in: wet bliss.

Then we put on our shoes to go. My heart melts. I miss him.

Toddler meets D.C.

We are headed to D.C. for the weekend to hang out with Noah and explore the city!

Excitied? yes
Nervous? yes
More nervous than excited? yes

Why? A 6 hr drive by myself with a toddler in the back and of course the 6 hr drive home; staying in a hotel; no place to nap while out and about; and the list goes on...

Hopefully, I can chill out and have some fun. Hopefully, Wigwam will be in good spirits and flexible with her routine. In efforts to plan for a success, I just ran to the Dollar Tree and got new and exciting toys & snacks to bribe Wigwam with.
Ashamed? no

Our activities may (or may not) include:
National Zoo
Museum of Natural Science
The Mall
Capitol City Brewing Company

Anyone been to these places? Suggestions for taking a 2 year old to these or other places?
Think the Pres can handle a 2 year old?

In the words of Wigwam "LET'S DO THIS!"

*follow up post to come!*

Downtown Photo Fun

the usual subject and a family photo (rare)..

sisterly love

There she is...my big sister, confidant, mother-of-the-year award winner, friend. (and Wigwam two hours past normal nap time)

What would I do without her? Seriously, she's that good.

She's the only one in this world who "knows" what it was like to grow up in our family, to win Junior Miss in a small town (ha!), to have conversations about your aging parents with, to proof my english papers in college, to ask mommy-type questions to.

I think about how important it is to have someone like that in your life for support and how I want Wigwam to have a sibling. (especially if there was another baby girl!) And then I quickly think of that first year and how hard it is, how I didn't have time for makeup or fixing my hair. But what's life really about? surely not makeup and hair gel.

So now you know....we're debating #2.

Spring Garden Part 2

And there she grows...

In fact with the extremely hot summer and drought the garden has not fared so well. All my squash and zucchini died, along with the cilanto, and the cantelope, and the basil......need I keep going?

What I do have is tomatoes and peppers! whoo hoo, hello salsa. At this point I'm not sure my produce will equal the amount of money I put into the garden, but I guess that's the risk you take.

And so I continue to water it while I get attacked my monster mosquitos and drown it in Miracle Grow (good bye organic, just gimme somethin)!