Exciting Day

Well, we've had some excitement today. We woke up at about 7:45 this morning to some low rumbles of thunder and a very dark sky. I decided to check the radar to see what was coming our way before we drove 2 hours to my mom's house. Hmmm...severe thunderstorm warning and winds in excess of 65 mph headed straight for us.

I headed back into the bedroom, figuring I'd distract the boys with getting dressed and stuff. Not a chance. The wind picked up like crazy, the rain came pounding down...and then the power went out. The room was as dark as night, and the boys were scared. Then the sirens started going off. (My dad's house does NOT have a basement, by the way.)

Knowing that taking cover would possibly scare the boys even more, I debated it, but only for a second. There was a loud THUD on the roof, and I ushered them under the built-in desk in that bedroom and hauled pillows and sleeping bags in there with us, figuring they would at least be protected from flying glass if something should come through the window. We sat under there, listening to debris flying around outside and the loud wind and the thunder and the sirens. Once it finally quieted down, I got up to go see if it was safe to have them come out yet.

Here is what I saw looking out my dad's patio door...and yes, the sky was still that dark and it was now 8:15 a.m.

That tree lying across the walkway to the lake and leaning on the picnic table is NOT normally there. It is a huge oak tree that blew down and took part of the roof off of the building where my dad keeps his fishing and boating equipment.

I decided to wait until it got a little bit lighter to come out of our spot under the desk for good.

Finally, (it was really only about 5 more minutes), we emerged from our hideout. Then, my dad and my cousin, Andy, came home from work to survey the damage.

As you can see, there was lots of small debris laying around all over the place:

Here is a view of my dad's back yard, with tons of debris and the tree on the ground. I don't recall the chair on the deck being up there...I think it was blown up there, and it barely missed the patio door.

Here is part of the oak tree that blew down, apparently trying NOT to land in the lake!


Another shot of the tree and the damage it did to my dad's storage building.

Oh, there's where the roof landed...in front of the door of the building!

More debris:

My dad told me that he heard on the radio that it should be clear for driving now. So, we decided to head up to Minneapolis, considerably later than we had planned.

We stopped a few times as we were leaving my dad's neighborhood, to look at some of the other damage the straight-line winds caused.

Here is a camper that was flipped onto its side:

And a dock and a boat lift all mangled by the storm:

Another mangled boat lift, and a boat completely flipped over:

A pontoon that was COMPLETELY flipped over. Do you have any idea how HARD it is to flip a pontoon?

A broader view:

The road signs were casualties as well...

We learned later today that these were straight line winds that were up to 84 mph.

Hey, Becky, aren't you glad you and the kids weren't camping in a tent for THAT?!?!

ON A HAPPIER NOTE... Fred picked up Juno today! Here he is, at the home of her breeder, holding our "little" puppy!

She's only 12 weeks old...I don't think she's going to be "little" for long!

Evening Reflections

I've been experiencing technical difficulties with my blog for the last couple of days. Nothing major, just difficulty getting photos posted. So, I am posting what I can for now...here are a couple of my favorite photos from the last couple of days...

Aidan & Colin having fun on a big rock in Grandpa's yard:

The surface of the lake looks like glass in the evening. Isn't it beautiful?

More of the lake...

My dad and all the kids out on the end of the dock:

Becky searching for the turtle:

The sunset pinks starting to peek through:

Pretty, isn't it?

I'm listening to the sounds of the lake and the breeze as I write this, and it brings me an amazing feeling of peaceful calm, even as the boys have their "sword fights" with the Star Wars sound effects!

Greetings from Minnesota!

We arrived in Minnesota last Monday, just in time to celebrate my birthday. The boys enjoyed helping Grandma decorate a cake for me.

Next year's going to be a big one!

The boys really had fun visiting a playground nearby. The Twin Cities area has the greatest parks! I wish we had some like this where we live!

Wednesday, our dear friends from Nebraska arrived, and we went with them to the Science Museum in St. Paul on Thursday. There is a cool Star Wars exhibit going on there right now. Aidan and Colin really enjoyed trying out the hover craft:

And seeing Yoda and all their other favorite Star Wars characters...

Colin always loves the "table with the floating balls."

This thing was just cool...I guess it's a glass orb filled with water.

Our friend, Becky, in the wildflower maze in the Big Backyard...

Aidan panning for fossils with his aunt Jeni...

Friday we drove to my dad's house on the lake. The kids immediately wanted to go fishing. I can't believe how my dad manages to keep 4 kids with fishing poles and hooks on a narrow dock under control. Nobody lost an eye, although Aidan DID fall in!

Aidan enjoying a conversation with Grandpa Jim...

Becky enjoying the breeze...

"What kind of cool creatures can we find under these stepping stones?"

Colin got a hook caught in his thumb, and was really upset. He started laughing when Grandpa showed him all of the scars on HIS hands, though!

The pain was quickly forgotten when Colin caught a nice, big fish!

That's a sheephead, though(shhhh.... don't tell Colin that!), so when the kids wanted to let it go, we happily threw it back.


Clearly, all the kids enjoyed fishing. Here's Michael getting the hang of casting with the big rod...

Here is a lovely sunset from the dock...

Saturday, the kids caught a baby turtle...aww, isn't he cute?

The future veterinarian examining her catch...

Look how pretty his belly is!

Becky told Colin to let the turtle crawl on his arm, so of course he had to try it!

The turtle was safely released back into the lake after all the kids had time to check him out up close.

We've also been boating and swimming, and have not made it into town yet. I expect we'll get there sometime today, even if it's just to replenish our refrigerator!

A Few Final Photos From Our Vacation

I have a couple more photos to share from our trip. There really is no story to them, it's just the boys with a couple of their friends, and I just think they happen to be cute pictures.

Here are Colin and Amelia, who became fast friends and "super-spies" on this trip:

Conversation overheard by myself and Rita:

Amelia: "Hey cutie pie!"

Colin: "Don't call me cutie pie! Just call me handsome."

Amelia: "Okay, handsome!"

Colin: "Or, you can just call me Waldo."

This next photo is Grace and Aidan. I don't know what we would have done on this vacation without Grace and Emma. They spent SO much time with my boys and made SURE they were always entertained. They were so good with them, always patient, always fun.

Needless to say, I think my boys are in love.

Here is what I think our "logo" for this vacation should be:

I think I'm going to make some t-shirts on CafePress with this one!

(Grin!)

Lost Teeth and Moon Jellies

Yesterday was another rainy day here in OBX...We decided to venture down to Hatteras with Ross, Rita and Amelia to see the Graveyard of the Atlantic Shipwreck Museum. It was about an hour and 15 minute drive with beautiful scenery, even in the rain. We were surprised by how small the museum was...it was literally two rooms and a gift shop. Not quite what we were expecting, but it was such a nice drive that it didn't really matter...

We stayed in Hatteras for a while longer and had appetizers at Teach's Lair to tide us over until dinnertime. Then we headed back north to Nag's Head.

Here are Fred and Aidan walking out to check out the beach in Hatteras before we had our appetizers.
Aidan spent half the day torturing me with his loose top front tooth. He kept pushing it so it was sticking out of his mouth when his mouth was closed or wiggling it and telling me to look. I am amazed at how squeamish I am about something as normal as a loose tooth, but it's weird when it's on YOUR kid! He decided he was going to let it fall out on its own, though, and he did.


Aidan woke me up at 7:30 this morning, shouting, "Mom, look what happened during the night!" carrying his tooth in hand. I asked him if he pulled it out, and he said that, no, it was laying on his mattress when he woke up this morning.


So, here is Aidan's new smile from first thing this morning, bedhead and all!

THEN, our day at the beach began with AMELIA losing a tooth after biting into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Boy, is the tooth fairy EVER going to be BUSY tonight!


Today was the most beautiful beach day we've had yet. Hurricane Bertha was giving us her best, although from quite far off. The waves were HUGE, and too scary to let the boys boogie board. But we had fun jumping around in them and looking for shells and other interesting things on the beach.


Boy, did we find some interesting things! Here is a jellyfish we found. It had tentacles attached, so Fred carried it off somewhere and buried it. I'm not sure that's what you're SUPPOSED to do with a jellyfish, but who am I to argue? Then, we found some MORE jellyfish, this time without tentacles...it was starting to look as though a few women had lost their silicone implants!
See what I mean?

Anyway, we were starting to get worried that the kids shouldn't be in the water at all, until a woman came walking over with her kids, who had a whole net FULL of these weird jellyfish. She told us they were called Moon Jellies and could not sting you because they do not have tentacles like the other jellyfish. Aidan and Colin had lots of fun carrying their invisible pets around in a bucket of water for the afternoon!


Right after I snapped the following picture, I saw two dolphins jump out of the water, pretty close to shore! It was amazing! Apparently they enjoyed playing in the big waves Bertha was bringing in, too! I wish I could have gotten a picture of them, but they were only up for a split second and then they were gone.
Even the crabs were out in force! The big ones kept getting washed ashore, and were running all over the place. Here is a very angry one that some other boys were teasing:
We've had a really fun vacation, and we have a long drive home tomorrow, but we're looking forward to getting home.