Hurricane Ike

It has been a while...some of you know why...others, not so much.

Hurricane Ike came ashore here in Texas a week ago. This was my first ever Hurricane to go through. It is not something I will forget I think. Yes it was just a Cat 2 storm( BTW it was only 1 mph less than a cat 3) but it was still scary. The wind howling is a sound that has stayed with me since the storm hit. When I close my eyes I can hear the wind howling at me. It rained, but not as much as I was expecting. But at the height of the storm the rain was coming down in sheets. Around 11pm on Friday night we lost power. And thats when I knew it was not going to be easy.

Luckily the kids slept through the storm! Christopher woke up several times but I am sure he knew something was going on with mommy and daddy still up and all of us sleeping in the same room. Madison didnt make a peep till the morning around 7am when she asked if we could watch tv. We had to explain that we were without power. And unfortunately she did not understand.

As soon as it was light enough we took a look outside. We first went to the front yard b/c we were worried about the 2 pine trees out front. Luckily, those pine trees were still standing! All we had out front was some little limbs and some water on one side of the house.

That was all a different story when we went out back. I was in tears looking at my beautiful backyard, one of my most favorite things about this house. The beautiful big trees, the large fence that kept the kids safe as they played....all were gone. Tree tops gone, the fence gone on all sides.....you could see into every neighbors house.....the water in the backyard was ankle deep in some areas but luckily not up to the patio yet.

Saturday as soon as we got a chance we got out and began the clean out. Mainly with the front yard, getting the limbs picked up and the yard raked up. The backyard we knew would take some time. DH got out to the backyard and we son realized the kids were not going to be able to be back there. One of our neighbors has a pool and Christopher attempted to go to that pool not once but twice! It was more stress that we did not need at this point.


Luckily my parents said they would take the kids for a few days so we could get somethings done. So on Sunday we loaded up the kids and met my dad to let the kids go stay with them.

We were without power for 6 days. 6 long days. Luckily the weather changed and we had a cool front come through so it wasnt too hot, but it was not fun having to run a generator to get anything to work, being in the dark....I just wanted to wash clothes or run my dishwasher. Its amazing how much we depend on electricity.

Luckily, we all survived. We made it through. Yes we have some damage to the backyard, but we still have the house and we still have each other. And that is all that matters. Im forever greatful that we were spared.