The Storm Has Past

Well, Ida came ashore on Dauphin Island, AL. yesterday, but it was downgraded to a tropical storm by that time. Dauphin Island is where we usually go to the beach when we go just for a quick trip during the day. It takes us about 30 minutes to get there because you have to go over some very long bridges, which my sister would love since she’s terrified of bridges. Sorry, when I think of big bridges I always think of her and just had to mention it. Anyway, we had a lot of rain here. I think it rained for about 22 hours straight. The wind wasn’t all that bad. We only lost a couple of branches from trees, which weren’t really branches but rather large sticks that were dead in them. We had a couple of power surges and lost our internet once, but that was the extent of our “damage”.

Thanks to everyone who called to check on us. We stayed in the house all day yesterday because of the wind and cool temps. The staying in the house all day was more tiring than the storm. Every multiple- piece toy we own was spread out and cleaned up-twice. I was counting down the moments ’till bedtime by the end of the day.

Today is Veteran’s Day- thanks to you, veterans. Ash is off work so we will try to get out and do a little something. I’m not sure what yet, but we’re not staying in this house all day again! :0

 

Ready for Ida

I guess we’re as ready  for Ida as we’re gonna’ be here in Lower Alabama. This is the first hurricane we’ve had this year and it’s November, so I think we’re doing pretty well. It’s not expected to be all that bad, meaning sustained winds of 30-50 mph. We have thunderstorms worse than that during the summer months.

I went out this morning and got all the junk out of are yard that could potentially fly around if the wind gusts got bad. I took in our lawn furniture and got the swings put away. Ash went to the store last night and picked up a few things, not that we’re going to be locked up in our house, but who really wants to have to go to the store for bread in really rainy weather? I don’t even like  hauling the kids in and out of the car to go into the grocery when it’s a nice, sunny day(!) so I thought it was best to not be in need of anything.

Tomorrow we plan to just hang out and see what happens. We can have a picnic in the living room and watch t.v. as long as we don’t lose power. I really don’t think it will be like that, though. I’ll let you know.

 

Halloween and Train Birthdays (picture heavy)

We had a big time this weekend with Halloween and my parents visit. The kids really enjoyed going to our church’s event. There were bounce houses, games, funnel cakes and corn dogs, and of course, candy! I liked going there because  I felt they could run around and get candy from people I knew.

Here’s one of Ava on a fire truck they had there. She loves fire fighters, and always tells them to “be careful”! Oh, and Ava is a fairy.

  Here is another of her on the fire truck. It’s not that great of a shot, but I like Ash in the background.

Binh was Mickey Mouse. He wiped his little, black nose off about 5 minutes after we got there. Here he is playing a football game.

I forgot to mention they also had karaoke at the festivities. They had a little stage set up for the kids and then they could do karaoke to songs like “Old MacDonald” or “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Ava absolutely loved it. She and Ash watched other kids for a while then we all came in and Ava sang “Jesus Loves Me”.

My parents came in on Sunday afternoon just for quick visit before heading to their place in Florida for the winter. At Ava’s request, we did get some train stuff for my dad’s birthday on Monday.

Here is one of my parents on dad’s birthday.

Lastly, here is Binh. He’s just cute in his party hat, so I had to post it. And, yes, that’s food on his face. As always..

I’ve Come This Far

Quite by accident, I posted every week day this week, so I can’t just abandon Friday. In that spirit, I’ll do a few bullet points of interest, or maybe disinterest, depending on who you are..

- Nothing says “I love you” like….Photoshop. Yes, that’s what I got for my anniversary yesterday. It was between that and a strand of pearls, and frankly, though pearls are nice and I do wear my ring to the grocery like I mentioned earlier this week, I think a strand of pearls with my t-shirt and shorts would be a little over-the-top. I just don’t do enough things that require dressing up to justify the pearls. I wasn’t sure what I was getting, so it was a nice surprise. I told Ash it was fitting for our anniversary. Now I can make us look younger and thinner as the years go by! Now all I need is a Photoshop class at the local university to figure how in the world to work it for Christmas! I seriously know nothing. no. thing! Well, I knew enough to run to Pioneer Woman and get her free action sets

- I’m working on Ava’s fairy costume today. Hey, I work best under pressure. Somehow this week has ended up being the busiest in I don’t know how long. It’s not that I waited until the day before Halloween on purpose, but he World Series was on for crying out loud. I can’t be expected to work in the evening.

- My parents are visiting this weekend and my dad will celebrate his birthday while they’re here. Ava decided he needed to have a train birthday. I didn’t tell her that usually 79-year-old men don’t have themed birthday parties, so I guess I’ve got train decorations to add to my list of things to get out and buy this weekend, in addition to all the other festivities going on.

All right. I’ve taken a long enough break from cutting out pink petal shapes. That’s my Friday post. I did it- five  consecutive days of posting. Weird that though it’s been crazy busy this week, I’ve found time to blog all five days. One could almost surmise this blog thing is a huge diversion from real work and a complete time suck…nah.