Ride'n the Storm Out

As if recovering from a root canal wasn't enough joy for the evening, our area is in the middle of thunderstorm and tornado alley (with about 4-5 waves of bad storms coming our way). Right about bedtime for the kids we heard the sirens and the tv confirmed that we should take cover immediately. In my youth I've been known to LOVE good storm, stand outside in it and wish for strong (but not destructive enough to hurt anyone) forces to show themselves. After the destruction of half of Parkersburg, I'm - shall we say - gun/storm shy.

The kids DID NOT understand our decision to have a slumber party in the basement. Alexander protested LOUDLY and Sophie simply hung in till nearly 11. Thankfully we have plenty of space in our basement. It's fully refinished and has a spare bedroom, living room, storage area, extra fridge/storage room, laundry room, and bathroom. It has never flooded in the past 60 years till yesterday. Tonight Every room is wet.

Shortly after the sirens went off, friends of ours called and then came over with their cute little puppy to seek shelter. They do not have a wet basement to go to, so ours was a blessing. We decided to make the most of it. We uncorked my fav bottle of wine and the guys had a few brewskies. We popped popcorn and watched local tv so we could see updates on the weather.

So far tonight, at its worst, the lightning and thunder were more than constant, but overlapping. It was pouring AGAIN. We finally got both of the kids down (Sophie in a pack-n-play and Alexander in a twin spare bed- but not HIS bed) but our friend's puppy wasn't having it and shivered and tried to escape.

We shared stories to pass the time. Ironically our friends had heard of the story Tom recently shot in Brasil (please check out his blog as his is one of my favs and is the 1st blogger I followed after being introduced to the blogging community- having a son near to Sophie's age with DS and being a very interesting guy and an AMAZING writer). I had heard of the story because of Tom, and our friend had simply - heard of the story. Folks, it is a small world.

The storms let up just as MORE water poured into the basement. With the help of our friends, we moved even more stuff out of the path of destruction. The kids are sound asleep and that's good because we are right in the line for 1-2 more waves of this band of storms. It's going to be a long night.