derecho

June 29th, 2012. A "derecho" storm hits our area a little after 9pm. Outside it was black. The kids were upstairs in bed. We didn't even know that there was a chance of storms. The thunder and lightning was a little odd and the WIND was so intense that it caught our attention immediately. In my head I was saying, "Okay, what did I read about what a tornado sounds like?" It was unlike any kind of storm we had experience before. Before the rain had even started, our shade canopy was lifted up and across the deck. We went out to collapse it and came back in asking each other if we should go get the kids and huddle in the basement. There was WIND, there were cracking trees, there was RAIN, and then...there was no power.

Friday night wasn't so bad. The house was still cool from the AC earlier that day. We all slept upstairs. When we woke up...still no power.

In the hopes of power resuming sooner than later, we didn't want to open the fridge and decided to head into town for breakfast. As we passed stop light after stop light that was not working our hopes of finding a place for breakfast dwindled. But, one of our favorite spots for bagel sandwiches had regained power and was merely opening late. We hit a playground on our way home in another area that had regained power. Things were looking good. We got home...still no power.

Thank goodness for games on phones, movies on iPads, and car chargers.

As the day wore on, a day in the middle of a 100+ temperature week, the house got HOT. That night we "camped" in the basement. The kids were rock stars, taking it all in stride, and falling asleep in the basement without any fuss. When we woke up...still no power.

The next morning we headed back into town for breakfast and playtime at the pool. We had decided that if we didn't have power back, it would be smartest for me to head to my parent's house (where they had power). When we got home...still no power.

Leaving ended up being the right decision because we didn't get power back for another couple days. The heat was bad, but endurable. It was the lack of water that really drove us away. Not being able to flush the toilets, no showers, and worrying that they might be out of water bottles or ice at the grocery store was just too much.

However, a disaster turned into a pretty great 4th of July week.

The kids enjoyed Samma & Papa time Sunday afternoon.

A chance to play Balloons on Samma's iPad and practice tapping, sliding, minimizing, etc. is always coveted!

Samma knew of their LOVE of school buses and airplanes and got them both of those Little People vehicles, which they have not been able to stop playing with ever since that Sunday afternoon! We had a big playground trip, shared a chocolate chip cookie and got red balloons at the grocery store, discovered the joy of Teigen's bounce house that lives in Samma & Papa's basement, got better at "real" puzzles by learning about edge pieces and matching colors, and went to play with our cousins, Teigen and Rourke, at their pool. And that was just Monday and Tuesday!

Teigen and Rourke's pool has a HUGE baby pool. That's where we all started the afternoon.

 

But then, even better than the super huge baby pool, they have a whole section that is only 2-3.5 ft deep! So, Malynn and Jack could play independently in water that came up to their shoulders!

I'm a sucker for pool pictures so here they come!

 The shallow section was the perfect spot to play all together before and after the "big whistle" (a.k.a. break).

With his life jacket on, Teigen was comfortable showing off his fantastic swimming skills -jumping in, going underwater, and doing his crawl swimming. Way to go Teigen!

Jack & Malynn loved running and jumping in the water without Mommy or Daddy needing to hold them.

When you had a ring on your head it meant you were the king or queen of the pool. :)

 Rourke gave all of us plenty of heart stopping moments since he decided that he wanted to jump in just like big brother.

Malynn asked for the "washing machine" and "rocket ship" game over and over.

 And loved it every time!

Jack -are you 2 or 7?

Jack was doing an amazing job climbing along the wall.

I'm so proud of the pool safety skills both kids are learning so fast!

Jack was excited about "jumping in" with Daddy.

 I love moments like this -Malynn was insisting that she stand on her own, yet had a death grip on my thumb. I will always have a thumb for you my dear. :)

This kid is SO photogenic -he even makes a scrape over the eye look good!

Pool Time!

Getting to a pool isn't easy. Our neighborhood doesn't have one, and we don't live close enough to any public pools to make the membership worth it. So, the trips we do make to a pool this summer will be special ones. This one was extra special, because it was the first of the season!

Grand and Amita came to visit and got to witness Jack and Malynn's first reactions to a pool after not having been in 6-7 months (maybe more!). We started with just watching Mommy swim, jump, and monkey around in the big pool.

 Then we headed to the baby pool, which was much more inviting.

 The hose was a great ice breaker for Jack.

 He, of course, figured out how to spray the hose in a matter of a few minutes!

 We found this cool toy that glides through the water if you throw it just right. It was also a great incentive for getting in and reaching under the water.

 

Malynn LOVED all the splashing!

 I'm not sure if Malynn was throwing something here, but that's a pretty sweet follow through she's got already!

 Mommy is definitely not the only one who likes monkeying around in the water.

 Though Jack took his time deciding to get in on the action, once he was in, HE WAS IN!

 I was just thrilled that both of my children felt safe enough to take some risks and confident enough to do so many things that made for non-stop fun. In fact, I couldn't get them to stop and eat lunch until we got out, changed, and packed up to go home.

 We couldn't figure out what Malynn was trying to do at first and then realized she was practicing swimming arms!

 Both kids took pride in bending down in the water and being able to touch the bottom. This elicited a lot of "I did it"s.

 Like I said, once Jack was in, he shed his inhibitions. He was so eager to master running in the water that he slipped a few times, yet always caught himself, shook it off, and tried again.

 Sometimes a girl's got to take a break ya know.

 The kids loved watching the big kids jumping off the diving board. Here Malynn was asking about the game they were playing with a ball.

 Malynn and Jack both showed off some great kicking that they seemed to remember from our practice months ago.

 

 Malynn just wanted to swim and swim and swim. While Jack liked checking back in with people on the side from time to time.

 

We played two great games, blast off and washing machine, over and over.

 I think we might have to make more pool trips happen this summer than I'd originally planned for. How can I deny them something that produces smiles like these!?