Happy Halloween and a Hurricane Update!

Happy Halloween!

The past three days have been one BIG whirlwind.  

Monday:  The day was just like any other normal Monday except we were under a hurricane warning.  We spent the day inside playing lots of toys, play dough, crafts, etc. while Chris was working away at home.  It was rainy and it was windy---but it wasn't anything that we couldn't handle.  Right around dinnertime, my friend texted me to check in and as we were texting back and forth---she said that she thought it would get much worse.  And boy, was she right...  The storm kicked in quickly after dinner time.  Winds picked up like crazy and as bedtime approached, we decided to sleep everyone on the main floor in fear of trees falling down around us.  We set up camp in the living room just in time before the power went out.  We finally managed to get the boys to sleep and fall asleep ourselves to the sound of winds howling and transformers popping and unknown to what may happen next...

Tuesday:  We woke up to the aftermath---it was relatively calm outside, but everything was a mess.  Our trees (which hadn't even started to change colors) have very little leaves left, branches down everywhere, and one of our trees was down in the backyard.  Thankfully, we were all safe and it looked like our immediate neighbors were doing fine as well.  The house was starting to lose it's heat and the boys' (and our) cabin fever started to set in quickly.  Knowing that the power was out throughout the town (thanks to Facebook updates) and reading the news of the disaster, I had a feeling that power may take quite awhile to turn back on.  We also had a trip planned south on Friday to see my family since Aiden has no school next week, so as we were sitting in our chilly house, Chris unable to work with no Internet/no transit, and all of us going stir crazy---we made the big decision to head south early.  So I packed as quick as I could pack all of us up and we hit the road a little after one with our two dogs in tow!  We drove straight through with one stop for a quick run to pick up dinner and arrived right around 9 pm.  Finally, the kids were asleep by 11 with parents collapsing soon after in their own beds (but don't worry, if you have little ones like mine, I ended up moving to their room due to them waking up in fear of the unfamiliar surroundings!).

Wednesday:  MeMe headed off to work bright and early, Chris ended up working remotely, and I spent the day with the kids around here.  We headed over to my Grandma Snow's for a Fresh Market lunch and morning entertainment (where Chris did join in for the fun), fit in some afternoon naps, and waited for MeMe to arrive home in the late afternoon.  We were excited that we would at least get to do some trick-or-treating since we were here for Halloween.  The boys had a BLAST and let's just say it is past 11:00 tonight and they are still awake with a sugar high and a thrill of MeMe's new toddler Thomas air beds that arrived today.  PLEASE go to bed soon my sweet little buggers...

Tomorrow, we are heading to my dad's in the mountains to spend the weekend there, hopefully with no sight of snow:)  And Chris leaves early next week to head back to work while I will spend some more time with my mom before heading back north.  It should be some crazy days ahead...

In other news, the news and sights that have come out of the hurricane are just devastating.  Places that we have grown to love (and let me tell you that I never thought I would say that I love the Northeast Corridor of the US) have been thrown into ruins.  NYC is a complete disaster---I just can not believe the sights of many places that we have frequented, including right where Chris works.  NJ is a total mess.  Thankfully, our town had zero flooding but trees and power lines are down EVERYWHERE.  We had a hard time driving the five minutes to the parkway to get of town because there are so many road closures.  The island where I headed down with the kids early on this summer with friends will not even be open until this weekend.  Shore towns are completely devastated, the town where I used to work is still over half flooded (Hoboken), or neighborhood in Jersey City was completely undertaken with water.  Seriously a mess... And even our beautiful coastal town that we lived in for three years in CT has turned into another disaster---the Long Island Sound had record flooding and people aren't even sure how to respond.  Schools have been closed for at least this week, for now they say our power won't be on until November 5th (hoping earlier, especially with friends sticking around in the cold nights!), and so much more.  So as we are savoring our time with my family down here...our thoughts and prayers are with so many up north.