The Farm

My kids have actually never been to the farm in the Fall. They have spent time on the farm every year since they were born but either in summer or Christmas so for them to see the farm in Harvest season opened up a whole new world of questions and fascination with they're beloved farm. Why are the crops brown? Are they dead? Does the combine REALLY work? They shouted with glee the first day we arrived to find corn in it's "hard" state, fully ripened!! They also were amazed by the enormous combine, one for beans and one for corn!! Now this was an evacuation!

Remember the saying...

"don't upset the apple cart?" Is that how it goes? Well in this case you'd turn over 5 little apple picking cherubs. Over a week ago they announced that we would not have school again (for the second full week) to which I fell in a lump of exhaustion and my family and husband responded by taking the next "evacuation flight" out of here! The kids and I went to MN for a full week and had a spontaneous Fall trip to MN which I have not done in 11 years!!! The kids are all together picking apples in this pic.

More pics...

This is curbside in front of every single house....people have been working so hard to get yards cleaned up. Many many people are still not back to work, 1.5 million still w/out power, no real groceries, long lines for gas, school out possibly through next week? and our boil water notice just got lifted for us today. Still kind of "creepy" to use it so we'll drink bottled for awhile?

our friends yard...
Huge trees down every where you walk and every where you look!!!!
I've had the kids out riding bikes and they've had a quick lesson in mountain biking!
Peoples' backyards are all exposed...fences down every few houses.

Day Six: Monday...chris comes home

Our neighbor lost two enormous trees that shaded our backyard and made it very private. One of his trees fell into our fence and knocked a portion down. Chris tried to block it w/ the hammock because they have a pool and it was now "open access!!"
We lost this tree that provided a lot of shade for us...

This used to be standing with a canopy on it...It left it's mark!!

Day Five: Still waiting....

We went to church Sunday morning with Lee's parents and then back to the farm. Hot and humid. Still little phone coverage. Sunday night our friend Stuart drove back into Clear Lake and gave us report on all of our homes... No power, trees down, things down around our home but no damage to our home. Unbelievable. The reports are so many....so many people around us have lost their homes or had significant damage and loss.

Day Four: Rainy and windy...waiting out the storm

Saturday was a blur of rainy day activities....Lee hosted a "dance" for the kids!! Here they are country dancing!
While Nana dressed the kids for a fashion show. Here is Miss Brookwood Elementary!
Bahama Jack!
Mr and Mrs. University Baptist Church is what Nana called this fair bunch!!?
The winds whipped through the night and all I could think was what in the world it was during at our house...... little phone coverage, tired kids and my kids all developed a hearty cough that needed asthma medicine. Especially Anders!!! We were feeling "close"!!!!

Day three: Friday..waiting, tired and hot!

There were four families that ended up at Lee's parents. 20 in all and Nana (Lee's mom) was a gracious hostess. She made gourmet meals from the contents of all of our emptied freezers and the kids played like crazy in our home!! We couldn't have asked for a better "shelter"! Friday was long....waiting for the arrival of IKE! We were told by people from NASA to expect water in our home and if it followed the path expected it would be water for sure in our first floor! Never mind the winds.....

Day Two: Waiting....

Thursday.....waiting. The weather channel is our best friend.... CNN reports "Not good!"
Lee's dad has a small farm that has horse, two donkeys, three goats, a sheep, ducks and a small cabin. Enough to provide serious entertainment for my bunch. Chris works furiously to get things in order at work and to prepare our home. The traffic looked horrible...he waits!!

Around 6pm he felt like he should go and he literally ran in to almost no traffic and as soon as he made it...the roads closed up again. We were together.....our house behind us and very little with us but each other. The weather where we were was still humid and hot!

Day One: Wed Sept 10th...Evacuation

Words like "cone of uncertainty", "storm surge" and websites like weatherunderground.com have become new and frequently used in our home. The kids came home with a note in their bags Wed. afternoon saying....No school Friday in order to prepare. The kids were excited and buzzing. Later that evening we took the kids for a walk and our neighbor told us they had just announced no school the rest of the week. We knew by then it didn't look good. Lee and Colette (Chris' sister) called and said they were leaving for Bryan where Lee's parents live in just a few hours to avoid what many of you saw on tv during hurricane Rita.....a long long drive out of town. I was quickly throwing clothese in a bag, throwing lawn furniture into the garage, medicines? books? a few clothes....shoes and anything that would help my kids sleep (blankies I mean, not drugs!!)

Here we are leaving by donkey!! Actually we left by 9:30 and arrived by midnight!! The kids were confused but together. Chris stayed behind.

Audra's trip...

Audra and cousin Lucy at White Sands in New Mexico
Audra took her own little adventure at the end of the summer. She flew with her two cousins (Katherine & Lucy) and her MIMI to New Mexico where she stayed with her grandparents for a few days. She loved it! She loves to travel and got to visit White Sands, hike, picnic and just play in a little cooler weather!!

THose of us keeping the home fires burning!

If you wanted to see who was left behind.....it's me and THIS ONE!:):) Rascal #3!! He bids his siblings goodbye in the morning. We all walk to school together. And I walk home with this little munchkin. He is typically half dressed but ready to play. Here he is holding my toothbrush having already used it to brush his own teeth and likely the floor....no clothes on with only minutes to go before we had to leave. Yes....this is my youngest. Strong, vibrant, a brilliant smile, smart, stubborn and very fast..... What will he be like as an "older sibling?" hhhhhmmmm