Houston, we have a problem. His name is IKE!

I know many of our friends/family have tried to call us, but as I'm sure you know cell phone service is spotty & our land line is down. Our area looked much like Baton Rouge after Gustav, with many trees down and debris covering the streets. IKE came in the middle of the night, so we all hunkered down in the closet underneath the stairs. Jackson was totally cool with it and slept through the whole thing. I was the only one awake to hear the winds and feel the house shaking (maybe that was in my imagination), and it was pretty impressive. I could not sleep a wink. In the past, we always hunkered down with my family for hurricanes, so I was a little uneasy. I knew we would be fine; we just didn't know what to expect in a new area. It's also nerve racking to be the adults in the situation, responsible for your child's safety and well being. We fared well through the storm & our house suffered no major damage. Of course, like most, we are out of power, but that is a small discomfort compared to what many are dealing with. It was actually kind of fun to sit around and be forced to come up with our own entertainment. I attempted to put the Exersaucer (Jackson's toy) together (geez...that thing is complicated), but will have to come back to it later. Anyway, our house was still pretty comfortable, but we decided to head for the hills (aka go visit my grandparents) since Kyle doesn't have to work Monday & possibly Tuesday. No power is as good an excuse as any I guess to go visit family. =) Anyway, we will be back in a couple of days and would be happy to help clean up anywhere it is needed. To our Houston friends, please let us know if you need anything at all. We can bring something back with us or help you in your yards when we get home. Also, if we come back to power, we'll let everyone know & you're welcome to hang out at our house if you still don't have it! And if we don't have power, we should still get together and play games or something.

PS - Is it just me, or is anyone else tired of seeing first responders have to risk their lives for goombahs who choose not to heed warnings...warnings of "certain death" might I add...??? Geez...ignorance.