Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Hurricane Ike and Austin

Ike decided that we needed to take a little vacation to Austin, so while we were there we saw some of the sites.

First up was a trip to Zilker Park, which was really quite nice, but it was a hot day.


The second day was a trip to the Capitol. The kids did really well, through what was I am sure a very boring morning, but they were later rewarded with an afternoon at the pool.

Inside the rotunda.

Daddy and Katie dress up.

Monday we took a trip out to the zoo, which is really just a wildlife sanctuary for rescued animals. Although it was really small, it had some fabulous opportunities to see animals very close. The lions and tigers were really only a few short feet away.



This guy really wanted out, and the kids found him unbelievably funny!

Nicholas' favorite animal. We could have just gone to a farm.

Returning from Austin

We made it back in no time from Austin today to find surprisingly not a whole lot of damage. Damage started far north of the city, but it was here and there. Going through the city we didn't see much other than billboards torn down, and big trees uprooted. Some windows were blown out, but not many. As we got closer to home there was more damage, but still didn't seem to be too severe. More businesses down here are still closed and boarded up, and a lot more trees and fences were down. You could collect enough pinecones from the fir trees to fill a house up.



Our house has really minimal damage. A fence board down. The rest of the fence is wobbly and needs repair, and a piece of siding came off. Everything else is fine.



We also found this little treasure in the backyard. Dinner anyone??


Not exactly sure where he came from. It is possible he was merely lifted from the lake/ retention pond across the street. Or he could have been air lifted from further away. Either way the kids found it fascinating to see a fish in their yard.

And in terms of the other fish...aka Sweetie and Cutie. They managed to survive 72 hours without power, without food for a week. And something like 90 mile an hour winds. We were amazed to see them happily swimming in their tanks on our kitchen island.

Water is safe again. Power is on here. And things are getting back to normal. Ballet starts again on Monday. The school district is out indefinately. Mike is out of work until at least Monday. So we will be continuing our vacation at home.

Oh and the birthday boy, the big one that is, celebrated today with lunch at McDonald's in Hempstead, and we will probably have spaghetti for dinner here. No cake since we don't have grocery stores fully stocked yet, and I don't have eggs to make one. So the full celebration is temporarily postponed.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Hurricane Ike

We are safe and sound and think our house is too. Hopefully we will have more updates soon. Our city website is telling us to stay away until Monday and that there is no power in areas and water needs to be boiled. We will probably stay here for a few more days, at least until we hear about the power issue.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Living With a Doll

It is official! We are living with a Gingerbread Doll!!

Katie auditioned a couple weeks ago for the Nutcracker with her ballet studio, and got the call on Friday that she had a part.

Saturday we went to the cast meeting, where she got her part, and she is going to be a gingerbread doll. We are currently unsure of exactly what that entails. It is not the ginger children that come out of Mother Ginger's skirt, but rumor is she will be one of the toy dolls that Drosselmeier entertains the children with at the party in the first act. She is very excited as are we.

More details will be coming later as to the dates and times of the shows she will be in. There are 14 performances, of which I believe she does half.

YAY, Katie!!

Monday, September 01, 2008

Hi Ho Cherry-o Marathon

What is the record for the longest game of Hi Ho Cherry-o??

Today we must have topped it, playing for what must have been a half hour before someone won.

Another One Bites the Dust

Nicholas had a fever with no other symptoms Monday through Wednesday of last weekend, and then it turned into a sore throat kind of coughing. Now he seems fine.

I came down Thursday with a severe headache and by Friday afternoon had the fever and sore throat. The sore throat is still lingering.

Mike started yesterday, with the same sore throat, mild fever.

Yesterday, Katie sneezed all day, and then at night said her head hurt. Today it was a fever of 101.

All 4 up, and all 4 down. Now hoping we haven't passed it on to anyone else.