I don't know if this will work, but a friend took pictures of our house upon their first clean-up visit (before we got there). The pictures are meant for insurance purposes, so there are a lot of just water on the floor - but at least they'll give you an idea of what they arrived to...
http://picasaweb.google.com/mamcqueen/IKE08Flooding?authkey=p8mBJiEosM4#
Monday, September 29, 2008
Update
Greetings everyone. This is Mark again. I enjoyed writing those few posts, so maybe I'll just do a few more. Don't worry, I promise Katherine will write some more too. Here's the latest news:
Katherine and Ben got back Thursday night. It was an immense delight to see them again. We're really enjoying being a family, going for walks, adjusting to our new routine, etc. However, the day after they got back, the difficult realities of the situation set in a little bit. Our temporary home was not baby proofed which required constant watching of Benjamin. The electricity was still not working at our flooded house. We didn't know how long the repairs would take - a couple weeks or three months or more. There is still a ton of work to do cataloging damaged household items, calling contractors, etc and how were we going to do that while still working and taking care of our active toddler? All these uncertainties made for a pretty stressful period. Fortunately, many of those questions have been answered and we're feeling fairly peaceful about what's happening. First is that we're more comfortable with our temporary housing. We're staying with a couple that are friends from our church small group. They're in their mid 50's and unfailingly generous. The have a house right in the middle of town, and it's one of these newer homes which has a small footprint but is tall. So we have the third floor all to ourselves. I think I'm going to start referring to it as our "loft." That sounds pretty cool. It's got a living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. We moved some furniture around, removed some knick-knacks, found a better location for a baby gate, and got it pretty well baby proofed.
The electricity came back on this morning at our house which will make working there a whole lot nicer. (Count 'em - 16 days without power!) I met with a flood mitigation guy today who explained the process including that it would only take about a week once we get approval from the insurance company. It may take a few more weeks after that to have a contractor put new sheetrock up and replace floors, but hopefully this will take about a month, maybe a little more. Finally, Benjamin is all set to start his mother's day out program tomorrow. Originally we wanted him to go three days a week. Given the circumstances, we're going to start him going for five days and hopefully move to three days once things settle down a bit.
We have a number of really kind friends and family who've helped us with housing, babysitting, and a WHOLE bunch of labor right after the flood. They are a truly amazing blessing.
In case you're curious, last weekend's symphony concert was everything I'd hoped. Interestingly, I don't think the audience liked it very much. I will admit this particular piece of music is probably most enjoyed by a true art lover. It deals with weighty subject matter via sung poetry, and includes a lot of slow, reflective type music. Houston is not a real artsy type of city so I guess I'm not surprised. Maybe next time we go to New York...
Katherine and Ben got back Thursday night. It was an immense delight to see them again. We're really enjoying being a family, going for walks, adjusting to our new routine, etc. However, the day after they got back, the difficult realities of the situation set in a little bit. Our temporary home was not baby proofed which required constant watching of Benjamin. The electricity was still not working at our flooded house. We didn't know how long the repairs would take - a couple weeks or three months or more. There is still a ton of work to do cataloging damaged household items, calling contractors, etc and how were we going to do that while still working and taking care of our active toddler? All these uncertainties made for a pretty stressful period. Fortunately, many of those questions have been answered and we're feeling fairly peaceful about what's happening. First is that we're more comfortable with our temporary housing. We're staying with a couple that are friends from our church small group. They're in their mid 50's and unfailingly generous. The have a house right in the middle of town, and it's one of these newer homes which has a small footprint but is tall. So we have the third floor all to ourselves. I think I'm going to start referring to it as our "loft." That sounds pretty cool. It's got a living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. We moved some furniture around, removed some knick-knacks, found a better location for a baby gate, and got it pretty well baby proofed.
The electricity came back on this morning at our house which will make working there a whole lot nicer. (Count 'em - 16 days without power!) I met with a flood mitigation guy today who explained the process including that it would only take about a week once we get approval from the insurance company. It may take a few more weeks after that to have a contractor put new sheetrock up and replace floors, but hopefully this will take about a month, maybe a little more. Finally, Benjamin is all set to start his mother's day out program tomorrow. Originally we wanted him to go three days a week. Given the circumstances, we're going to start him going for five days and hopefully move to three days once things settle down a bit.
We have a number of really kind friends and family who've helped us with housing, babysitting, and a WHOLE bunch of labor right after the flood. They are a truly amazing blessing.
In case you're curious, last weekend's symphony concert was everything I'd hoped. Interestingly, I don't think the audience liked it very much. I will admit this particular piece of music is probably most enjoyed by a true art lover. It deals with weighty subject matter via sung poetry, and includes a lot of slow, reflective type music. Houston is not a real artsy type of city so I guess I'm not surprised. Maybe next time we go to New York...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sometimes life just stinks
Hi everyone, Mark again. Katherine returns tomorrow so it won't be long until someone with real writing skills will be authoring these entries. For now, I'm just going to rant and rave. We finally have an insurance adjuster. Her name is Judy Hill, she's from South Carolina, and sounds VERY southern. Maybe she'll bring some of that southern hospitality to our insurance settlement. Even though a company will be coming in to do official water remediation, she strongly recommended we go ahead and cut out the bottom foot or so of all the sheetrock in our house to get things started drying out. Especially on exterior walls where the insulation is full of water. I had some guys come over last night, borrowed a generator for light and we went to town on the house. Wow, what a messy, messy job. It was really gross - you'd pull out a piece of insulation which is literally dripping water all over the floor and mixing with the drywall dust, making this pasty stuff on the floor. Fortunately, it dries quickly and I'll be doing a good mopping this afternoon.
The hard part about this is that it seems unlikely we'll be able to live in the house for a while. The musty smell might go away in a couple days as things dry out, but there's just no way to childproof all the bits of drywall hanging down and other things causing the house to be a complete mess. All the folks working with me on this project concurred it would be a bad idea to bring Ben back there. It looks like initially we'll stay with some friends who've generously offered part of their house until we get an idea how long this will take. Then we'll see after that.
It also seems our area of town is almost last on the city's electricity restoration plan. We were originally told to expect it back by Thursday, but that's now been revised to Sunday. I have seen almost no activity in the area although supposedly there are about 12,000 crewmen working on the restoration. Hmmmppphhh!
On the positive side, I started back to work today at the symphony. We're performing music of my favorite composer this weekend, Dmitri Shostakovich - his 13th Symphony. I've always felt you can readily hear in his music the very deep struggles he had throughout his life. Over the course of a season, there are usually two or three weeks which are really special and this will likely be one of them. Also, it's going to be wonderful to have Katherine and Ben back, even if we can't stay at home. It'll be nice to have their company as well as another piece of normal life returning to place. I realize this post is fairly negative and full of complaining. Sorry about that. It's all true, but at the same time I'm trying to see the positives in this experience. Ultimately, I think it is in times of struggle when we grow as people, and in my case, as a Christian. It's been amazing to see the vast generosity of a number of people who've helped us. And I've been stretched in my ability to ask for and receive help. So in that sense, I welcome this struggle.
The hard part about this is that it seems unlikely we'll be able to live in the house for a while. The musty smell might go away in a couple days as things dry out, but there's just no way to childproof all the bits of drywall hanging down and other things causing the house to be a complete mess. All the folks working with me on this project concurred it would be a bad idea to bring Ben back there. It looks like initially we'll stay with some friends who've generously offered part of their house until we get an idea how long this will take. Then we'll see after that.
It also seems our area of town is almost last on the city's electricity restoration plan. We were originally told to expect it back by Thursday, but that's now been revised to Sunday. I have seen almost no activity in the area although supposedly there are about 12,000 crewmen working on the restoration. Hmmmppphhh!
On the positive side, I started back to work today at the symphony. We're performing music of my favorite composer this weekend, Dmitri Shostakovich - his 13th Symphony. I've always felt you can readily hear in his music the very deep struggles he had throughout his life. Over the course of a season, there are usually two or three weeks which are really special and this will likely be one of them. Also, it's going to be wonderful to have Katherine and Ben back, even if we can't stay at home. It'll be nice to have their company as well as another piece of normal life returning to place. I realize this post is fairly negative and full of complaining. Sorry about that. It's all true, but at the same time I'm trying to see the positives in this experience. Ultimately, I think it is in times of struggle when we grow as people, and in my case, as a Christian. It's been amazing to see the vast generosity of a number of people who've helped us. And I've been stretched in my ability to ask for and receive help. So in that sense, I welcome this struggle.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
There is hope!
This is Mark again. Thank you, Lara, for the suggestion on starting my own blog. I actually do have a blog, which has one entry from the day I started it. Realistically, I'm not generally a reflective type of person, at least not in a bloggy way. (New word for the day?) I'm always lamenting not having enough time for the things I really care about, so I probably won't keep this up. But in the meantime, my daily trip to the public library computers have been an enjoyable diversion to get connected to the world as well as enjoying some air conditioning.
Two signs of progress came today. I awoke this morning to the sound of big machines picking up the massive piles of yard waste lining our street. I felt kind of bad for them working on a Sunday morning, but I guess it's necessary. Literally every street in Houston is lined with huge piles of brush, often large trees cut into sections. I have been very impressed with the city of Houston's ability to get things moving quickly - water treatment plants were quickly restored, libraries opened quickly. Our mayor here kicks butt. I thought a newspaper columnist said it well - "Mayor Bill White is the argument against term limits."
Yesterday, I went with a team from our church to an area hit much harder by Ike. We went south of Houston to a little town called Alvin. It's not all the way to Galveston, but a lot closer than where we live. We split up into smaller teams to work on different projects in the area. My project was kind of frustrating in that it really required experts in tree cutting, not ordinary volunteers. This family had a large tree in their yard that was tangled in some power lines (non-energized). We really didn't make much headway on it until some folks came later who had experience with this stuff. I didn't know how much planning goes into removing a fallen tree - whatever section is being cut can't fall on people or things, can't remove support for the person in the tree, and can't bind the saw as it's being cut. It was surprising to see the extent of damage down there. We drove by large fields with huge trees where most of the tops of the trees had been blown off by the high winds. We're talking 50-100 foot tall, fully mature trees. Some other folks worked in houses dealing with flood damage where they got three feet of water in the house. As a reference, ours got about three inches.
The other sign of progress just happened an hour ago. I was having lunch with some friends after church. While we were there, the lights came back on!! It really was an amazing moment, one I wouldn't have fully appreciated without being sans electricity for almost a week. Maybe when I get home, our lights will be on....
That's all for today. Have a nice week!
Two signs of progress came today. I awoke this morning to the sound of big machines picking up the massive piles of yard waste lining our street. I felt kind of bad for them working on a Sunday morning, but I guess it's necessary. Literally every street in Houston is lined with huge piles of brush, often large trees cut into sections. I have been very impressed with the city of Houston's ability to get things moving quickly - water treatment plants were quickly restored, libraries opened quickly. Our mayor here kicks butt. I thought a newspaper columnist said it well - "Mayor Bill White is the argument against term limits."
Yesterday, I went with a team from our church to an area hit much harder by Ike. We went south of Houston to a little town called Alvin. It's not all the way to Galveston, but a lot closer than where we live. We split up into smaller teams to work on different projects in the area. My project was kind of frustrating in that it really required experts in tree cutting, not ordinary volunteers. This family had a large tree in their yard that was tangled in some power lines (non-energized). We really didn't make much headway on it until some folks came later who had experience with this stuff. I didn't know how much planning goes into removing a fallen tree - whatever section is being cut can't fall on people or things, can't remove support for the person in the tree, and can't bind the saw as it's being cut. It was surprising to see the extent of damage down there. We drove by large fields with huge trees where most of the tops of the trees had been blown off by the high winds. We're talking 50-100 foot tall, fully mature trees. Some other folks worked in houses dealing with flood damage where they got three feet of water in the house. As a reference, ours got about three inches.
The other sign of progress just happened an hour ago. I was having lunch with some friends after church. While we were there, the lights came back on!! It really was an amazing moment, one I wouldn't have fully appreciated without being sans electricity for almost a week. Maybe when I get home, our lights will be on....
That's all for today. Have a nice week!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Update and Reflections from Mark
Hi there. This is Mark writing - Katherine has graciously allowed me to hijack her blog to provide you with some updates on how things are going down here as well as some reflections on Ike.
It is now one week since Ike made landfall and we are still without electricity. The electric company says that exactly half of Houston's 2 million residents have power - guess we're the unlucky ones. They have been quick to point out that places like next door "Oak Forest" and our subdivision "Ella Lee Forest" have been harder to restore because of the trees. Unfortunate, but I'll gladly wait a few more days for electricity and enjoy the lovely trees from then on. Houston has been VERY fortunate to receive a significant cool front the day after Ike. This last week would have been a far worse scenario if we'd had our usual mid 90's and very high humidity. Of course, this front was the one responsible for flooding our house, but I still think it's worth it for the rest of the city. That being said, the heat is returning more and more each day. Last night was the first one where I had trouble sleeping because of it. Hopefully the juice will return soon!
One of the hardest parts about this is the waiting. When will we get electricity? When will work start back up? (Mine has been announced, then cancelled, then reannounced.) Most of all, when will the ball start rolling with the insurance company? We filed our claim Tuesday afternoon and were told we'd be assigned an adjuster within 48 hours. Over 96 hours later, still no adjuster. I'm trying not to be upset, remembering they're getting absolutely hammered with claims, but the waiting is very hard. Especially since we don't know much about mold and water damage, and there are many different opinions out there. When we got back, one neighbor was furiously tearing out sheetrock. Most neighbors have thought it's okay to wait for the insurance people to do their thing then start the work. I tore out a few sections of sheetrock along the baseboards and there sure is a lot of water in there. It's okay on the interior walls but the insulation on the exterior ones is like a wet sponge for the first couple inches. Not knowing how to proceed has been frustrating.
Perhaps my greatest personal revelation from all this is that I am a bone fide family man. I love Benjamin immensely, but I've had a very difficult time adjusting to life with a baby/toddler, particularly regarding my introverted need for alone time. When we made the decision for Katherine and Ben to go to Oregon until the house gets back in order and the electricity returns, there was a part of me that was looking forward to a week by myself. I have enjoyed that somewhat, but now the loneliness is really setting in. Most of our friends are couples, many have kids, and there really aren't folks I feel comfortable calling by myself to do something social. All that to say, I'm ready for my sweet wife and son to return - Thursday can't come soon enough.
I did my first "brick" yesterday. No, not some hurricane recovery effort but a kind of workout. I've entered my first triathlon which is in three weeks. I'm feeling pretty good about the three aspects of it individually, but putting them together is totally new. A brick is a bike/run combination. It was harder than I expected - the legs do not like running when they've already been beat up on the bike.
Many thanks to those of you who've been thinking of us and praying for us and the house. So far, I've found only a few things that aren't just "stuff that can be replaced." Once I can use our computer at home, I'll try to post some pictures. I've got hundreds for the insurance adjuster, but we'll save the choice ones for this blog.
It is now one week since Ike made landfall and we are still without electricity. The electric company says that exactly half of Houston's 2 million residents have power - guess we're the unlucky ones. They have been quick to point out that places like next door "Oak Forest" and our subdivision "Ella Lee Forest" have been harder to restore because of the trees. Unfortunate, but I'll gladly wait a few more days for electricity and enjoy the lovely trees from then on. Houston has been VERY fortunate to receive a significant cool front the day after Ike. This last week would have been a far worse scenario if we'd had our usual mid 90's and very high humidity. Of course, this front was the one responsible for flooding our house, but I still think it's worth it for the rest of the city. That being said, the heat is returning more and more each day. Last night was the first one where I had trouble sleeping because of it. Hopefully the juice will return soon!
One of the hardest parts about this is the waiting. When will we get electricity? When will work start back up? (Mine has been announced, then cancelled, then reannounced.) Most of all, when will the ball start rolling with the insurance company? We filed our claim Tuesday afternoon and were told we'd be assigned an adjuster within 48 hours. Over 96 hours later, still no adjuster. I'm trying not to be upset, remembering they're getting absolutely hammered with claims, but the waiting is very hard. Especially since we don't know much about mold and water damage, and there are many different opinions out there. When we got back, one neighbor was furiously tearing out sheetrock. Most neighbors have thought it's okay to wait for the insurance people to do their thing then start the work. I tore out a few sections of sheetrock along the baseboards and there sure is a lot of water in there. It's okay on the interior walls but the insulation on the exterior ones is like a wet sponge for the first couple inches. Not knowing how to proceed has been frustrating.
Perhaps my greatest personal revelation from all this is that I am a bone fide family man. I love Benjamin immensely, but I've had a very difficult time adjusting to life with a baby/toddler, particularly regarding my introverted need for alone time. When we made the decision for Katherine and Ben to go to Oregon until the house gets back in order and the electricity returns, there was a part of me that was looking forward to a week by myself. I have enjoyed that somewhat, but now the loneliness is really setting in. Most of our friends are couples, many have kids, and there really aren't folks I feel comfortable calling by myself to do something social. All that to say, I'm ready for my sweet wife and son to return - Thursday can't come soon enough.
I did my first "brick" yesterday. No, not some hurricane recovery effort but a kind of workout. I've entered my first triathlon which is in three weeks. I'm feeling pretty good about the three aspects of it individually, but putting them together is totally new. A brick is a bike/run combination. It was harder than I expected - the legs do not like running when they've already been beat up on the bike.
Many thanks to those of you who've been thinking of us and praying for us and the house. So far, I've found only a few things that aren't just "stuff that can be replaced." Once I can use our computer at home, I'll try to post some pictures. I've got hundreds for the insurance adjuster, but we'll save the choice ones for this blog.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Not so fast...
Apparently, we were a bit quick in announcing our good fortune in surviving Ike. Another friend (and neighbor) offered to go check out our house again this morning, after hearing that our street had experienced some flooding. And unfortunately, our house did indeed flood. I guess a huge storm passed through after Ike (yesterday, then?), and dumped a ton of rain. So while we were celebrating our good fortune from surviving Ike with no troubles minus a bit of inconvenience, our house was filling up with water. I don't know exactly how much it flooded. Sounds like at one point there were several inches of water - but now it's not actually standing water - but the carpets, etc are saturated - including everything on the floor (right now I'm saddest about all of Ben's glorious board books - how this child loves to read)...
We have the most amazing friends - we just received a call from our fourth friend who has headed over to help start cleaning things up. We are frustrated and worried being so far away from what is happening, but also so incredibly humbled by the love our friends have shown us by jumping to our aid over the last few hours.
It sounds like power may still be days (I'm afraid to say weeks) away, so Benjamin and I are jumping on a flight this evening to visit my parents in Oregon until all this gets sorted out. Mark is driving back to Houston tommorrow morning to assess the scene and figure out what needs to be done to get our house liveable again.
Please send him good thoughts and prayers as he works over the next few days in what is likely to be an uncomfortable situation - and that the current cool front that will make it so much more bearable lasts...
Thank you Dan, Robyn, Josh and Nathan for being such gracious hosts, and allowing us to share your home with no notice for several days. You guys are awesome, and we had such a fun time visiting with you...
We have the most amazing friends - we just received a call from our fourth friend who has headed over to help start cleaning things up. We are frustrated and worried being so far away from what is happening, but also so incredibly humbled by the love our friends have shown us by jumping to our aid over the last few hours.
It sounds like power may still be days (I'm afraid to say weeks) away, so Benjamin and I are jumping on a flight this evening to visit my parents in Oregon until all this gets sorted out. Mark is driving back to Houston tommorrow morning to assess the scene and figure out what needs to be done to get our house liveable again.
Please send him good thoughts and prayers as he works over the next few days in what is likely to be an uncomfortable situation - and that the current cool front that will make it so much more bearable lasts...
Thank you Dan, Robyn, Josh and Nathan for being such gracious hosts, and allowing us to share your home with no notice for several days. You guys are awesome, and we had such a fun time visiting with you...
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Waiting
We're still waiting to go back to Houston. Seems that power is still out across much of the city - including the water plant, so our house currently has no power and no water. Consequently, we're not planning on going home until that changes.
A friend stopped by our house to check it out - and it looks like we escaped without damage. We have some large limbs down - including one that will prevent us from using the driveway (until Mark breaks out his chainsaw, that is) - but none that fell on the roof. Also, part of the fence got disconnected - but looks like it's still hanging on (didn't get blown totally away). From his walkthrough (thanks Joe) that sounds like the extent of it for us. Sounds like many, many trees are down all over though.
So now we're just waiting for the power and water to be back and then we can go home! No idea how long that will take - could take a week, I hear. In the meantime, we have the news on almost 24/7, and we just keep waiting...
A friend stopped by our house to check it out - and it looks like we escaped without damage. We have some large limbs down - including one that will prevent us from using the driveway (until Mark breaks out his chainsaw, that is) - but none that fell on the roof. Also, part of the fence got disconnected - but looks like it's still hanging on (didn't get blown totally away). From his walkthrough (thanks Joe) that sounds like the extent of it for us. Sounds like many, many trees are down all over though.
So now we're just waiting for the power and water to be back and then we can go home! No idea how long that will take - could take a week, I hear. In the meantime, we have the news on almost 24/7, and we just keep waiting...
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Ike Update
As I am sure many of you are, we have been monitoring Ike via the news for the last couple of days. Today we spoke with a few friends who stayed behind in Houston - and it looks like everyone is safe - with some minor house/property damage. It seems like the damage, though, is hit or miss - ie one house is spared, but another one has trees knocked down / shingles blown off...Power seems to be out all across Houston, and no one is sure when it will return. So we may be staying put for a while (sorry D&R, we'll try not to get on your nerves too much :) )
If you have been watching the news, the downtown building with all the windows blown
out that they keep showing is across the street from Jones Hall - where the Houston Symphony performs. Officials are advising folks to stay put for a while, but we've had a couple of friends offer to go check on our house when people can go out and about again. Looks like the phone lines are down too - as we've been unable to reach folks via land lines.
We're in a suburb of Dallas now - and it looks like the remainder of Ike will be passing through here in the next few hours. We've had lots of rain and some wind, but nothing serious yet. Benjamin and I enjoyed running outside in the rain for a bit a few hours ago, and all three little Griffith boys are asleep now, so Mark and Dan are working on a home improvement project together. So this evacuation hasn't been so bad so far! But we are hoping to go home before too long - and get back to our lives...
We'll update you when we know more.
Hope all you Texans out there are all safe & dry! :)
If you have been watching the news, the downtown building with all the windows blown
out that they keep showing is across the street from Jones Hall - where the Houston Symphony performs. Officials are advising folks to stay put for a while, but we've had a couple of friends offer to go check on our house when people can go out and about again. Looks like the phone lines are down too - as we've been unable to reach folks via land lines.
We're in a suburb of Dallas now - and it looks like the remainder of Ike will be passing through here in the next few hours. We've had lots of rain and some wind, but nothing serious yet. Benjamin and I enjoyed running outside in the rain for a bit a few hours ago, and all three little Griffith boys are asleep now, so Mark and Dan are working on a home improvement project together. So this evacuation hasn't been so bad so far! But we are hoping to go home before too long - and get back to our lives...
We'll update you when we know more.
Hope all you Texans out there are all safe & dry! :)
Friday, September 12, 2008
We're Here!
Sorry - forgot to post earlier. We made it to Dallas with very little (thankfully!) drama! A bit of traffic coming out of Houston, but we mostly used backroads. Took us 6 hours instead of the usual 4 - which certainly beats the 12 hours it took us during Rita to get to Austin.
So now we're enjoying a fun-filled weekend with the Other Griffiths!! Hope Ike isn't too mean to Houston...
So now we're enjoying a fun-filled weekend with the Other Griffiths!! Hope Ike isn't too mean to Houston...
Thursday, September 11, 2008
IKE!
Yikes! We have a hurricane headed our way! It wasn't supposed to hit Houston, but last night it turned...
We're packing up our stuff, and planning to head out within the hour. We'll be enjoying an unplanned visit with The Other Griffiths (thanks for taking us in, D,R,J&N!) in Dallas. Our biggest worry right now is the traffic. For Rita, it took us 12 hours to get to Austin (should have been a 3 hour drive) - and that was difficult enough WITHOUT a toddler in the backseat! But, hopefully "they've" learned from the Rita experience, and it won't be so bad...
Wish us luck! I'll try to remember to put up a post when we arrive in Dallas to let you know we made it there safely...
We're packing up our stuff, and planning to head out within the hour. We'll be enjoying an unplanned visit with The Other Griffiths (thanks for taking us in, D,R,J&N!) in Dallas. Our biggest worry right now is the traffic. For Rita, it took us 12 hours to get to Austin (should have been a 3 hour drive) - and that was difficult enough WITHOUT a toddler in the backseat! But, hopefully "they've" learned from the Rita experience, and it won't be so bad...
Wish us luck! I'll try to remember to put up a post when we arrive in Dallas to let you know we made it there safely...
Monday, September 08, 2008
Our Trip to Jacksonville
Mark recovered our photos from our trip to Jacksonville, FL in August!!! Our trip included a visit to Starke (our old stomping ground while I was in school & Mark with the JSO), Ben's first trip to the beach, and our friend Kevin's wedding. I've uploaded the photos to our Picasa site. Enjoy!!
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Promise
It's been a hot, long and hard summer. But this morning, Benjamin and I stepped outside first thing in the morning to hit the park. First thing in the morning is the only time it's been bearable to go outside - so we've been trying to take advantage of that lately, as there are relatively few inside places you can successfuly take a toddler to burn off some energy. And when we stepped outside, what did we discover? That it wasn't horrible! Then just now, I stepped out to our carport to grab a few things from the car, and I was struck by the lack of humidity - the absence of hot, muggy air assaulting me. It was refreshing and gave me hope. Hope that this summer might finally come to an end. Hope that we'll be able to someday soon go outside without slathering on sunscreen, without being consumed by misquitos. Hope that the Fall may really arrive, and end this summer that seems to never end.
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