Hurricane Irene

Boys,

This past Sunday we experienced Hurricane Irene, and all of her glory. For the whole week the news spoke about how bad it was going to be, people were put into a frenzy, and throughout every store the shelves for water were completely bare, as well as the section for flashlights. People were preparing for the worst, even Daddy went to Target on Thursday to purchase some things just in case we needed them. Daddy didn't think the storm would be as bad as people said it would be, and the last Hurricane that hit us really bad Daddy missed because he was on a family vacation in Florida. So, as Sunday approached we all got ready to take on the Hurricane together.

By the time Sunday came around and Hurricane Irene graced us with her presence she was already weakened. So, our big storm didn't turn out nearly as big as people made it out to be. It was nothing but really strong wind (which the two of you liked to look at through the storm door, as well as the window), but who knew such a weakened storm could cause such devastation!? It took out a wire down the street and we lost power at 9AM on Sunday morning! The horror of you two little monsters without electricity to maintain some kind of common ground. Mommy and Daddy didn't think the power would be out for that long, so when it did first go out it wasn't that bad and sort of peaceful to not have all kinds of noises going off. Minutes, turned into hours, hours turned into a day!

On the first day Boys we brought out the Toy Story tent and let the two of you play inside of it. Jonathan you did not like this nearly as much as Benjamin did and you refused to stay in it. Benjamin, you kept going in and out of the tent and occasionaly you would poke your head and scream "Boo!" what a silly boy you were! Jonathan, you would go up to the tent and try to make it crash from the outside. The tent only entertained the two of you for so long before you grew bored with it and wondered when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse would come back on. Daddy started to get a little stir crazy as well because the power would not come back on, and in the meantime plenty of people were bragging about how the power in their homes never went out.

Soon it was nap time for Jonathan and while Jonathan took his nap Benjamin, the two of us watched RIO for, Daddy can't even remember how many times we have watched this movie, but the lap top still had some battery power left and RIO was on the lap top so it only made sense we watched it. The battery lasted just long enough to finish watching the movie before we shut it down and now you too Benjamin were going to take a nap. You fought it for so long because you didn't have the luxury of the AC making the room nice and cool, but not only making the room nice and cool, but drowning out the noises from the passing cars and motorcycles, or the barking dogs, that kept you awake and scared. Finally you gave up and took your nap.

After nap time we went over to Grandma's house because she had a generator running and we could enjoy some lights while the sun started to set. Mommy and Daddy played Clue with Grandma, Uncle Scott, and Auntie Sara. Daddy won all three games! We went back home and it was early bed time due to the lack of power and the very next day we continued without power for the duration of the day. Daddy's work didn't even have power!

The electricity came back on by 8:30PM the next night and thank God for that! We had been over Grandma's house again as Mommy had to work and she made us some dinner! So when the power came back on we went back home and you two quickly went over to the television and caught up on some lost time.

Daddy thought at first not having power was the worst thing that could have happened to us. He was bitter to the people that did have power, but in the end it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We were able to spend some quality time together as a family without the television cutting in, without the internet taking over our time, without modern day technology interrupting our time together. So, in a way we were luckier than the people that didn't have their power go out, because while we were bonding with each other and trying to think of creative ways to pass the time those people were still going on with their regular normal day routines of relying on pictures on a screen to captivate their imaginations and get through the day. But, please guys, let's hope for no more Hurricanes any time soon.

Love Always,

Dad