Unsupervised Children

The kids came home with a bucket of toads.  I knew that had the toads and I knew they were playing with them in the back yard. The kids knew that they would have to release the toads before dinner, so I wasn't too worried.  What I did not know was how much fun it would be to pick up my camera and discover this:

Obligatory First Day of School Pictures!

I know, no one but moms and maybe grandparents care about the first day of school pictures, but here they are anyway!! 

This school does the first day differently.  The big kids started school a few days before the Kindergarten did.  Delaney was so sad.  Callie was so cross, because it was not fair!

 Here are my favorite big kids, making silly faces before their first day of school.  I love these kids!  I especially love that Marian is smiling and that Joshua and Callie were being so goofy.

 And then the 3 of them did some hip thrusts for me and I laughed so hard I couldn't take any more pictures.  They are my favorites!  They did have a good first day and have had pretty good days so far.  However, there was the little matter of Hurricane Isaac that cancelled an entire week of school.  Delaney did not get to start Kinder on time as she had hoped.  She had to wait an entire week longer!

Here she is, all dressed and ready to go.  This school also had the Kinders start school an hour later on the first day.  So the big kids headed in at 8, and she didn't start till 9. I'm not a fan of that, I think.

They did make it a big deal though and the kids all met in the gym.  I'm not sure why, since there was a huge bottleneck when they sent us off to class and it took 20 minutes to get out. 

We were in no rush to get to class.  Delaney is in the same class as her best friend James and they were running all over having a ball together. I thought they were so cute!

 I got to walk Delaney to class and she found her seat and settle right in.  She was so excited!  As was I. The school had "Krispy Kreme and Kleenex" for the parents in the library.  I went for the donuts.  No tears from this mom!

Here are Delaney and James, after a successful first day of Kindergarten!   Hooray!

Have Dog, Can Evacuate!

Running from A hurricane with a dog can provide some special challenges!  Thank goodness we have a pretty good dog and a phenomenal sister in law!   Let's see how things went.

Here's Levi, very excited about this new adventure.  He really really really wanted to see what was going on and his nose would slowly creep closer and closer to the front.  He was great about the drive and was content to eat and drink in a gas station parking lot.  

 Aunt Kera is quite allergic to dogs and she was incredibly gracious to let us defile her home with one.  Levi was restricted to the front room.  He doesn't look too distressed about it!

He really wanted to be with everyone else, but he was great about staying where he had to be.  Note the many towels on the chair.  The towels are to dry him off after being outside, and the chair is so the kids can climb over the gate.  It worked out much better than I had expected. 

This was a good investment.  I knew that hauling the big metal crate would be a pain, so we got this little pop-up dog kennel to go in Levi's 72 hour kit.  No, it won't keep him in if he really decided he wants out, but it served its purpose.  At least one child slept in this room each night so Levi would not be lonely, and he didn't bust out of his kennel. 

He did enjoy the spacious backyard a lot!  So much fun to race around and chase stuff!  And so many kids to play with made it even more fun. 

I was surprised how long he stayed on the trampoline!  He hung out with the kids for a while before leaping off.  

After being away for a week and hanging out in the little room, we headed home.  Levi was marvelous.  He sat with Callie for a bit and spent most of the trip napping on the floor space.  He was fantastic for the drive. 

And Levi was very happy to be home and napping in his own "cave" under the table!

In case you need to make a Doggie 72 Hour Kit, here is what is now in ours!

Pop up Kennel

Poop pick up bags

Spare collar and leash

Small plastic food dish

Deep but small sturdy water dish

Doggie Water Bottle

Brush

Towel

Poncho (for taking him for walks in the rain!)

Several toys

Dog Food with scoop

Rawhide chews

Doggie Treats

A flashlight

Levi's file (has his shot record and all his info) and I need to add a photo of him with us.

I'm thinking about adding piddle pads, because you never know when a disposable waterproof pad might come in handy.

The Rest of the Story

Yeah, yeah, you know we fled hurricane Isaac.  If you watched any news, you'll recognize Plaquemines Parish.  That's our parish. Fortunately, we live in the part that's not surrounded by levees and filled with water.  Unfortunately, some moron put our power substation in a swamp and despite the hurricane moving on,  there was no power, and no clue when there might be any power.  Dan had been granted voluntary evacuation through Tuesday, but we'd been hearing all kinds of things about mold, misery and lack of power, and I was scared to go home.  

We stayed at Andy's house and had a great time, despite the stress of the unknown waiting for us at home.  Delaney loved borrowing her cousin's nightdress. 

I loved staying up late playing 5 Crowns! 

I believe I may have gotten a nap in as well...... 

Callie got a hair cut and declared Grandma's skills to be far superior to mine.  I'll concede that.  

Delaney also got a trim, as did a plethora of other children. I love putting Grandma to work! 

We also had our first Home Depot experience.  I'd heard of their kid workshops, but never done one. 

 What fun!  And the kids had a great time.  Using tools and paint, what's not to love?!

Here are all the kids, plus cousins and their final products.  Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 5 little football goals either!  Any ideas?!

Much fun was had playing in the enormous backyard and on the trampoline.  Torturing the dog was a favored pastime as well.  Levi bore it well. 

We planned to head home Monday.  I was worried about the traffic, the lack of power, what we'd find at home, sleeping in a hot powerless house..... I really didn't sleep much while we were away!  Imagine my delight to wake up Monday morning and hear that electricity had been restored.  One week of no power and it had finally come to an end.  We loaded up the car, tossed kids and dog in and we were off!

Yep, it was smooth sailing all the way home!  You can barely see the Louisiana border sign there, and it is missing a chunk. 

Hooray, the Dairy Dip is open!  There was no place in town to buy gas, but aside from that, it really didn't look too bad.  There weren't any signs of flooding, and there wasn't a lot of damage.  Just trees down and other stuff you'd see from any storm.  Any big storm, that is.

And this entire fence blown over was the worst thing we saw in town. 

We'd heard so much about mold growing in houses and on stuff that I feared what we'd find.  I was delighted to discover.... nothing!  Because we'd been gone and the house was locked up tight, the temp didn't get as high and the humidity wasn't so bad in our house to grow mold.  We have a thermometer in the house that tells you the high and low temp and humidity for the previous 12 hours.  Power had been on for about 15 hours when we got home, and the highest shown were 77% humidity and 82 degrees hot.  So no signs of mold or water damage, although the towels I'd left in front of the doors were saturated and there is a water mark to see how far the water got in the dining room.  No biggie.

There was a stink.  It was the milk souring in the fridge.  I hauled 4 garbage bags out from the fridge and freezer.  It was so sad!  All my lovely food, tossed in the trash.  It was quite depressing.  Then I cleaned my fridge. 

This is my new best friend!  I've always loved USAA and I've been with them since I turned 18 and got my driver's license.  We have renter's insurance through them as well.  They had set up shop here, in the parking lot of the Exchange.  The girls and I went and hung out for a bit.  They gave us toys, water and T-shirts while we waited.  Then they reimbursed me for all my food loss!  No deductible.  I was giddy with joy!  And then I went to the commissary and scoured its bare shelves.  

Okay, it wasn't that bad.  But it was feast or famine.  No lunch meat or bacon, but plenty of dairy products.  Not much fresh produce, but some.  Absolutely no frozen food at all.  Fortunately, I got enough of what I needed and felt successful.

It is good to be home.  It is fantastic to be home and have electricity and a full fridge!  It is good to be moving on with life.

And I downloaded my pictures and found this self portrait and had to smile!  

I love a happy ending!

Hurricane Evacuation Lessons Learned

Dan is excited that he can check "Evacuate from Hurricane" off of his bucket list.  I am excited to have learned a few things.  First, let's go over the things we did right:

I had a suitcase that was 95% packed and ready to grab and go sitting in my closet.  I had a doggie evacuation kit for the dog all ready to go. We were able to get out of the house in under an hour from the time the decision was made to leave.  This includes the time to load the car, get kids ready, and take out the trash.  Extra time was spent wrangling the big metal dog kennel onto the roof.  So we were good on time.  We left with a light load, and a full tank of gas.  All we packed was 3 suitcases (1 for me and the 4 girls, 1 that Joshua packed for himself and did and awesome job with, and 1 for Dan.), dog evacuation kit (which is a backpack), a full cooler of meat from the fridge and other perishables, porta crib for Rylee, a bag of food in case we were stuck on the road longer than anticipated, and whatever important pillows, blankets and toys the kids managed to pack and haul to the car.  So we had plenty of room.  We had the bare minimum of stuff necessary to run from a storm.  Oh, I also had our important documents file with all the important papers and an emergency cash fund.

What I can improve on:
We had the best case scenario for travel.  If we'd spent longer on the road or had to drive through awful weather, we might have wanted some towels and rain slickers, because the dog would need to go out to pee still.  I should have packed a toothbrush, but I forgot it! I packed for refugee status- all the clothes were things the kids wouldn't miss and I didn't put anything in there for church or exercise.  I haven't run in a week now! I wish I'd brought running gear. The only shoes we brought were the ones on our feet, and I could not find my matching comfy sandal as I left, so I'm wearing beat up flip-flops.  Yep, every day! Church is tomorrow and I'm grateful for cousins about the same size and good thrift stores. I'm pretty sure I'll be returning with twice as much stuff as we left.   The biggest thing I wish I had done differently was our fridge.  They told us to empty it out before we left.  I figured we'd be okay for 3-4 days and I was sure we'd be back by then.  Oops. I did take the meat so it wouldn't rot, but I didn't have room in the cooler and I didn't want to throw everything else away.  (And we were trying to get out fast.)  So I didn't do it.  Now I am very sorry I didn't.  We head back home on Monday- exactly one week since we left.  I am afraid what I will find. 

What will I do next time?  I'll do the same thing we did this time.  And..... I'll plan for the worst.  I will pack my running shoes. I will pack church clothes. I will put all the food in the fridge into double sealed zip lock bags if I'm not going to throw it away.  I will make Dan drive his own car so I'm not tethered to his schedule.

And even if I don't do anything differently, we have been okay.  We have what we need.  We have walmart for whatever I forgot, and we have my amazing sister-in-law for everything else.  We have been truly blessed and I am grateful.

I also feel the need to do a shout out to NAS JRB Nola.  I am really glad we are not there with no power, but I am really impressed with the things the base is doing to try to make people more comfortable.  The FB page may not have all the answers, but is doing a good job of posting info as it comes in.  There are buildings on base that are open and generator-run, and people are invite to go cool off, charge things and hang out.  There is a place offering free meals, there is ice, MRE's and water available, and a building you can sleep in if you can't stand the heat in your house. One place is even offering some washers and dryers for those who need to do laundry.  This is a crazy time and the base has been without power since Tuesday.  I am impressed with the efforts to make life as bearable as possible.