Four Kids, Two Adults, One Bunny, And A Hurricane

I’ve lived in Florida my whole life. Summer rain showers, warm weather into November (and sometimes December), and occasional hurricanes are all part of life here. More often than not, the hurricanes tend to be more “prepare-for-a-hurricane-and-get-a-heavy-rainstorm” kind of events. But sometimes, they’re the real thing. And everyone knew Irma was the real thing as we watched her devastate the Caribbean islands and then make her way toward us.

The days prior to the hurricane were nerve-wracking and incredibly stressful. We were trying to get prepared and not scare the mess out of the boys. These are a few things that consumed those days:

Making multiple trips to Publix to ensure we had food for several days without electricity…

Constantly watching the news updates (not calming AT ALL)…

(This satellite image was scary and amazing at the same time…)

Playing in the backyard and letting Olaf run around before we were all cooped up in the house for who knows how long..

Posting some truths on 39ish Life’s Facebook and Instagram… 🙂

And then, as Sunday afternoon brought rain and wind, letting us know Irma was on her way, we set up our “safe space” in our hallway and gathered our radio and flashlights. Irma’s outer bands brought the first fallen limb through our pool screen Sunday evening. Thankfully, torn and fallen pool screens were the extent of our home damage.

We had a little front door visitor during the first few hours of the storm!

Sawyer and I watched from the kitchen window as this huge tree fell into the power lines behind our house!

Jeff and I tried to stay positive throughout the night as we lost electricity and listened to the radio for updates.

The boys–and the bunny–slept through the worst part of the storm. Whew!

Waking up to no electricity meant board games, coloring books, Playdoh, puzzles, blocks, books and, of course, obstacle courses!

And then, Monday afternoon came and we knew the high winds were past us, so we started the clean-up. It would be three days before the trucks made it to our street to remove the fallen trees, but the boys loved watching for them from our backyard, and were amazed at the process when they did finally get to see them in action.

We made it through with only fallen trees, torn pool screens and several days without power. It was frightening and uncomfortable, but we got through it and we’re OK! The boys were amazing through the whole ordeal. This was my Facebook post about their awesome attitude during the craziest two weeks of their lives so far: (click on photo)

Love (and be grateful for the other side of the storm) more,

Dana