2012 Week 27

4th of July

Despite not making plans of any kind, it turned out to be a pretty good (and full) day.  We took the kids out for a walk/bike ride first thing in the morning before it got too hot.  And when it quickly warmed up we took the kids to the pool.

We timed leaving the pool pretty well as a big storm hit not all that long after we were back home.  And when I say big, I mean big and crazy and loud.  The lightning was hitting so closely that we not only unplugged anything expensive, but we turned off the breaker to the house.

The kids were a bit scared and used their stuffed animals for comfort.  Kaitlyn only needed her dog, Crazy, but Tyler brought down a whole army of stuffed friends.  We all sat around the dining table and played card games until the storm was over and we could turn the power back on.  Even with all the power off, one of the flashes hit so close the power surge caused the smoke detectors to squeal a couple of times.

Luckily the storm moved on well before we wanted to head to the base to catch some of the festivities there.  They had a whole line up of different bands playing all day.

When we arrived Gloriana was on the stage (I'm told that's a resonably famous country group).  There were tons of people but we found a spot reasonably close to the stage.  Little did we know that was not the main stage, which was set up across the field and used for the rest of the performances that night.  So hearing and seeing what was going on was a bit hard.  But we were mainly there to wait for the fireworks so we stayed in place and tried to enjoy ourselves.

The kids got funnel cake and lemonade and thought that part was great.

During the flag ceremony

And Kaitlyn waiting for the fireworks.  Tyler fell asleep about half an hour before the fireworks began and though we woke him up to see the fireworks, I'm not sure if he managed to keep his eyes open for much of the show.  Kaitlyn thought it was great though, and they did put on a decent fireworks show.

Sam had the rest of the week off work so Thursday we headed to the beach.  (Wrightsville Beach)

The kids really love the waves and the water. 

We were all pretty tired that day (of course - busy day the day before and the late night) so when rain started to threaten after we had been there about 3 hours we packed up and headed home.

We pulled into the driveway just as the rain really let loose and really rushed to get showered and everything put away so we could unplug everything and turn the power off again.  The rain storm was just as crazy as the day before - crazier even as we got some big chunks of hail too.  They hit hard and heavy, but never last long.

The rain took a break for a couple hours and we noticed quite a bit of damage around the neighborhood.  Our house was fine, but more than one neighbor was missing sections of their fence or gate, including one that had an entire side of their wooden fence blown down and another that had the vinyl ripped off 7 sections in a row.  There were some chairs and garbage cans and different things blown to different houses and of course plenty of sticks and leaves all over the place.  We took a walk around the neighborhood to see how everything fared and discovered the pool area in disarray.  All of the umbrella tables were tipped over (with one through the fence and another dangerously close to the glass doors on the clubhouse) and chairs were blown and scattered, with a couple taking a dip in the almost over-full pool.

Friday I headed to Audrey's to help her with a big painting project.  The kids stayed home with Sam (and from what I hear they had a great time) and she got a babysitter for her kids and we painted all day long, taking a break at dinner time to pick up more paint and go out to dinner.  (and mmmm dinner was good - she convinced me to try shrimp and grits and her fav southern style restaurant and I was very happy she did.)  Plus we stopped for frozen yogurt to eat once we finished our painting for the night - a fantastic reward.  I think we made it to bed around midnight.  Saturday morning we did touch ups and removed the tape.  I helped her move some furniture around then headed home after lunch.  Kaitlyn was just finishing up at a birthday party for a neighbor friend, then we all went to the pool.  It was hot hot hot and the pool was pretty warm itself.  I was so tired I almost fell asleep on a lounger (and that's pretty tired - I hate naps).   We all needed Sunday to rest and recover from all the fun.  In fact, I'm not sure that was enough - I'm still tired!