Boom went the transformer

So the really wet snow fell and within an hour our trees were bending backwards.  And then they started breaking.  Tree limbs *SNAP* falling to the ground.  On the cars, the street, barely missing the houses.  And then, *BOOM* one hits the transformer in front of our house and out went the lights.

We get a D when it come to storm preparedness.  We had no wood for the fire, no matches (I used them all over Christmas and hadn't replaced them yet), and 1 flashlight with low batteries.  Thanks to Neena, we were saved.  She bought us a really cool LED flashlight for Christmas and I knew exactly where it was.

I went to the basement and gathered extra blankets for my sleeping beauties.  Then I curled up in my bed to call Alex.

He was in transit home from the hospital.  And it was scary out there.  The government had an early release that day, sending A LOT of people home from work at 3pm.  The storm struck at 4pm.  Everyone was stuck in gridlock on the roads.  It took people hours...literally hours...one person reported a 10 hour drive that usually took 30 minutes.  Cars were stuck, stranded.  Traffic lights off.  Total nightmare.

Alex finally made it home.  The thunder and lightening continued and our transformer gave us a light show.

We went to sleep and woke up.  Cold.  Out we headed to our local diner for some hot coffee and pancakes.  Then to the church because it was warm there.  It was the perfect place to stay and play--friends came, lots of toys, movies, and even cribs in the nursery.  And then a great snow ball fight on the play ground.  Eloise was not afraid to get in the mix of it.  I think she was trying to impress a certain 8 year old boy that day.

The lights did not come back on Thursday night so we headed to our dear friends for a yummy dinner and a family sleepover.  In fact, we got to sleepover 2 nights.  And it was a fun, bonding experience.  We thank God for such hospitable friends.

I unfortunately didn't take but 1 photo of our time with our friends, the Ewings.  We were too busy with the 5 children between us and chit chatting and laughing.  At one point, the children were well occupied, so my friend Annemarie threw me a paper and said to sit back and relax for a while.  We chuckled because when was the last time I kicked up my feet in the middle of the day to read the paper?  Oh yeah, never.

So I did just that.  I read all about the storm we had just weathered.  One story struck me.  A young woman (one of very many) was stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the night Wednesday.  She desperately tried to hitch a ride to a safer location.  She says, BMWs, Audis, Mercedes, all kinds of cars passed her until finally a very old and beaten up car pulled over.  An older, ragged looking man told her to get in.  He took her where she needed to go.  He had apparently been driving around all night Wednesday helping stranded people.  If that man wasn't an angel, he was divinely inspired for sure.

It was so nice to parent with my friend for the day.

And the girls loved it too!

Saturday at noon, the lights came back on.  And our little almost-4-year-old screamed all the way home.  She did not want to leave her friends.  How sad the girls were that the lights were back.

And while I'm sitting cozy in my warm house on my computer right now, I'm a little sad too.  It was so good to be together.

Next time we'll just do it at the beach, right?  :-)