El Derecho and all that followed

Last month we experienced a force of nature like no other.  Now between Mattias and I, we've experienced the Loma Prieta and Luzon (Philippines) earthquakes, El Nino, hurricanes, typhoons, Snowmagedon, Snowpocalypse-- none has compared the terror caused by "El Derecho".  It was late on a Friday night when we were getting ready for bed in the upstairs bathroom.  All of a sudden the wind started howling, and Mattias immediately thought it was a tornado.  Just then, there was a large boom and the power went out.  5 feet away a large section of our neighbors ancient/gargantuan tree fell down, nearly missing us in the bathroom.

 We grabbed the kids and head down to the basement, worried there was more to come.  But after a half hour of howling winds and rain, things started to calm down.  The kids were surprisingly calm, but very aware of the dangerous situation.  They never cried, followed all of our directions, and held us tightly the entire time. 

 In the morning it was much easier to see the damage.  Here is the other "branch" that fell, hitting our neighbors' cars across the street.  Now this storm could not have come at a worse time-- we were in the middle of a 100+ heat wave which was expected to go on for another 5 days.  And it was 2 days before Linus' birthday party.  Defeated, we rescheduled the party and moved in with Kerstin and Magnus, who still had power.

 5 days later on the 4th of July, power crews from the South (South Carolina, or Georgia maybe) came and restored power to our block.  We celebrated with a front yard fireworks display. At bedtime, the boys watched the US Capitol fireworks show from their bedroom window.

 The following weekend all of our friends came to celebrate Linus' 4th birthday.  4, can you believe it?  We had a pirate themed party complete with a Caribbean inspired menu of jerk chicken, rice and peas, shrimp and avocado ceviche, and fresh tropical fruit.  And just for Linus, I made a pirate ship birthday cake.

 The real show stopper was the pirate ship play house built by Kerstin and Magnus.  They were out in the 100+ degree heat for 5 hours working diligently to complete assembly before the party. 

I also followed tradition by making a homemade pinata, one that is flimsy enough for toddlers/preschoolers to break.  Unfortunately I am a crappy engineer and we had some technical difficulties.  But after a little jerry rigging, we were able to continue with the games, giving Maben the honor of busting open the skull full of booty.

After the kids collected their booty, it was time to fire up the canons and sing "Happy Birthday" to our boy. 

While that week was a stressful one, it will definitely go down as an interesting time in our family's history.  We survived it, but even better, we stuck together and found a way to make the best of the situation.

Our scallywag