Post Hurricane Sandy

Well it's been almost a week since my last blog post. As many of you know we were hit with a hurricane on Monday, October 29th. Both my office and Daddy's office were closed on Monday in advance of the storm's arrival. We kept the kids home and we got prepared for the storm. We were lucky and didn't lose power until 8:30 on Monday night. Daddy didn't sleep much that night. He patrolled the neighborhood (we have quite a few large trees that could do some damage if they hit the house). Again, we were very lucky. One tree fell in the wires in front of our house but that was it.

Day one without power was fun for the kids. John and Gillian loved playing in their tent (I set it up in the living room). They seemed to eat none stop. Every time I turned around they wanted another snack. John understood about having no power. Gillian did not. Throughout the day she would ask "Micky Mouse? I watch TV?"

Day two was Halloween and still no power. We gave the kids a bath (we have a gas hot water heater) and dresser them in their Halloween costumes. The governor postponed Halloween to next Monday, but w decided it would be fun for the kids to dress up. Plus, we had a mission to find ice. Everyday without power we were slowly losing the contents of our fridge and freezer. Daddy and I found the Ice King in Neptune. We got in line behind easily 15 cars. We told John where we were and he said "He's the king of ice? A penguin?" We waited for our turn in line and as we pulled up to the gentleman selling ice, John rolled down his window. The ice guy laughed at John in his Flash costume. When we told the man it was Halloween. He was shocked. It's amazing how quickly you forget the little thing when you are worried about electric, water and heat for your family. I'm glad that we were able to make him smile at least for a few minutes. We got our ice and wet to visit Mimi and Poppy. Our next stop was Grandma and Grandpa's house. We couldn't stay long at either place we needed to get back home before it got dark. Daddy and I cleaned out the freezer and fridge.

Day three I took the kids to my friend Laura's house. Laura lives in Toms River and she got her power back. We work together so she was more than willing to let the kids watch tv while I got some work done. Plus she let us charge everything and fed us. I am very lucky to have a friend that would take us in for the day. While I was visiting Laura, Daddy was helping Mimi and Poppy with a little cleanup at the dealership. After dinner, we put our jammies on and piled into our bed and watched The Lorax on our iPad. Such a fun night snuggling with the kids watching a movie. We put the kids to bed that night and at 8:30 we got our power back.

Day four after Sandy, we spent the morning cleaning up the disaster of our house. You would be surprised how much of a mess you make with poor lighting. I also spent a good portion of the day doing laundry. I also tried to get caught up on some of my "day job" work. We offered our house to family and friends because we were the first in our family to get power back. The only visitor we received on November 2nd was Kristen. She needed a hot shower. I'm so glad that we could help with that. We also sent a really long extension cord over the back fence to Mr. Matt and Miss Brittany's house. They may live just behind us, but their power is still not on.

Day 5 after Sandy, I gave kids a bath. While I was cleaning out John's ears, he said "Can I see it (the q-tip)?" I showed him and he said "Eww! Ear boogers!" Daddy and John worked on cleaning up the leaves while Gillian and I did a little food shopping. I cooked what couldn't be refrozen plus some pumpkin muffins. It was nice to get back into a little routine of normal life.

I am very thankful for only losing power for three days. I'm also very thankful for nice people. Also for all the utility workers, without them working long hours away from their families we would have power now.

(Below are some pictures from our week)