Hurricane Sandy Weekend

Friday we were all certain the Hampton Roads area would feel the effects of Sandy. So, my sister quickly made the decision to change Andy's birthday party from Sunday to Friday night. After work I rushed home, changed clothes and we headed straight for the grocery store before it was too crazy. I stocked up on the usual items and got some bottled water and stuff just to be prepared. Then we went straight to Andy's birthday party. The girls' had a great time and Andy loved opening his presents all by himself this year. He got some really cute things. Steve's mom came from New York to spend a week with them and she finally got to see baby Ella.

Saturday we went down the road for Chuckatuck's first Founders Day. This event was sponsored by the Historical Foundation and was an event to socialize, eat, dance, and to show off the newly renovated Gwaltney's Store. This is what my dad has worked so hard on since May. Bo and Steve have done a lot to help him too. The doors were opened to the community for the first time. We took the girls to the Halloween costume contest - Hannah won First Place for her "Little Bo Peep" costume (her sheep obsession) and Emma won Funniest Costume for her "LaLa Loopsy" costume. We had some BBQ, talked to lots of people and then went to the store to be present while people came to take a look around.

the girls in their costumes

me, Lindsay and the kids

costume contest

face painting

yum!!

ride to the store! this is how they were transporting people around town - and the weather started showing itself right around this time

mom and  Bo in the store

And... look who was in the paper the next day!!

We got back home around 3:00 and by then it was raining. We realized we would probably be in the house for quite awhile and sure enough - we were. Bo made some chicken dip for us to snack on. I started laundry in case we lost power. Sunday was more rainy - bell choir was supposed to perform at church, but it was cancelled. So, we all slept until 9:30!! We spent more of the day doing small projects around the house - rearranged Emma's room, cleaned bathrooms, updated baby books, etc. It was really nice to stay home and get things done. School was cancelled Monday as they were predicting the worse of the winds that day. It did pick up around lunch on Monday. Our back furniture was scooting across the backyard. We were watching our trees carefully. Just as we thought we were in the clear Monday evening - power went out. It was out for about 2 hours. We played board games by flashlight and then at one point we were all on the couch under a blanket - each of us on our electronic devices (the girls on their leap pads) and even Lilly was with us on the couch. It started getting really cold. Bo started looking up hotel rooms because my parents were out of power too. Just as he was doing that the power came back on. We had a two hour delay this morning - still cloudy, cold and misty with on and off rain, but other than that it was okay. 

That was pretty much our extended weekend - a whole lot of staying home, playing indoors, cleaning and sleeping late. I have seen several pics from Nags Head and there is a lot of damage - a pier lost, roads torn up, lots of flooding, pools ripped to  shreds, etc. I think VA Beach was okay - lots of flooding in Norfolk though. 

Also - we FINALLY closed on the old house last Thursday. At least that is one thing cleared from the list.