Kylie's wedding and visit with the Lipsey's

Well life is somewhat getting back to normal around here. I still find myself surprised to pull up to a store that I need something at and it still be closed due to Ike damage. But for the most part, things are back up and running. Brinley starts back to MDO on Tuesday as do most of the school districts, so I think that will bring the normalcy to our lives again. My poor parents still do not have power and are being told it could be until October 8 until they get it. But they have a generator, small room air conditioner and FEMA delivering them lunch and dinner. (FYI, my brother and I have offered millions of times for them to stay with us, but they keep saying no!!) My mom does come over to my house every few days to do laundry and enjoy the AC and TV. I still haven't gotten the courage to drive past Kemah Boardwalk, our favorite waterfront area to eat and let Brinley play. I have cried just looking at the damage from pictures, so I don't think I could handle it in person!

As promised, here are the pictures from Kylie's wedding and our visit with the Lipseys! We had a great time while we were there. It was so much fun watching Brinley and Meredith play together. Hopefully they will grow up and have as many great memories as Rachel and I did! We look forward to seeing them in November when they come to visit us!

Kylie's wedding was beautiful and held by a creek. The weather was gorgeous and the rain held out long enough for the ceremony to be conducted. Once we got inside for the dinner it started to pour! I wish I could have enjoyed the wedding more, but my nerves were rattled worrying about what was going on at home and dealing with a two year old who had been in an airplane or car for the past two days!

Brinley and Meredith watching TV and eating snacks at the hotel
Kylie and Brett's ceremony by the creek
3 of 4 roommates- Wendi, Kylie and Me...we missed you Binns!
Meredith and Brinley posing on the Razorback

Hurricane Ike Damage

Brinley and I flew home from Arkansas yesterday morning. It was very shocking to see all the damage on the way home from the airport. It was so strange to see all the trees, billboards and freeway signs snapped in half. Brinley fell asleep in the car immediately (I think she was so relieved to see her Daddy and be home) and slept the whole way home. Once we got home, I put her in her bed, opened the window (no power) and she slept for the next three hours even with all the buzz saws going in the neighborhood! Luckily, a cool front has made the weather gorgeous and bearable to stand outside.

I took a look around our house to see the damage. I am most saddened by our front yard tree. It was this massive, full oak tree that covered our entire yard. The middle part snapped in half and is now hanging on the other branches that did survive and is in the shape of a Y. We are hoping to get a tree guy here to see if there is a way to trim it so we can save the tree and not have to cut it down.
Our fence fell down on the front, left side and back (right side is still standing!) Which is making it hard to let Rylee outside to go to the bathroom. We have to go out with her because she thinks she has a huge back yard now!

Many shingles were blown off our roof as well as all the protective gravel. Jason saw no problem until it rained Sunday and it leaked into the attic. He got some aluminum spray to temporarily fix the leak until insurance adjuster takes a look at it.

Our extremely tall backyard is still standing but there are tons of big broken branches just sitting on others waiting to fall. We will have to get someone out to professionally trim this tree because it is so tall. Hopefully no big winds will occur until we get this done.

Our neighbor behind us had the side of their house blown off. You can see into their attic and 2nd floor of their house!
After Brinley woke up from her nap, we headed into Baytown to see my parents house. I almost came to tears when I saw the neighborhood I grew up in. Trees laying in houses, flattened cars from trees, and cranes being used to remove the massive trees, it was so devastating! The back part of their neighborhood is on the bay, so we drove back there and saw houses in utter ruins! One house was completely gutted by the water to the point where you could see through the house to the bay (siding, windows, everything gone!) The contents of the house were in trees and scattered around the front yard. My parents house looked bare without their big backyard trees and they will be without power for a while (they are predicting a month) but are thankful for a house that is standing.

On our way home, I prayed the entire time for us to have power. The closer we got, the more I realized it wasn't happening! I was almost in tears as we drove into our black street. As soon as we drove into our driveway and turned the car off the street lights came on...HALLELUJAH!!! Our power was back and everyone in the neighborhood was cheering...some even set off fireworks! Jason was the happiest, who had been living in the dark for 4 days! After a hot shower, we all went to bed and got a great nights sleep!

I went to the grocery store today to attempt to restock my completely empty fridge and freezer and was excited to see them stocking fresh fruit and meat. So we can have a kinda normal dinner tonight (I was expecting to eat PB&J sandwiches for the next week).

I will post later about Kylie's wedding and our visit with the Lipsey's. but this post is already to long!

Update on Hurricane Ike

All my family survived Hurricane Ike with no injuries. All of our houses are standing. That is the good news. Bad news, our house lost all of our fence, most of our huge tree in the front yard and a leaky roof due to missing shingles. Jason said it was pretty scary listening to the 110 mph wind rip things apart. And he is very glad he boarded up the windows since the wind picked up our storage bench on the patio and blew it across the patio into our window! There is still no power and he is miserable surviving on frozen pizzas (he grilled on his BBQ grill), pickles, slim fast (he says for the nutrients) and ham sandwiches!

My brothers house was fine (which is where the rest of my family was hunkering down). My parents got to drive to Baytown yesterday and see their house. The lost a massive tree in their backyard, which flattened their gazebo, swing set, trampoline, and ripped the electric box off their house. It only missed their house by a foot! So as you can see, we have a lot to clean up. Thankfully, no major damage was done to the houses nor did any flooding occur.

I am sitting here in Arkansas waiting for the airport to open (maybe Tuesday, they are telling me) so I can get home. The wedding was beautiful, I just wished I could have enjoyed it more without worrying about what was going on at home. We are enjoying our time we are spending with the Lipsey's. Brinley and Meredith are playing and staying busy.

I will update with pictures when I get home and we get power, which hopefully will be soon!!!!

Hurricane Ike

Brinley and I will be flying out tomorrow for Arkansas to attend my college roommate, Kylie's, wedding. We will be leaving a day early thanks to Ike. Jason is staying behind to watch the house and take care of any damage. We will be returning Sunday (if we have electricity). Everyone please pray this thing isn't as bad as they think it will be!

Day 3: Seaworld

We spent all day Friday at Seaworld. We got there right there when it opened and pretty much had the park to ourselves, which was really nice. Brinley really enjoyed watching the dolphins. It was feeding time, so they were swimming right up to you begging for food. We then went and saw the sea lions. They were being very vocal which made Brinley keep her distance a little. We went to see the Shamu show, which was the highlight of the trip. Brinley was mesmerized by the whales and couldn't keep her eyes off them (the entire 30 minute show!) After the show, we bought a small "mamu" (that is what she calls her shamu), that she still is carrying with her everywhere! We ate lunch and then headed to the small water area that was open. The big water park was closed on Friday due to all the lifeguards being in school, which was a disappointment. But she had a great time playing in the little area.



We headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We were too pooped to do anything else so we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, went swimming and made smores by the fire pits for the rest of the evening. They were doing karaoke in the lobby area for a family reunion (and they could actually sing!), and the music flooded outside to us. Brinley danced while we enjoyed the cool breeze. After putting Brinley to bed, Jason and I watched the latest Indiana Jones movie in our room (a treat!!)

Overall, it was a great trip and we enjoyed experiencing all these new things through her eyes!

Day 2:Children's museum and Gristmill

We woke up Thursday morning and watched the weather. It was going to be really hot with isolated thunderstorms, so we decided to head to the San Antonio Children's museum for the day. Their museum is really big (3 stories) with lots of neat exhibits for the kids to interact with. Brinley had so much fun running from room to room. Once again it wasn't busy so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Her favorite rooms were the dentist office (she liked brushing the big teeth and answering the big phone) and the bubble room. After a whole morning of running, we went to lunch and back to the hotel for a nap.

For dinner we headed to Gruene, Tx (right outside of New Braunfels) to my favorite restaurant, The Gristmill. When I was growing up our family vacation every summer was to New Braunfels. So I have been eating at this restaurant pretty much since I was born. It is more well known now and has been expanded, but it still has the best chicken fried steak I have ever had! It is a old rustic building outside overlooking the Guadalupe River. Once we sat down, Brinley enjoyed looking over the railing to see the river...until the flies started landing on her. For some background info, the mosquito's have been HORRIBLE at our house the past 2 weeks due to all the rain. You can't open our door without a swarm of them coming in. Brinley has been getting bit all over her arms and legs and realizing they hurt as they bite. So when the flies were landing on her, she automatically thought they would bite and started whining. This carried on throughout the entire meal. So we ate quickly! It was great to have my chicken fried steak, I just wish I could have enjoyed it!
After dinner we walked down to the river. The sun was setting and it was very relaxing just to hear the water flowing. Jason taught Brinley how to throw rocks in the river and that kept her entertained for quite some time. We then took a long walk back up the hill (harder for me than Jason and Brinley) and headed back to the hotel for a great night rest before Sea world in the morning.

San Antonio River walk

We recently took our family vacation to San Antonio for a long labor day weekend. We got up Wednesday morning and started our 4 hour drive. Surprising, Brinley rode really well and didn't ask to watch a movie until an hour into the drive. Once we got to the hotel, we unpacked and headed to the swimming pool to stretch our legs for a few hours. It is so much easier taking her to the pool now that she can hold her self up and swim around.

After swimming, we got cleaned up and headed into downtown San Antonio to the river walk. Since it was during the 1st week of school, the river walk was deserted! We walked right into a restaurant and ate...which never happens!!! After dinner we walked up and down the river walk as Brinley had to stop and watch all the ducks that were begging for food from the restaurant patrons. We took the boat tour, which we all enjoyed. On our way back to the car we stopped by the Alamo to have our picture taken in front of it. It was closed for the evening, but we were satisfied for a picture (we have been there before and thought Brinley wouldn't enjoy it at such a young age).

Jason and Brinley on the river walk

The Alamo

Brinley and I enjoying the boat ride