Hurricane Irene - Chaos Style.

On Thursday I started to hear more and more about the impending hurricane. I realized some of our friends lived by waters and made the offer to be their emergency shelter. After I picked Eric off the floor when he got the news we got the house ready for the possibility of company. Friday afternoon we got the call. They were on their way. The kids were excited. Slumber party! We had a delicious dinner of most of their supplies out of their freezer and settled in the the first night - cocktails were a flowing. Kids were upstairs, Danielle and Brian got the playroom. Saturday was without a hitch. We took Logan with us to a birthday party in Ashburn which was at a moonbounce park so they got Chaos to themselves and were able to monitor their local media as much as they could for updates on Kent Island - which isn't much. Media apparently doesn't understand that they exist. After we got back the kiddos had dinner, played video games, watched TV and all was well. The winds started to pick up. We locked down the upstairs and huddled downstairs. Kiddos and I and our dog in one room. Danielle, Brian, Logan & Arden in the playroom - tight quarters for all but the important thing was safety! It got louder and louder and I got to admit - I don't think any of the adults slept very well that night. Around 2:30 a.m. the power went out. Eric kindly informed me that our heads were right by a window and that we could be killed any moment from flying debris. He turned and slept the other way on the room. I was already giving half of my space to the petrified dog so I decided to just risk it. Sunday morning, still no power but all were safe, no damage to house, a few branches down but no big deal! We got power back around 10:45 a.m. The kids were overjoyed and the TV got turned on immediately. The adults were overjoyed because the kids could quit asking to do every single thing that demanded power. The Hollands got the great news that power was restored to their place and it was safe - the winds had shifted from the storm to north so there was no storm surge and it kept the water from swamping their island. Victory to all! I'm glad they came to stay with us. I'm sure they don't believe me, but it was a great diversion from the impanding storm, the kids were entertained and we truly enjoyed their company!

Earthquake?! Nah....its an avalanche

So I got home from having quite the day with the city in shutdown and panic to find two VERY excited children to greet me.

Kids: Mom! Did you feel the avalanche?! It was AWESOME!
Me: it was an earthquake. Yes I felt it. Were you scared?
Kids: Nope - the car gave us a ride and it was fun! Then we went to the Giant. There was wine all over the floor. Nana would NOT be happy.
Then they laughed and laughed.

Visited the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in Thurmont, MD.

They loved the camel ride!

They got to feed this camel popcorn on the safari ride.

Another one of the koi ponds.

This zoo was a wonderful surprise. It was clean, the animals looked well-cared for and it really was just an hour away. There were three koi ponds (pluses for Trevor), minature ponies on the safari ride (pluses for Heather), camel rides, a hurricane simulator, a couple of playgrounds and lots of animals. Plus the added bonus is the random buildings scattered throughout the property containing small reptiles which also had air conditioning so we were able to cool off when the humidity got to be too much. The kids got to witness them moving some alligators as well as an added bonus. I took a couple of videos - the first one is of the big koi pond. I love listening to the kids shreiks of joy and Trevor's comment at the end is just too funny!

The next video is of Heather in the hurricane simulator. She just loved it and kept asking to go back in but I told her one time was plenty.

Lake Anna Family Reunion Weekend.

Kids and I hit Lake Anna yet again to meet up with the family and Alesky's from New York. I had already promised the kids we'd go horseback riding. Mike, Stephanie and her boyfriend Tom decided to join us. It was great fun! I was shocked that Trevor got his own horse. The horse took him on their own ride a few times but the instructor was able to retrieve him before they got too far. I kept telling Trevor to pull back on the reins. He did a great job stopping the horse! Heather berated Stephanie and her "slow" horse the entire time before finally deciding to pass her. She then proceeded to continually turn around and heckle Stephanie. I guess she has some of her mother's competitiveness in her. She also managed to pass Trevor's horse and was going to do yet another pass before the instructor told her to knock it off. After the ride, we went back to Tom's. The kids swam, caught minnows, caught fish (big and little ones), caught toads, and Trevor finally caught his much-prized five-lined skink that he was on a mission to catch! We had great fun. Below is some short video of the ride.