Two-Wheelin'

With such nice temperatures during the week after the storm, and time on our hands (no work, no school, no damage to fix), we got Marian to learn to ride her bike!

Day 1, she wasn't too sure about it, but she was keeping her balance a lot better than she had a few months ago, when last we tried. Day 2, she was doing good and she went by herself a short ways a few times. Day 3, she took off on her own almost immediately, and got herself started without any help after that! Yay!

Hurricane a-blowin'

Getting ready for Ike. Dad helped us board up some of the windows.

Winds blowing Friday night, east to west.

The power went out around midnight, and we were awakened by gusts all through the night. I woke up at about 5:40am on Saturday to eerie silence.

After checking the battery-powered tv, I confirmed that the eye was right over us.

Marian had been wanting to experience the eye, so I was glad that she woke up for a bit so I could show her.

By 7am, the eye had passed and we were in the storm again. Now the winds come west to east.

Here's a little clip from 8:30am. The worst was passed, but we still had several more hours to go.

Our street had very little damage, mostly broken branches. We drove around our neighborhood on Monday, and saw lots of fences down, lots of uprooted trees, and trees leaning or sitting on houses, but not crashed through them.

The power lines are the only thing holding this tree up.

The only serious damage that we could see at the preschool was at the playground.

"Ram Tough" I first saw the truck with the tree still on it, and it is the tree that is cut up into logs behind the truck. There's another tree down in the background.

The roof over the pumps got blown down and is on the other side of the lot.

We lost the contents of the fridge on Monday. Lost the freezer on Tuesday. We were worried about ice by Monday. The 5-day cooler was doing well, but I bought the ice on Thursday, so we needed to replenish. Tried to get to a POD (FEMA point of distribution) on Monday, but decided we would waste our gas trying to inch along in the line. Thomas went to another POD early on Tuesday, and got in the walk-up line. It took 4 hours, but he got 2 small bags of ice, so we could keep our milk and cheese for a few more days. I ran to the grocery store (on a generator) and they happened to have a few pallets of ice while I was there, so we had 2 more small bags!

We were breathing easier by mid-week when many of the nearby grocery stores and restaurants had regained power or were running on generators. Plus, a cool front came in on Monday and kept the temperature nice for several days and nights (very unusual for one to last so long in Sept). By Friday, the cool front had run its course and it was starting to get hot again. It was a fairly yucky weekend with high temps and high humidity which is just really hard to sleep in. We all did the Happy Dance when the lights came back on Monday evening!

Cowgirl

Marian has decided she wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up. We started lessons in September and got one in before Ike hit.

Marian loved it! I was more apprehensive because I don't like to be so near horses. But they want the parents to learn right beside the kids, so if you go to another place to ride horses (like on vacation) you'll know if they are taking care of the horses and doing it all correctly or not. Unfortunately, I think I'm the only parent that has NO experience with horses, so they have to go fundamental with us. Marian can't wait to go back!
Marian walking Prince


Marian getting on Prince


Marian riding Prince next to her instructor

First Days of School

Marian started 3rd grade while we were in Scotland. She's excited to have 2 teachers this year (She switches with the room across the hall for reading).

Brennan and Aidan started at preschool on Sept 2nd. Brennan is in the 1-year old class, two days a week. He was fine when I left but I don't think he noticed that I left right away. Aidan said he saw Brennan crying during chapel, and deduced that the he didn't like the music. The teachers said he stopped crying when they went out to the playground. He loves to be outside! "Shuuz! Shuuz!" He knows to bring you his shoes and yours if he wants to go outside.



Aidan is in the 5's and LOVING it! We decided to wait on kindergarten and I think it was the right decision. He has come out of his shell at school, participating like never before. His teachers are amazed at the progress he's made, just since this summer, when some of them first met him during the summer session. It was a long decision-making process that we went back and forth on all summer. It's a relief to see him being so comfortable so soon in the school year!

I had already enrolled him for kindergarten in the spring. So in August I went back to the elementary school to tell them we were withdrawing, and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Aidan's eyes teared up and he said, "I don't want to try this!" I had to reassure him many times that we were going to tell them that he wasn't coming to kindergarten before I could get him to go near the front door.

10 nights and 10 days

We got relief last night when our lights came on at 7:05pm. No flickering--just on!!! We were just starting to gather everything we needed for night #11 (flashlights, pj's...). Joy of joys! I'm downloading pictures right now and I'll try to update soon. We suffered no damage, and only filled 3 garbage bags with leaves and small branches. We are so blessed! Still have friends and my parents without power, but now we can become another hub of coolness and washing machines!

Yikes, Ike!

For all our far-away friends and family:
Well, we've been busy pulling things in and boarding up the south-facing windows yesterday and today. Right now, we're just hoping we won't be out of power for more than a few days. It still looks like we're pretty much directly in the path of the dirty side of the storm. We're supposed to start getting tropical storm winds this evening, and then the hurricane comes in in the dead of night, unfortunately. We'll update this as soon as we can, hopefully sooner rather than later.

For our local friends: Stay safe, and we'll see you soon!

My 3 Words--BYO

Did anyone catch it on "Good Morning America" this morning? It was quick, but the Backyard Olympics made it. We're about 2/3 of the way into the video.

(OK, so technically, backyard is one word, but it worked better to make it 2 words.)

Scotland

Now here comes the impossible task of sorting through the 1400 pictures we took (not exaggerating).

Day 1-Arrive in London, British Museum, dinner at Texas Embassy, show at Her Majesty's Theatre

Thomas and I are waiting to see "Phantom of the Opera". Fantastic show, as always!

Day 2-Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace

at the Tower

at Hampton Court

Day 3- Took a train from London to Edinburgh, walked ALL AROUND Edinburgh

First we climbed up a huge hill behind our B&B that gave great views of the city. Here is Edinburgh castle in the distance.

From the park below the castle.

One of the streets right next to the castle.

Day 4- Bus tour to Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle, William Wallace Statue (aka "Wizards and Warriors Tour")

It was a very touristy thing to do, but we are SO GLAD we took bus tours and let someone else, who knew exactly where to go, do the driving. We were able to enjoy the views, not stress about directions (or which side of the road to drive on), and sleep when we felt like it!

Bamburgh Castle--used in films like "Macbeth" and "Ivanhoe"


From Bamburgh you could see Lindisfarne Island where St. Aidan founded a monastery. We passed St. Aidan's hotel and St. Aidan's Catholic Church in the town next to the castle.

An interior court of Alnwick Castle, and the very spot where Harry Potter learned to fly his broom!

One of many tributes to William Wallace throughout Scotland.


Scott's view. Where Sir Walter Scott would always stop his horses to take in the view on the way to his home. During his funeral procession, the horses stopped here on their own, just like they always had done.

Day 5- Edinburgh

Holyrood Palace, where the Queen and family stay when they visit Edinburgh. On the tour inside, we saw the apartments where Mary Queen of Scots lived and where her favored confidante was murdered in front of her by her jealous husband.

The crag we climbed to get the previous picture.

Day 6- Edinburgh

We finally went into the castle today, after letting the crowds from the festival and bank holiday weekend die down.

The stands were there for the Military Tatoo show that they do once a year for about 3 weeks. The last night they were doing it was the first night we arrived, so there were absolutely no tickets left. They light bonfires on the walls of the castle, turn off all the electric lights, then the bagpipers do their show, then they have fireworks afterward. It would have been really interesting to see!

We got our first live piper on our way to the castle. He is in front of the Scott Monument.

Day 7- Bus tour north to Inverness

Urquhart ("er-ket") Castle on Loch Ness (blown up in the 1600s). We were lucky enough to be in Scotland when the heather was in bloom, so most of the hills and mountains were covered in purple, like the ones behind the castle.

No Nessie! Marian was disappointed we didn't see any sign of a monster. We took a 15-minute boat ride on the loch.

Day 8- North to John O'Groats

Our '4-day bus tour' was really just 4 separate day tours out of Inverness. This day we went up to the northernmost tip of the mainland. It was windy, cold and wonderful! We couldn't believe we were freezing in August (on our anniversary)!

We saw a lot of wildlife on this day--seals, birds, Highland cows (those really shaggy ones), Shetland ponies and lots of sheep! The deer were hiding, but we saw them the next day.

Duncansby Stacks are behind us. We are facing another inlet where the puffins had been nesting just about 2 weeks before.

My moment of being the northern-most person in (mainland) Scotland. (There are the Orkney and Shetland Islands further to the north)

Day 9 - Isle of Skye

On our way to the island, we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle. Basically, there's a castle (or ruins of one) around every corner in Scotland.

Our only day with rain, and it was really just heavy mist, on and off. 'Skye' means 'mist' in Gaelic so the weather wasn't surprising.

Day 10- Inverness

Our hotel was directly across the Ness River from Inverness Castle.

Some more pictures of heather on the hills.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip!