Fire

So the other day I was looking out our back door and saw lots of smoke. For those of you that don't know our back yard is a forest area with lots of trees and shrubs and the occasional mother bear and her three cubs. (Yes I did say bears, we have have had them in our backyard and in our trash on numerous occasions, Although I have never been able to get a good picture of them.) Ok, sorry back to the fire. So Matt and I jump in the car to see where the fire was originating from. We were happy to see that it was across the street so our home was not in danger. So since we were in the clear we sat and watched the fire and the firefighters for awhile. Of course I did run home to get my camera so I could share the excitment with all of you!

Hurricane Gustav

So Hurricane Gustav has hit. We were located on the eastern side of the storm, but 200 miles away from the point of impact. Sometime really early this morning I awoke to a Tornado Warning. The winds were blowing pretty hard and the rain was coming down. All morning we had wind and rain. It is still pretty windy out. But I think the worst has past us. We were lucky with this storm. I can see how a Hurricane can cause so much damage. We just got back from the beach where I was blown away. The waves were up almost to the sand dunes, and you could see that water had come up into the sand dunes at some point. I got some pictures and video. They don't really tell the real story of how high up the water had come. For those of you that have visited us, you will have a better understanding when you see the water coming in way past the lifeguard stand. For now I still love Florida!

Do I still love Florida?

So after the non-exsistent tropical storm fay for us. It barely rained where we live. We were in the eye of the storm pretty much the whole time. Mind you, I was so worried on Saturday that I did not let the kids go anywhere and they even cancelled church for sunday thinking the storm was coming right for us. But now we are waiting to find out where Gustav is headed. Last year we did not have to worry about even one storm. I guess we are making up for it this year. All the uncertainty is exhausting me! They are expecting this to turn into a huge storm once it hits the Gulf Of Mexico. As of right now they think it may be Category 3 when it gets out into the warm water. Right now we are in the "cone of uncertaintity", hopefully we will know more sooner than later.
On another note Hannah lost her 2nd tooth today. She lost it at school right before I got there to pick her up. I am not as sad this time as I was with the first one. She was so excited she got a little treasure chest from the school to put it in. I really think she made a point of pulling it out at school just for the treasure chest. Wish us luck with this storm, I can only pray that we don't get hit. This love hate relationship with Florida is exhausting!

I'm Still Laughing

So the other day I got this email from my in-laws titled First Day of School. I thought maybe they had something to say about my blog. So I open the email and there is a link to this picture!
I am still laughing.

Here She Comes!

Well, I guess this weekend Tropical Storm Fay will be heading our way. I wish this was a long last Aunt coming to visit, but unfortunatley this is an unwanted visitor. This storm has really beaten up Florida. We are allready in a Flash Flood watch, and the rain is not expected till Saturday. It should be a very interesting weekend. When this is all over I will let you know if I still love Florida!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the kids. Someone asked me today when I saw them at the store, "how do you spell relief" S-C-H-O-O-L!! Don't get me wrong I love my kids, but I do enjoy the school year when I can have a few hours to get things done with no interupptions. This year is very enventful. Carissa started her Senoir year today with much excitment.
She is so excited to be a senior. It is fun to see her so happy about what the future holds for her. I am excited for all the fun things we have to look forward to this year. Christopher started High School today. He was quite nervous. He kept asking Carissa all sorts of things and more than once. I am sure his year will be a success after he gets over the first day jitters.
Bryan this year is the big man on campus. Being in the 8th grade. He is excited to moving forward and I am sure this will be an exciting and busy year for him. Hannah started first grade today. She was so excited and very cute. She has her really good friend in class with her and that made things even better.Well off to welcome the kids home from school. I am sure we will have a busy and eventfull year. Stay Tuned! Oh I almost forgot. I guess I had no need to worry as of right now Fay is not heading our way! But I have learned my lesson and will be more prepared for what lies ahead. So for right now, I still love Florida!

Fay Who??

OK, I have been out of the loop for the past week or so. I have not seen or heard the news. Matt came home tonight and asked if I had gas in the van. I thought he was asking because we have to get Uncle Mike to the airport in the morning. No, he is asking because Tropical Storm Fay is possibly heading this way. What? I am not ready for a Tropical Storm that could possibly turn into a Hurricane according to the news report I saw this evening. There is so much I had planned on doing to be more organized in the event that we had to leave our home and bring our valubles with us ie: my pictures. I have pictures stored everywhere around the house. I kept putting off and putting off thinking I had all the time in the world to get everything in a central location in the event we have to leave! Now, I have no time to get everything ready. I am sure I am stressing way to much about this and all will be fine in the end, but I will be up thinking about this all night. Tomorrow is allready busy as it is. I need to take the kids school shopping, chaperone a church dance in the evening, plan a lesson for sunday, clean my house, do laundry. To many things to do and now to add on top of all of that I have to prepare for a possible Hurricane. Seriously who would not be stressed out and if you are one who would not be please inform me of how you do it, I need some serious advice! To top this all off the kids first week of school starts on Monday. And I was just saying today how much I love living in Florida. We shall see if I still feel the same way after all this excitement!