Remnants of Hurricane Ike (and a week out of school)

Well, we have power again this afternoon. Our power went off sometime Sunday afternoon as the winds from Hurricane Ike pounded the Ohio River Valley. (Does that seem crazy to anyone else? Hurricane winds here??) Anyway, somehow our power people managed to clean up the nearly 6,000 downed power lines in our area. I think at least 100 were right around our house. You can't imagine how easily those lines snap and tangle when they're confronted by giant old trees!

We've been out of school all week. The weather's been amazing! We've had all sorts of adventures. Here are a few:

*Kaela and about half of the girls in the neighborhood have had a Girls' Club in our treehouse all week. With a minimal amount of drama, they've been incredibly busy each day--making pacts, assigning roles, and trying to figure out what their mission is to be. She also read half of a Junie B. Jones chapter book! I'm totally blown away!!

*Ben has harrassed the girls' club. In fairness to him, he's not allowed to hang out with his little friends yet--so Kaela's his main source of entertainment. He climbs up in the treehouse, then throws things down--or needs to go pee pee off the deck. Either way, the girls spend a lot of time fussing at him, and I spend a lot of time teaching "include others."

*I've done laundry in the bathtub, cleaned out the refrigerator/freezer, run errands, spent time with my neighbors, planned lessons, read 3 books, and text messaged my favorite friends (until they crossed me off of their favorite friends list, I'm sure.) Dear friends--I'll hate to have to stop bugging you when life returns to normal next week, but thanks for humoring me--and lending me your humor!

*In the evenings, we've had 2 game nights, one bonfire, one movie night on a portable DVD player in my neighbor's garage, and 3 neighborhood grill-outs where we all contribute stuff from our freezer that would have gone bad, and we have a buffet. We even grilled veggies, eggs, and a Hot Pocket. Not bad!

*Since our perishables perished (what was left of them after the 3 cookouts), the kids have tried living on s'mores. I'm turning a blind eye, this time, since this is such a crazy week.

*Eric's been to work as usual. I wish he could have been home more, but he's enjoying card nights and hasn't complained about the bathtub laundry....of course, he hasn't really seen it yet.... He's been a good sport about getting up early while we sleep in, and the scads of neighborhood children who have been over in search of adventure ideas. And he's right--if UPS shuts down, the world shuts down.

*Our new nephew was born! Welcome, Tannon Edward, Scott and Maggie's little one. We were all sure it was going to be a girl, and he was a week and a half early, so what a fun surprise that has been!

*We also got to make a short visit to Mama Ann a couple of hours west of here. She had storm damage, so we helped her clean up.

So while we weren't planning on having this time together, what a nice time it was to slow down, enjoy the season, and reflect on our technology use! :) I didn't even miss Facebook (though I did miss reading blogs). Did anyone else notice the burnished gold color that's beginning to show through the leaves this week? Yea! Fall's almost here!

Here are a couple of photos from this week.

Some of the girls with our bunnies

Kaela stuffing her mouth full of marshmallows before I take the bag away

The flag that didn't blow away (I stuck this one to the pole with Play-Doh, so it may be there forever)

The place where the little flag used to be--and a bush in the landscaping. The bush came out by the roots and was in our neighbors' yard. The flag? Kansas, maybe?

More of the girls