Isaac Nathaniel and Isabella Gabrielle: Hurricane Ike

So much craziness is going on down here in Houston. This hurricane is ENORMOUS and had a pretty good possibility of hitting us. So, we decided to evacute Thursday afternoon. It was scheduled to hit late Friday or early Saturday morning. We thought about staying and waiting it out since we were so far north of the actual coast, but Dell had a good point when he said "what if the power goes out"? And I didn't want to take the chance of having no power and trying to keep Isaac comfortable. And PLUS, I don't think I could survive the HEAT!

So, we went up to Wendy and Shane's for an extended weekend stay. We left Thursday afternoon at about 3:30pm and got there at about 8:30 or 9:30......I can't remember and we made a couple of stops. And we also went up through College Station and Waco (35) instead of taking what looked to be QUITE the nightmare (45). Thankfully, 35 wasn't bad at all. It was a little slow in the beginning, but after about an hour or so, the traffic thinned out a bit. Ok, so when we got up Saturday morning, we saw the news......Galveston looked horrible......and downtown Houston, WOW. So, I stated checking in with some of my friends that lived around us. To the west of us, no power. To the north of us, no power. So, I started to get a little concerned and when we went out for breakfast, we thought we'd stop in at Home Depot to get a generator JUST IN CASE. Hmmm, they were OUT! So, they tried some stores in the surrounding areas...they were all out. Then they tried some stores in Oklahoma City, THEY WERE OUT TOO!!! Well, we started to get a little worried. I called my mom and asked her to try some stores up there. She gave me the number to a Sam's in Sherman, which was about an hour away from where we were (Denton). So, we put off breakfast and headed up that way. I'm pretty sure that was the last one in Texas and Oklahoma. And it was a display, with no manual or CORDS!! We were really desperate. And we were getting a little antsy to find out what we would be coming home to. I called my friend Marlaina on Sunday to see if she could go check out our house. And since we decided to stay a little longer since the signs on the highways said, "Don't travel to Houston or Beaumont"...LITERALLY...I told her that if she didn't have power she was more than welcome to stay there, so she did. Whew...the house was alright. We were very lucky and blessed, that's for sure.

And Marlaina kept me posted on all the CRAZINESS that was going on down here. Police escorted gas stations, employees and some stores with GUNS strapped to their waist. Ice shortage, and people acting nuts to get ONE bag. Insane... I'll never second guess whether to leave or not during a hurricane. I know everyone probably thinks I'm a wimp, but I really don't care. Sometimes it's not whether your house gets damaged or not, but what happens to every day supplies (shortages) when something that destructive comes barrelling through town.

We were able to come home today, and paid $3.99 for gas just outside of our area, well, somewhere around College Station, I think. And we bought 13 bags of ice for Marlaina and her family (which I hope to see a profit for if they decided to put it on ebay or sell it on the streets).

Well, I hope everyone reading this made it home safe and if you didn't leave, then I hope you and your family stayed safe while riding out the storm. I also hope everyone has power and minimal damage to their homes......if any at all. Be BLESSED and stay safe......

Here are some pics from our visit to Dallas. We arrived at my sister's house on Thursday at around 8 or 9 and the next day was Grandparent's Day at Wenoah's school and she was saying that she wanted us to go up there. Well, I'm so glad we did since her teacher told us that she was telling everyone ALL DAY that we WERE coming to visit her at school.

Shane got out Wyatt's old jumper toy for Isaac......that helped a lot since we didn't bring any of his big toys with us. He had a blast in this one.