As written on actual paper + some extra on here

We weathered the storm at a Fairfield Inn in Chester, Va.

The first night (Friday) was very uneventful. It rained that night. We hit up Walmart for a few provisions including a cheap $40 playard for Jason.

The second day (Saturday) we met some other military wives, spent a few hours at an indoor playground/bounce house, and then all went in on some pizza for dinner. That night, it rained like Hell and upset Dinah. She spent the night laying on my feet & crying. 

On the last day there (Sunday), it took forever to get the van loaded up. Eventually, I just left both kids in the hotel room (instead of taking Jason with me) while I loaded up.

The drive home made me nervous. Saw close to 12 trees/branches that had knocked down power lines. Drove over around 7 down lines; saw one broken line, live, and laying in a pool of muddy water. There was more organic debris everywhere than I'd ever seen and we even passed by three houses that had been crushed by trees. By the time we'd made it home, at least 2 out of every 3 stop light was dead.

The house was fine but power had been out all weekend. It came on not around the time we walked in the door and was off again 2hrs later for the night. It was so humid and hot from the storm that I started sweating within minutes once the power went out again. It was definitely not working for me! I opened a few Windows and that seemed to make it worse!

So, we spent the night at a Days Inn in Chesapeake. Since I hadn't booked ahead, the a/c wasn't on in the room and the kids kept playing with it so it took forever to cool down. There were 2 double beds so Allie couldn't kick me in the face anymore. It took the kids forever to go to sleep and I kept waking up paranoid in the dark so I ended up turning the desk lamp on and sleeping much better after that. Not sure what that was about.

On our way to the hotel, Allie encountered a cicada while getting into the van. She thought it was dead and went to stomp on it when it started buzzing. That scared the absolute Hell out of her and she jumped back. Of course, her noise made the bug start buzzing MORE as it attempted to right itself (it was on its back on the ground).

I'm pretty certain that was the largest bug she'd ever encountered in the wild and she hadn't realised that bugs got that large. It was hilarious watching her scream about it! >.<

When we got back this morning, power was back, but the fridge goods were bad. I found an awesome list here that tells you what's safe to keep if it's been above 40° for more than 2hrs. Since our frozens were still frozen, I didn't have to worry about those, but almost everything in the fridge had to go.

So, we went to Walmart and stocked up on a few things. Since I'd bought tetra packs of milk in the case of a power outage, I didn't have to get any of that for now.

Damn, it's dark outside for only 4pm! There's still about 3.5hrs of sunlight left but, adding insult to injury, it's supposed to rain again soon. -.-

Also, here's a picture of Irene taken from space on Friday evening. Just so you can see how much of a bitch she was.

A lot going on lately

Our house has no power. We were gone Friday through today (Sunday) and are at another motel tonight because its so hot & humid and being inside made me sweat.

I didn't sleep well last night so there's no way I could deal with another night of terrible sleep tonight. I napped a little earlier and Jason covered himself (and me) in stickers.

So, we're at a Days Inn with cable and 2 beds (no more getting kicked in the face by Allie) and Jason's happy in his baby cage. Hopefully this won't affect him sleeping in his own bed at home.

Will update better once internet is back at home and life returns to normal. I wrote everything out on some paper to remember it all.

Night.

Our hotel stay so far

We have the honeymoon suite. Jason is my alligator operator. He also kisses the cats. The cats have taken over the room. And Allie is reading books.

I think that's in picture order.

Mini Vacation!

We're at the hotel now. Have been since 2:30 this afternoon. It's nice. And expensive.

I'm pretty certain the entire hotel is booked solid for the weekend. Here's hoping we can extend the stay by another night as needed. The room the kids & I are in technically doesn't allow pets but there were no rooms we could be traded to so they're overlooking the cats in this particular room.

We ate dinner at Denny's since it was a literal 2min walk from our room to a table there. It was nice. We also made a Walmart run for lunchables and things to eat for lunch/dinner tomorrow if we're stuck inside the hotel.

Because the hotel is so packed, I had to buy a cheap $40 playard from Walmart for Jason to sleep in. The bed is a king but Allie's an active sleeper and if the 3 of us shared it, someone would undoubtedly end up on the floor. A few times. But having an extra isn't so bad. I left ours because I was more concerned with more important things like diapers and drinks as opposed to sleeping arrangements.

It took a while for the kids to conk out. I spent $15.99+taxes to rent Mr. Poppers Penguins but that movie isn't even on DVD yet. Jason finally fell asleep during it and Allie watched most of it and fell asleep after it was over & off. Cats are just beginning their stalking & exploring.

We're up on the 4th floor at the hotel, well out of flooding range. We also have a gorgeous view of the hotel next door. Lol

I wish I knew when breakfast was. I picked up some Uncrustables and we have milk so we don't even have to brave the crowd if we don't want to. But I can't keep the kids cooped up the entire time unless its raining. If its fair enough to, we may walk the parking lot a bit tomorrow since running is not allowed in the room.

We'll see.

Mini-vacation!

Told Allie this morning we'll be spending the weekened at a hotel. Of course, she was thrilled! Until she realises we won't be leaving the room much and we won't be swimming in the pool. But the kitties are coming with us so that made the difference to her.

We'll be staying at a Fairfield Inn up near Richmond, VA. It's got a $25 pet sanitation fee but means we don't have to leave our furry family here alone. Because of almost everywhere being booked full, we managed to snag "the honeymoon suite."

Yup, we'll be spending the weekend in a room with a King-sized bed (& rollaway bed, hopefully) and the big whirlpool tub in the corner of the room. lol But at least there's a tub for the kids! I can hardly wait til bath time tonight. I'm not sure I like that the windows can be opened, though.

The room was about $10 out of my preferred price range but it was the best option. I don't like staying in places where the room door faces the parking lot. They seem less safe crime-wise, not to mention having to run through rain to get to the lobby. Plus, a "Free deluxe continental breakfast, including Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches and waffles" is included in the cost!

The hard part is going to be getting the kids, the cats, and the luggage to the room. Good thing I found my wrap last week and Jason agrees to riding on my chest! (And that he's ONLY 33lbs and not heavy enough to break my back or anything. lol)

An Update

So, it's 11:30pm on August 25th. It's late, I'm still awake, I missed the rest of Futurama. Good thing it'll play again next Thursday so I can finish it.

So far, according to WAVY's Hurricane Irene: At This Hour article, Category 1 areas of Norfolk are being mandatorily evacuated and Category 2 areas are strongly suggested to leave as well. We are a Category 3 area in Portsmouth.

It's been raining for a few hours now (since the kids went to bed) and has just slowed down enough for me to take some things out to the van. I didn't get the chance to get the big crate for the cats taken out there & set up so they will be spending a while in their single carriers if need be.

I still need to get some toiletries and foodstuffs packed up but those (+ the bag of coloring books & workbooks) will be the last to go between taking the cats out and getting the kids out & going if we're called to leave. I have a sheet with the addresses of 2 pet-friendly hotels there as well as basic directions on how to get that way in the case the GPS wants to go out on me.
Of course, while I was out loading things into the van, Jason woke up and puked all over his bed. I got the sheets off of it and taken care of but we wouldn't let me do more than wipe down his pajamas. Hopefully he's not getting sick because then we would all get sick and that would just suck.

Luckily, I have a few first aid kits in the van and have some Tylenol and the like for everyone if we do get sick.

I'm super nervous but I know panicking won't get me anywhere. Hopefully if there is an evac, it'll be during the day tomorrow so I'm more awake & level-headed.

I have a great friend on the west coast that's going to keep checking the reports for me and then call the Hell out of me should there be a mandatory evac for my area. <3

OCPD seems to be coming in handy.

Well, we're almost ready to evacuate. Not saying we WILL but we NEED to be ready just in case.

We're mostly set for 2 full days without power. I still want to go pick up bottles of water to go with our gallons of water as well as some more fast snacks and meals that are easy to grab & go.

I packed a bag and a backpack with enough kitty food, juice, water, small first aid kit, vitamins & medicines, etc. for a 2 day hotel stay. I still need to pack a few changes of clothes for everyone as well as toiletries, entertainment items, and misc items in another bag.

The goal in case of an evac is to make a trip to the van to put the cats in their (readied) crate, a trip to take our grab & go bags out, and a trip to take the kids and actually leave.

So, tomorrow I'll hit the store one last time, fill the van with gas & fluids, and get the van readied for us to go.

Here's hoping we just get a weekend of rain and maybe a day without power.

Just in case-

We picked up some supplies from the store. We're more than set on diapers, pull-ups, and both baby and flushable wipes. So, no worries there. We also have a fair amount of paper towels.

Went to the store and picked up 24 rolls of toilet paper, five gallons of water, 16 bottles of Powerade, 12 cans of kitty food, 2 aseptic packs of milk, 3 cans of soup, 12- 8oz bottles of apple juice, 2 loaves of bread, a big jar of peanut butter, 2 mini first aid packs, and 2 boxes of cereal. Surprisingly, only the water & the milk were for the hurricane. lol

Of course, we got more than that but those are the big things. But we're set for Irene, even though she appears to be shifting. We'll still get rain from her this weekend but she may not make landfall over us after all. Either way, we're set for at least 2 days without power. Each of the kids even got a tiny little flashlight so they won't fight over one of our main ones.