When we woke up on Thursday morning after the tornadoes the power was still off. At this point we were starting to hear rumblings that it might be days before it was returned although we really didn’t believe that at all. I don’t remember what we did for breakfast or for lunch but I know that we were cooking all of our meals on my parents grille. Charlie had joined us during a break in the storms the night before. He went out Thursday morning to check on the damage and later came back with more clothes for himself as well as anything he could salvage from his fridge. We also went down and got what we could out of our fridge and stuck the food in coolers.
With no sight of power on the horizon the guys headed off for a round of golf that afternoon. After Charlotte’s nap Mom, C, and I got in the golf cart and caught up with them and watched them finish their last few holes. Charlotte thought it was just the best thing to be watching Daddy, Papa, Char-Char, and Dude Mike golf.
It was, all in all, a pretty fine day. It was discovered that Mom and Dad’s conventional water heater still had some hot water in it so the guys took really quick showers in hot water although Mom took a cold shower so as not to waste any water and I just waited because I also didn’t want to take their water. We listened to the radio most of the time to hear updates and whenever we could get information on our phones we looked at it, but our batteries were running down.
On Thursday night we grilled most of what we had left from our freezers. It was, honestly, a pretty decent meal with hamburgers and a pasta dish I had frozen as well as some other items. We were still doing ok although we knew that we didn’t really have any “real” food left and would be eating a smattering of dry goods or refrigerate only items that were still good in our freezers in the day to come.
Jason let me sleep late on Friday which was good because I was nearing my point of exhaustion and a mental breakdown — pregnancy hormones aren’t doing me any favors these days! But they had a fun morning while I slept and took Charlotte out to the nearest sand trap! We had decided to cancel our trip to the beach the next weekend because we already knew that going away again wouldn’t be a great experience for any of us. And so Jason, Papa, Memma, and Char Char introduced Charlotte to sand for the first time! She definitely had a blast!
The guys played golf again that afternoon and Mom and Charlotte went and met them on the golf cart while I did some necessary tasks. I spent C’s nap time deep cleaning our fridge and freezer…I figured, no better time than when all the food had to be thrown away anyway and I wasn’t wasting any power! At least that task is done for a while! Our fridge and freezer have never looked better!
I also had to find some place to board Luca since we had made the decision that we were going to leave town for a few days. After going up to our normal vet I found that they were opening every day from 4:30 to 5 to take previously scheduled pet boardings and so I just went up there with Luca and they were so sweet to let him stay with them over the weekend. I’m not sure what we would have done if they hadn’t taken him!
By the time I got back and the guys got back we had made plans to head to Atlanta and first thing Saturday morning Jason, Charlotte, and I headed out of town. Our food had basically all been eaten and with a little one and a pregnant Momma we really needed to get somewhere that we could get decent meals. We got to Atlanta and put C down for a nap and Mom, Dad, and Charlie came after golf. We spent the evening relaxing at the hotel and ate at the hotel restaurant because we were all too tired to make the effort to really go out.
On Sunday we got up and took Charlotte to the indoor pool at the hotel. We had made the mistake of telling her that we would go to the pool in Atlanta and she thought that meant as soon as we got into town but she very patiently waited until Sunday to go. She hasn’t changed much since last summer — she’s still fearless and really didn’t want any of us holding her even though we didn’t have floaties or any type of float! She’s now dying to get the pool here and is so excited that it opens tomorrow!
On Friday, once we got the hotel reservation secured, Jason and Charlie set out to get us tickets to the Braves on Sunday. With the spotty cell service that we had (it was honestly really like we were pioneers because we had no power and our only reliable connection to the outside world was a battery powered radio!) they could never get through but we immediately got tickets as soon as we got into town on Saturday. So after the pool we set out for the ball park.
Charlotte went to a game when she was 3 months old and has since learned to do the chop so she was really excited to go to the game. We found out on Saturday that it was also Bark in the Park day so there were going to be dogs everywhere which we knew would only make the day even better in her eyes! We weren’t mistaken! She did great and loved the game! She missed a nap to stay for the entire game and only started getting tired near the end when she laid her head down on my chest but she was a trooper and never got fussy or anything. As opposed to her mother who was about to have a serious marital spat if the game had gone into extra inning’s! 🙂 Thankfully, God is wise and in control and the Braves won in the 9th to save us from that drama!
We had big plans to go to a big dinner out on Sunday night but were totally exhausted after the game and chose to eat at Maggiano’s across the street. You could tell Charlotte was tired by that time though so as soon as Jason and I finished eating we headed back to the hotel and put C down.
That night did turn out to be interesting as we were watching royal wedding coverage that night on tv (still bummed that I had to miss the live event!) when all of a sudden we got news that the President was making a special speech. After delay after delay the news finally leaked on Twitter and we watched as the President announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. It seems that Obama had made the final call to apprehend OBL on Friday after leaving his tour of Tuscaloosa. It’s been rumored that Saban took care of that — we wouldn’t put it past him! 🙂
We also got other great news around midnight that the power was back on in our neighborhood so as soon as we got up on Monday we all packed up and headed home. We were very lucky to have been spared any type of damage or injuries but it was still a very stressful and emotional five days. Honestly, we’re all still kind of reeling from it and still making adjustments to try and recover. But we were very glad to be going home!
