Saturday, September 22, 2012

Tropical Storm Nadine

After the last hurricane came and went with no excitement, we didn't give little Tropical Storm Nadine a thought.  Boy did she sneak up and get us!  It was a fun adventure that taught us that we don't have enough flashlights and never forget that Mother Nature is the boss!
 
As we finished up dinner at a local restuarant, the power went off.  We knew that was the cue to head home.  The peaceful cloudy sky had quickly turned to sideways rain and strong winds.  We ran to the car and made it home.  Our power was off at home as well so we went right to bed.  We already had a text(thank goodness for 3G) that school was going to be on a 2-hour delay the next day.  The kids decided to squish beds together and have a sleepover(they blame it on Megan being afraid to sleep in her own room, but I don't think that she was the only one!)
 
The night howled on and we heard some things being thrown around.  Curtis and I headed out into the storm to save our nice grill after we saw the older one fly away.  While out there we saw some of our ceramic roof tiles fly away and crash on the ground.  Water streamed in one of the windows flooding the playroom. The power was restored through the night which we were grateful for(it was getting hot!)  The next morning we found only minor damages.  The kids were happy to survive the "great storm" and especially happy that school was starting late.

 The farmers little shack behind our house didn't quite make it through the storm.

 The swing left the porch and flew into the yard.  Megan and her friend tried to help it back up.
 The tree branches that took the brunt of the storm got stripped of their leaves.
And the saddest damage of all....Megans plant got stripped of it bountiful flowers and leaves.  We hope it comes back to us.
 
Overall, we enjoyed the time we had huddled together listening to the storm.  We are grateful that we suffered no major damage and that we have another fun experience to add to our adventures here in Portugal!
 


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Jake's Birthday


For Jake's 12th birthday he wanted to have a paintball party. This is the only picture I have because we were too busy playing.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

First Day of School


Today was Megan's first day of school. She is a full-day kindergartener, and I have an empty house! The boys started last week! Yay for school!!