Let's play in the rain!!!

Saturday, during Tropical Storm Fay our power was off for 7 hours today, and I have to say the boys were crawling the walls because they didn't have their video games and TV. It cracked me up. I tried to get them to read books, or play games. Chandler and I played war, and then he watched me lose at solitaire. I started going through some boxes of old pictures that I have from my parents house, to pass the time. I will scan & post some of them soon, then you all can see what I looked like as a kid. (and my mile high bangs that were popular in the 80's & 90's).

We ventured out at lunch time to go take back an overdue library books that I had, and then to go to Wal-mart and the bank. We almost had to swim across a few streets, there were some that were flooded. When we got inside Wal-mart, the bank was closed, and so was Subway, where I thought we might get lunch. So we walked around for a bit, picked up a couple things, then decided to get some lunch from the deli. Their Teriyaki chicken wings are really good. Then as we were checking out I could see the rain starting to pick up and you couldn't see the parking lot. But by the time we walked back to the garden center where we parked it had let up enough that we could see. But we got home just in time. As we walked in the door the wind started to blow really hard, and the rain started to whip around. So we decided to stay home after this and just ride it out.

The power was still off when we got home so I opened the windows a little so that we could get some fresh, a little cooler air into the house. It was starting to get a little stuffy. Hayden and I laid down on the couch to take a little snooze since there wasn't much to do. And Chandler and Owen went in Chandler's room to play with the new cars they bought with their allowance at Wal-mart today.

In between one of the rain & wind bands the boys and me decided to go out and play in the rain puddles, and the beginning of what I call Lake Watson in our backyard. Since our yard isn't flat, the water gathers and makes what looks like a small lake. There are pictures from a blog post I think in February where you can see how Lake Watson has formed in other storms.
As soon as we went outside Owen put his head under the water draining off the roof and got his head and back all wet. Because it wasn't raining very hard there wasn't much drainage, but earlier in the day it was pouring off as if there was a faucet running from the roof.
Owen jumping in the puddle that we always get in the driveway when it rains. Everyone likes to play in this puddle, including all the children I watch.
Chandler took his turn jumping in the driveway puddle.
And of course, so I had to do it too. My jeans were already wet from walking into Wal-mart in the pouring rain. And I like to play in the puddles too, I used to do it all the time as a kid. Hayden was watching me from behind.
Now here are Chandler and Owen jumping on the inverted trampoline. I turned it over so it wouldn't become a flying object in the wind. I have seen trampolines go tumbling into other yards during wind storms before, I didn't want that happening to mine.

Owen asked me if he could sit down in the puddle, and I said OK, since he was already soaking wet. I just told him to watch for ants, so they don't bite him, they were floating in the water. The water must have been cold by the look on his face. :-O
Owen is making a BIG splash in a puddle in our yard, during Tropical storm Fay.
Chandler is chasing Hayden through the puddles in the backyard of our house. We had fun playing in the rain.
Owen is kicking a puddle of water into the air to see how high he can get it to go. Hayden is looking on, so he can do it too.
Chandler, Owen & Hayden playing in our now portable beach sandbox. I put the lid on the sandbox before the storm, but did not put something over it to keep the lid on, and now we have a water and sand filled sandbox.

Hayden is all wet and dirty from all the playing he has been doing in the backyard.
Owen is really soaked from running in the puddles and now sitting in the water filled turtle sandbox.
Here is Chandler posing for me, and showing off all his wetness from playing in the rain.Even Chico our dog was getting in on the fun running through the puddles with the boys.