August 31 - Hurricane Harvey

Houston is currently experiencing the worst flood in US History. Thank you for all of the calls, emails, texts, messages and well wishes-our house is dry and we have power, we are extremely lucky. The last several days have been a whirlwind, here is how it happened for us.

Early Last Week
A tropical storm is heading toward Texas. I honestly don't pay much attention to it, as we are hit with a lot of storms here. 

Thursday 8/24
The tropical storm is upgraded to a category 1 hurricane, Harvey. After school, the kids and I head to pick up Jillian and I am surprised to see lines of cars at the gas station. HEB's parking lot (our local grocery store) is 100% full with people waiting for spots (for point of reference, our parking lot as 2-2.5x larger than any Publix lot).

I take the kids and immediately fill up on gas at a different station, luckily there was no wait (they were already out of 89 and 93 octane). We go grocery shopping at Randall's, another store close to us, that is known as the 'expensive store' around here that is never busy. The lot is already 3/4 full, which is unheard of. There is no bottled water in the store but I'm able to find 3 gallons of water in the baby aisle (marketed as 'baby water' but it's just filtered water). I get the last few loafs of bread and buy several boxes of granola bars, crackers and snacks. While we are at the store, the storm is upgraded to a category 2. School is cancelled for Friday in preparation for the storm.

Friday 8/25
The eye of the hurricane is heading towards Corpus Christie with expected landfall late Friday/early Saturday. The meteorologists are worried the storm will stall and Houston will be on the 'dirty side' (right side) of the storm, with flood potential. We have light rain Friday and nothing is out of the ordinary. I receive several calls from people thinking everyone is over-reacting and this storm will be nothing big, we aren't even going to be hit with the eye.

behind our house Sunday

The kids and I go to HEB for a few more things and are shocked to find zero water and zero bread. Hannah and Tammy come over for dinner and we all have fun. JD finds a live broadcast of an Emmy winning storm chaser, Jeff Piotrowski, as he reports live from Corpus. The storm is now a category 4. I'm up until 11ish watching Jeff, JD is up until his broadcast lost a signal. It's raining heavier now.

Saturday 8/26
The green space (aka retention ditch) behind my house is as full as I've ever seen it. It's raining on and off all day and we're thinking "well, that wasn't so bad for us." The area hit by the eye is destroyed. I spend the day doing laundry and I'm chuckling seeing a woman kayaking behind our house in the retention ditch.

in front of our neighborhood

Late that evening, the rain starts coming down HARD and FAST. My phone is beeping with flash flood warnings and tornado notices every few minutes. JD is at a neighbors house playing board games and moves his car into their driveway. He eventually makes his way back home, soaking wet.

Sunday 8/27
The rain has not stopped. JD stays up watching the water rise and wakes me up at 4am advising the cul-de-sac is flooded. We have to start moving stuff upstairs in-case water comes into the house. We move financial records, pictures, the computer and baskets of things on the ground. Tammy's house was almost flooded-water came up to her garage and back door. By morning, the rain has slowed down but the streets around us are flooded. The ditch behind my house is so full, there is a secondary river of water that's formed next to it.

bridge next to school

Our street and all the streets around us are flooded. People are literally kayaking around our neighborhood. It isn't safe to drive anywhere. Mid-afternoon, the water has started to recede. JD and the kids don their rain-gear and take a walk. Another heavy band of rain hits and they are stranded at Tammy's for several hours, where everyone has to hide in Tammy's half bathroom during another tornado warning. I am glued to the news watching the devastation all of the city. Neighborhoods just a few miles from us are completely underwater. People are on their roofs being rescued by boat. Downtown is underwater. Houston has 2 level 1 trauma centers and one of them is being evacuated. Both major airports are closed. 

Monday 8/28-Tuesday 8/29
It is still raining. JD goes to the store on Monday and happens to arrive right when they opened. No perishables are available. He waits in line 30min to buy 3 items.

The store is open only a few hours and closes for the rest of the day. Other stores are open for short hours, with people wrapped around buildings waiting to get in. The water behind our house hasn't gone down but hasn't entered our yard. Our house is dry and we have power. Many of our neighbors aren't so lucky. There is a street of houses near our school that back up to a bayou-they all flooded. The back half of our neighborhood has no power (and still doesn't have power as I'm typing this). Houston has 2 dams that are at risk of breaking-the Army Corps of Engineers releases water to control the dam, flooding areas that were previously dry (it was necessary, otherwise mass destruction would have ensued). Galveston, which was not flooded, flooded on Tuesday.

Wednesday 8/30
Parts of Houston are still underwater, people are still being rescued from flooded homes. Shelters are set up all over the city. The rain has finally subsided. Roads around us are mostly clear. There is no way to drive around the city though, sections of every major highway are closed due to flooding. We know people who evacuated who cannot get back. Airports are still closed. Grocery stores are either open for a few hours (no milk) or not open at all. Tammy and I packed up my car with shelter donations (clothing, toiletries, carseats) for the convention center. The kids and I went to a swim mom's house for  "Kids for Harvey" event. The kids put together 250 gift bags that were then donated to a local shelter. 

laundry helper before the rain

Thursday 8/31
We continue to watch the devastation around Houston. The storm is now hitting Beaumont and Louisiana. Part of I-10 east, between Houston and Beaumont, looks like a lake. Beaumont has been decimated and they have no water already. The kids and I are gathering more stuff around the house for a neighbor's friends who have lost everything. JD's cousin texted me that their good friends in north Houston (with 5 children) have also lost everything and are living in a hotel. We've offered up our home, not sure if they'll come. Nic may also move in with us as well (his home is completely flooded, he's currently stranded in San Antonio). Today, we found out a chemical plant north of Houston has caught fire and a major pipeline from Houston to the east coast, has been shut down. We do not currently have any mail service of any kind. Coast Guard helicopters fly by every 15min or so. I have to give a shout out to AT&T for our internet, I can't believe it's still working. And Verizon should use footage of storm chaser Jeff for his incredible coverage of the hurricane touching down in Corpus, he had service for quite awhile. 

Is is the weekend yet? Longest week EVER. #houstonstrong

Boardgames are a good way to pass the time

Harvey Bags for Kids

she ate her way through the hurricane

Hurricane snuggles

My engineer neighbor monitored the rainfall and put this graph together (neighborhood next to me)

August 25 - Celebrating 9 with a Crime

"Mom, I want to have a birthday party with a crime that we solve." - Julia, a few weeks ago. Ok Jules...you got it!

I had a lot of fun planning this party so bear with me... Julia hand delivered the invitations in envelopes marked 'TOP SECRET.' The invitations were addressed to 'Secret Agent XYZ, you are invited to solve a birthday crime.' All of the words were backwards so the girls had to figure out how to read the message. So fun! 

As for the party itself, the first thing I did was create dossiers for each agent. We had a group of 8 so there were 4 FBI and 4 CIA. Each girl graduated from an undergraduate ivy league school (thus the name..Ivy Eight) and had a prestigious job (archaeologist, famous chef, curator at the Louvre, math post-doc, 1st year emergency medicine resident, veterinarian, actor and pop star).

FBI & CIA agents

I tried to match each girls dossier with their actual interests. They each had special talents (sign language, ancient hieroglyphics, roman numerals, Greek letters, French, German, poker, hostage negotiation, etc).  I spent 2 weeks creating all the clues and getting ready. Julia tried her hardest to get details out of me, but my lips were sealed. I was up until 1am the night before the party getting ready and running around the neighborhood at 6am the day of the party taping clues. I was just as excited for the party as Julia!!

figuring out clue #1

The party started at 6pm and the girls ate pizza almost immediately. I asked Julia to get the cupcakes and...the cupcakes were missing! It turns out Sugar Plum, international cupcake thief, had stolen the food. The girls were on the case. I handed out their mission and dossiers. The dossiers were a tad advanced for 9 and 10 year old's so I had brief meetings with each girl to answer questions. Then they got their first clue-they had to fill out a crossword puzzle..which proved a little more difficult than anticipated. It turns out 8 girls doing a crossword is intense. Ha!

key was taped underneath..took them awhile

I helped them and they had to figure out the next clue. 'Always Be Your Dog.' Julia very quickly recognized it was part of artwork in the kitchen but the girls kept talking in circles. Eventually they looked behind the artwork and found the next few clues. They divided into 2 teams (FBI and CIA) to find their next clues and decipher them. Then they came together to see what they had to do. They were shocked to find out they were headed to the tree house behind Agent Box's house. I have never seen a group of children put sneakers on so fast. 

The girls SPRINTED to the next house and searched for the next clue. I'll spare you details for every clue, but they went to 4 different houses, met a German and French agent (my friends Candice and Heather, who were awesome and willing to help), 2 different tree houses, the mailbox and greenspace. They had to use all of their skills, answer questions from senior agents, got to use walkie talkies, some had to sing, do gymnastics and speak in accents. They were hunting for the elusive Sugar Plum and on the way back to our house for the final clue...who did they happen to see on the corner??

sprinting around the neighborhood

Now, let me back up a little. When we were getting ready to leave the house for Agent Box's house, Luke announced he wanted to come along. I told him he needed to stay back to help JD with Jillian. As soon as we left, JD asked Luke if he knew who the girls were hunting for:

"Yes, Sugar Plum." - Luke
"Do you know who Sugar Plum is?" - JD
"The person who stole the cupcakes." - Luke
"You are Sugar Plum. Mom said you need to go upstairs and dress all in black. She will text me when the girls are at the last house and you will need to get in position on the corner. You will have the cupcake container and when the girls see you, RUN." - JD

"I have been waiting my whole life for this!" - Luke, immediately running upstairs and getting ready...he waited at the front windows for over an hour waiting for my signal to get in position. 

The girls saw Luke and made chase. He sprinted around the cul-de-sac faster than he's ever ran. The girls were hot and sweaty from being outside for awhile but they had a blast chasing him. 

Overall-fabulous time!! 

After cooling down with water, it was time for actual cake and cupcakes, presents, movie (Nancy Drew) and then a sleepover. Great party!! Happy birthday Jules!!

August 15 - Good Luck Jericho

Snugly...last week

I was looking back at the last few blog entries and realized I missed a Jericho update. When we were at the beach, I received a call from my rescue coordinator advising me she had a potential match. I spoke with Bonnie (the potential match) and she was very interested. I was honest about Jericho's energy level and she wasn't deterred. We set up a meet and greet for the following weekend. When we got back from the beach, after 4 months of insane behavior...all of a sudden Jericho was a wonderful dog. He completely stopped nipping, did not each eat one shoe (he did eat a few toys, minimal compared to his previous destruction), started following me around and was super snugly. I honestly considering keeping him but we had already set up the meet and greet. Bonnie and her family came (Bonnie, her husband and 2 daughters, ages 9 and 11) and they loved him! They have a huge yard, pool and best of all-they have a huge ranch outside of Houston where Jericho can run with horses and cows. They also have a lot of extended family in Houston and they all have young dogs Jericho can play with. Bonnie and her family decided to take Jericho right then and there and just like that...our fostering adventure was over. 

Good luck Jericho!!

August 9 - Grammie & Leah

More visitors to Houston this summer? Yes please! Grammie came in town last week and brought a special visitor, cousin Leah. This was Leah's first ever plane trip and she was super excited to come to Texas. On Friday, Luke and Leah hung out at home while Julia was at sailing camp. We went out for pizza that night and the kids had fun playing with pizza dough (one of the restaurants here gives kids dough to play with while they are waiting for the food to arrive). On Saturday, we went to the Children's Museum. Julia completed a 'secret agent' mission with JD, while Grammie and I took the other kids around the museum. Luke and Leah had a blast playing together, they especially loved the climbing structure that spans several levels.

They built cars, played in the water works and did all sorts of activities. When we got home, it was pool time!!

Sunday, JD and Grammie went to one of their favorite places in the whole world..the garden store! While they were looking at gorgeous plants, the kids and I went to jumping world for some fun. Amazingly, Jillian was allowed in the toddler area, which included a small trampoline track and bounce house. She loved it! When we got home, the kids decided to do a lemonade stand. It was hot (although amazingly not that humid) but they sat out there for under 2h and made a couple $$. 

It was a great visit!

Children's Museum fun

Jumping World

Morning cuddles

Get your ice cold lemonade!

August 7 - Let's Go Sailing

Christine - steering the boat to vistory

After a fabulous week at Girl Scout camp, Julia had a week of sailing camp. She did sailing camp when she was 5 and 6 at Houston Yacht Club, but they changed their rules this summer and require you to be a member to attend. So we tried a new camp this year at Lakewood Yacht Club. She signed up with her friend Hannah and the girls had an amazing week. Prior to the camp starting, I was already impressed. They sent out a details list of things the kids needed (life vest, whistle, hat clip, etc) with a detailed map of where to go for drop-off and pick-up. The girls learned a ton and the last day, the parents were invited to watch the kids navigate a little obstacle course in the water. It was very impressive!

Julia & Hannah

The coach boat brought the kids out and they had 2 opti-sailboats the kids got in to "show off" their skills. Julia and Hannah were partners and got a chance to both steer the boat and work the sail. Unfortunately, Luke was not old enough to attend, but he had a fun week at Space Center Houston. He did a NASA tour, went to all sorts of cool science shows, toured SCH and did a lot of space themed crafts. 

Meanwhile, while Julia was off sailing and Luke was off at space camp, I was also....sailing! I was in St. Pete for our second quarter team meeting and we happened to be staying at the same hotel JD and I got married at. So fun! We also went sailing one afternoon as part of a team building exercise. We were put on teams and placed on 3 different 36' sailboats (each team had it's own captain). We did 2 races and my boat won both of them, yahoo! I steered the sailboat the entire time, it was a lot of fun. 

Cutest little Sailors ever

August 4 - Camp Agnes Arnold

Camp Agnes Arnold - walking to cabins

As soon as we got back from the beach, it was time for Julia's first ever overnight camp. Houston has 3 Girl Scout campgrounds that offer resident (overnight) camp: Camp Agnes Arnold, located in the woods on a lake; Camp Misty Meadows, primarily a horse camp located next to Agnes Arnold and Camp Casa Mare, located close to us on the bay. Based on recommendations from people who have been before, we chose Agnes Arnold (after hearing it looked like the camp from The Parent Trap, Julia was sold). Camps are offered throughout the summer and have several different themes.

Tanglewood - J & H were in far right cabin

Julia and Hannah signed up together as 'buddies' (meaning they are together all week) for Hike, Bike and Canoe. We drove up on Sunday, checked in (handed in some paperwork and the girls were checked for lice) and then we headed to their assigned cabin, Tanglewood. It was a gorgeous walk through the woods and when we saw Tanglewood-WOW! Elevated cabins in the woods, incredible! We helped the girls set up their beds and then headed out. We didn't see them again Friday when we picked them up and they had an amazing time!!

The girls stayed in the Tanglewood cabins that housed 6 girls each. All of the girls were Juniors (rising 4th or 5th graders) and they were part of a few different themes. There were 12 girls in the Hike, Bike and Canoe group. After breakfast, the HBC group did 1 hour of each activity and then had lunch ("a real hot lunch mom, not sandwiches!"). After that, they went back to their cabins for "turtle time" which was rest time during the hottest part of the day). Afterwards, they had swim lessons (mandatory until they are rising 6th graders and pass a swim test) and hung out at the pool most of the afternoon.

They also did a lost of crafts, learned songs and skits. The food at dinner was apparently great and they even had 'hands free' night one night which was tons of fun. I think the craziest thing for the girls was the 2min shower every night (and only 1min30min the last night). Luckily I packed a combo shampoo/conditioner! Julia chatted the entire 1h30min drive home about camp and cannot wait to go back again next summer. 

While Julia was away, I had fun with the other kids. I even took Luke to get his nails done one day...he loved the massage chair!

Pampered

August 2 - Goodbye Beach

After an amazing, relaxing time at the beach, it was time to head home. We did the drive home in one day as Julia had camp the following day. I-10 was closed down before Mobile, creating a 2hour delay and there was more traffic in Baton Rouge...but Jillian did great and never cried! Once again, best baby ever!

We had a wonderful time and can't wait until our next vacation.