September 1 - Hurricane Laura

To stay or to go. That is the question we ask ourselves when a hurricane is coming. When we woke up a week ago (last Tuesday), Hurricane Laura was on a path to Houston. Galveston (south of us) was under mandatory evacuation and we were in a voluntary evacuation zone. We were told to get out by noon if possible. School was cancelled. JD and I talked about it. "What should we do?" "The hurricane could turn away." "It might stay on course." "Remember Harvey? We didn't think that was going to be a big deal and look what happened." "If we wait too long, we won't be able to get out." So, we booked a hotel room in the arboretum area of Austin and prepared to travel with the dogs and kitten. As we were wrapping up work, another weather report came out saying the storm was turning towards Louisiana. Once again...what to do? I decided to drive to Austin with the kids while JD would stay home with the pets. If the storm turned again, he would evacuate and join us. 

The kids and I left around 3.30pm and Google told me it was a 3h drive. As we were on 610 to the west side of Houston, I kept getting notifications about "delays ahead." The GPS routed me off the highway and I ended up driving on back country roads for 1.5 hours until we picked up 1-10 in Columbus, very close to the I-71 Austin turnoff.  We checked into the hotel and were one of 10 cars in the parking lot. We dropped off our bags and headed to the Arbortem, an outdoor mall next to our hotel within walking distance. We got take-out from Five Guys and ate outside. This is the first time Luke has been in public since March and he kept shouting "We are going to get corona!" and I repeatedly explained that everyone was wearing masks, there were hand sanitizer stations everywhere and people were social distancing. We were okay! After our delicious (but oddly extremely expensive fast food) dinner, I picked up a couple slices of cheesecake for dessert and we headed back to the hotel room. 

Day 1 in the hotel. We picked up Starbucks for breakfast (probably the highlight of the trip for the kids because we haven't been since Disney) and I drove them around and showed them my old apartment and the area I used to walk in. They were, of course, not impressed in the least, ha! We headed back to the hotel where I worked the rest of the day. We drove to a cool hiking trail a few miles from the hotel and right when we were about to start hiking..a little blonde announced she had to poop. So...no hiking for us. That's okay though, we headed to the pool for a few hours and had fun swimming.

Next up, we got Cheesecake Factory to go (oddly, less expensive than Five Guys Burgers) and ice cream for dessert. Our night was going well until 1am when Luke woke up and puked all over the rug. He never got sick again but it was..fragrant to say the least. 

We checked in with JD in the morning and he confirmed the storm passed Houston. We checked out of the hotel and I was in shock. The parking lot was not completely full and there were giant signs directing Hurricane Laura Evacuee's to check-in via the conference center in the hotel. It was PACKED. 

So, we are back home and all is well. No damage here (it didn't even rain) but our friends in Louisiana were not so lucky. 

Sorry mom, this is what happens when you try to work

Too much fun

Love them!