Another Day Comes and Goes

Today we met our new friends, Ben and Jen, at a park in Fridley for a few hours of park play. I brought my camera to get some cute photos of the boys playing together in the beautiful summer sun. Once again the batteries in my camera were dead. (My rechargeables must be going bad because no one has used the camera! I'm getting exctremely frustrated about this.) Anywhoo, since I wasn't able to take new photos of the kids at the park today, here are some silly photos of the kids in their baseball caps. These pics were taken over a month or so ago. It appears the kids were enjoying some snacks and some precious play time while enjoying their lids. I think Eric must have had a blue pop pop (i.e. that's Eric-speak for popsicle).

Our park time was fun. The park is by two train tracks so there were at least six trains that passed while we were playing. Both boys LOVED watching the trains pass. Jonathan was very interested in the number of engines and what type of cars were being pulled i.e. hopper cars, box cars. Eric noticed that none of the trains had cabooses. "No caboose!" he kept stating in all seriousness.

Welcome to Our Family

Jonathan saw the tiger at Walgreens the other day and just had to have it. His motto, "The Bigger the Better". Since he had allowance savings and I agreed to pay for part of the tiger, he was able to purchase it. Whiskers is enjoying his new home with us. Unfortunately, I think we need to build another bedroom to house him! Until then, Jonathan will have to cozy up with his new pal in his own room.

Camping Adventure

Jay and I decided to take the boys camping Monday night at Bunker Hills Campground. The campground is located about one mile north of our house so it's easy to pack up and head out for an evening and be home in the morning. When I got home from work, we loaded up the car with our gear and with the boys and headed out for dinner and some snacks. After dinner we headed to the campground to check-in for the evening. Jay and Jonathan went in to see the ranger and pay for the site. Soon after going inside, they both came out to talk to me about the weather news. The ranger indicated that the weather service was indicating a possible severe and very dangerous storm that evening for our area. The storm could produce tornadoes without any advanced notice and had a history of producing baseball size hail. Knowing that the weather service isn't 100% accurate when predicting storms, we decided to take the chance and camp.

Moments later, paid receipt in hand, our happy car load proceeded to our campsite. We unpacked our gear (a lot more than you would think to have for just an overniter!). We set up our tents, our sleeping bags, and pillows. Jay made a lovely roaring fire. We roasted marshmallows. All was merry for about an hour and a half. But it wasn't meant to last. Soon we heard thunder in the distance. Good grief! The clouds were seriously black so Jay decided to sit in the car and listen to the weather band. "Rapidly approaching highly dangerous storm, with a history of producing baseball size hail and potential for tornadoes. Sky to ground lightning strikes. Frequent lightning". Uh oh. The incidences of thunder and lightning were increasing. What to do? What to do?

Well, we decided to tear down camp, throw everything into the car once again and head for home. It was exhausting! I was sweating up a storm (no pun intended)! Jonathan and Eric were getting nervous about the lightning and the thunder. As we got in the car and started driving for home, large raindrops began to fall. When we pulled into our driveway three minutes later, the tornado sirens began sounding. We immediately ran into the house down into the basement and checked the weather reports on the the t.v. "Rotation indicated south of Highway 10 in Ramsey. No confirmation of tornado but take coverage." Ugh! By now it's like 9:30 p.m. way past the kids bedtime but there was no way they could go to bed up on the 2nd floor of our home. I put in a movie for them and then went to check out the weather on another t.v. Soon the wind started whipping, rain started pouring from the sky in a super deluge. Then I heard ping ping ping on the porch roof. The hail was falling. Luckily the hailstones only got to be about quarter size.

Luckily, nothing serious happened to our house or neighborhood from the storm. No tornadoes. No hail damage. No trees down. The kids went to bed a little after 10 p.m. and slept like logs. There was a second storm that rolled through about a half hour later that just produced a lot of lightning and tons of rain. What an adventure! And a ton of work just to end up sleeping at home. It's a memory though.

Eric keeps asking to go camping now. Jonathan wants to go with just daddy so he can get a break from Eric. Me? I'm ready for a massage and days of uninterrupted sleep.

This and That

So my computer is still out of commission which means my photos are out of commission as well as my ipod. I didn't realize how dependent on these new fangled mechanical devices I was. Blah! Jay should be taking my computer to a Mac shop tomorrow to be fixed. The only thing wrong is the power cord...a piece got stuck inside the plug and now I can't charge the computer. Of course, the battery is now dead. Ugh! I dislike such broken things.

On another note, the bridge collapse is still heavy on my mind. I was going to walk over to one of the bridges in Minneapolis at work on Friday to see what I could see in person. It's supposed to be more surreal that way and make a bigger impact. Part of me isn't sure if that is what I really want to experience but it does feel important. I didn't make it over there. I don't want to get in the way and don't want to be a gawker. But it does seem vital for healing my mind. Perhaps on Tuesday when I am back downtown for work.

It sure is a miracle that so far there are only 5 confirmed fatalities. Wow! It could have been so much worse. Although those who have lost loved ones, I'm sure, don't feel so fortunate. Anyway, there are only 8 others confirmed missing. But there must be some who haven't been accounted for? This still gives me such a heavy heart....

Life is precious and so fragile. Yet we are so resilent and continue on in the face of hardship and strife. When lives are in danger, some put their own in danger to rescue and help others. I like to think I would be one to help rather than run away. But do we really know how we would act during a tragedy? I don't know if you can ever prepare for such an event. Hopefully, I'll never have to find out in my life time and neither will you.

God bless you all today! May God's love shine down on you and your families! Much love to you!

Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

I usually don't watch the news especially at supper time but it appeared there was going to be a storm and I wanted to check out the weather forecast. Turned on the evening news a little before six to check out the weather. Left the room and came back a couple of minutes later and found out that the Hwy 35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed. Talk about feeling utter shock and disbelief! We used to drive that bridge daily and only recently stopped going that way since we moved to Coon Rapids. So freaky. Friends of ours said they drove four times back and forth on that bridge yesterday.

I didn't sleep well last night at all. I guess it affected me more than I thought. It's just terrible. I feel so small. There are so many things we take for granted every minute of every day. Fortunately, I don't know anyone who was injured. All my friends and family are safe. There were miracles in this tragedy too. A bus load of children fell 50 feet but landed on all its tires. No one was seriously hurt from the bus. But there are still many families suffering today because they don't know where their family members are. Please pray for those persons and their loved ones. The river recovery effort has been thwarted because of the river currents and the debris in the river. Please pray for the recovery workers and crews.

Tragedies happen around our world all the time. When it hits so close to home, it's so much more personal and real.