The storm

We woke up April 3 about 1:30 a.m. to very 

LOUD 

hail.  It seemed to go on and on and on.

It was also very 

DARK!

No electricity.

We did go back to sleep and when we woke up, we saw that we still had no electricity.  I looked south of us and it was all total darkness. No streetlights, no houses had lights.  When it got light we were able to see if we had any damage.

We didn't, except for a bird feeder.  

It was smashed when it fell from our deck.

I got on Facebook to see if anyone had posted anything.  There were so many posts!!  People were saying that it looked like a tornado had hit town.  (It didn't.  They are calling them micro bursts of wind gusts 80-100 mph.)  Many people were posting about fences down, broken windows, etc.

Although they were encouraging people to stay home and not get in the way of clean up crews, we needed to go see Dad (I go on Fridays) and see how he was doing.  If you are local, you can see that this traffic is unusual.  It was really busy!  Cars were everywhere, listening real good to the authorities about staying out of the way.  Ha!  Guilty as charged!

The Pizza Hut to the left and Midway Motors to the right both sustained quite a bit of damage.

Staying out of the way of any electric or roofing people, we stopped in our kids' old neighborhood to see how their old house held up.

Here is our daughter's old house. 

 I saw several posts of people losing trampolines....here was one.

Growing up in Japan, I saw lots of shows about Godzilla.

These scenes looked like he had tromped through Newton.

I have to show this photo below.  One day, the kids had been playing with these dinosaurs.  When I walked into the kitchen, my husband had posed these guys like this on the counter!  He has such a sense of humour!  

China Inn destroyed. 

 Lupe's blown out.  PLEASE rebuild!  They make the BEST authentic Mexican food!

Thank you to our wonderful power and light companies for working so hard!  We were out for 12 hours.  Some may be out until Monday or Tuesday.  Over 7000 without power in our town and more in Wichita area.  Our son-in-law's parents came to spend the night as they were still without power.

These guys are missing out on Easter with their families.

The home where Dad lives was without power also, although they had the generator going (for very important things).  Dad had to sit in his wheelchair and not in his power recliner, as it didn't have power!  His room was fairly dark, with only the light from the window.  But the workers were working really hard to keep the residence calm and to get them fed.  So grateful for them.  My Dad wasn't upset in the least.  He was kind of chuckling about it all. 

An Easter weekend to remember.   A different kind of day for all of us.  A young mom friend of mine wrote on Face book "Has anyone else thought of the coincidence of so many people losing power on Good Friday?  I can't stop thinking what it must have been like on the 'original' Good Friday when the whole world went dark; no sun, no light at all."

Hannah and Jill's birthdays

It's been over 2 weeks since Hannah's 10th birthday!

And Jill's 30 plus?? birthday too.

I'm a little behind in the posting!

 Hannah picked the colors - teal and pink.  She made the puff balls above!

I happened to match the napkins!

Jill made this super cool cake!  The inside was also colored!

She blew out all 10 candles in one big puff!

We didn't have a 2nd cake for Jill. 

 I had already gotten her a chocolate cream pie on her day and she ate it all up!!  

(not true - she did share some of it with us.  Ha!!)  

Here is the proof of that pie.

All the children received a little gift and Hannah said they should open theirs first.

 

Hannah wanted a necklace that had her birthstone. 

At Faith and Life Bookstore, I found one that had the birthstone (in the circle locket) and then charms that are about her (in the heart locket).  The locket is magnetic.  You can just wear the circle part if you want or just the heart one.  Pretty neat!  And she can add other charms as she wants.

Hair chalk from the cousins - lovin that!!

She loves Junior Chef and loves to cook!  Thanks Gramsie!

                         

And you can't go wrong with fancy nail polish!  Thanks, Aunt Mindy!

And since Hannah and her mommy share March birthdays, we celebrate together sometimes.

 See the sibling photos on the bookshelf?

 

Finishing up the party with cake and ice-cream!!

Puppies and Grandpa

While our son and his family were here, we decided to make a trip to visit Grandpa Pete.

 It was a beautiful day so we wheeled him outside.

 The kids had a blast climbing the walls of this new feature at the home.

Saying good-byes 

The next stop was the "puppy store".  There was only 1 puppy that day.

When we found out he was over $700, we had to gulp.

The clerk tried to get Nana to buy him for the grandkids!

 Baby turkeys and chickies are cheaper.  Of course, its cheapest to just hold them.

 

Don't squeeze it too tight!!

Such fun memories!  And so cool to have a country store that encourages the families to come and hold their critters!