Back from Belize, just in time for storms!

Tuesday night we returned from Belize (i.e. back to reality), and everything was "normal". Then on Wednesday evening, on my way home from my nail appointment, all hell broke loose. I believe that I actually drove thru part of the outskirts of a tornado......NO JOKE!!! I've never been so afraid in all of my life! I got stuck at every light along the way, and I was praying to just make it home in one piece. As I drove down the street, trees and fences were falling down, and the person in front of me had to move a fence out of the road so we could drive on it. The tornado sirens were going off, and luckily there was no hail. I've been stuck in hail before, and it's not at all fun. Anyway, we ended up losing power from 7:30pm until 2:30am, and it rained, thundered, and lightninged (?) ALL NIGHT. When I got up Thursday morning, it got really bad around 6am. I was looking out my dining room window, when the wind knocked down part of our tree right in front of me, and it looked like a mini-hurricane outside. I was supposed to be at the doctor's at 7:30am, but I called and cancelled....I was NOT getting out in that mess! Then at 6:30am, we lost power again, and it didn't return until Friday afternoon! I stayed home on Thursday and returned to work on Friday, even without the power. Tim went to pick up Katie from my sister's after the power came back on, and I went home after work to do LOTS of vacation laundry and catch up on my TIVO!
Canopy damage:
New canopy cover:
Grateful today for: that we only lost part of a tree, and the cover to our backyard canopy.

We leave for Belize tomorrow!!

And we cannot wait! We went to "the country" to drop off Katie at my sister's and to visit my grandpa in the hospital. He had to get a pint of blood (which took 3 hours), and then he got to go home, which was good! He hates being in the hospital. But before the hospital, we took my sister's family out for lunch at a yummy Mexican food place called "Ricoco's", and the salsa was actually hot! (yay!) The food was so good and so filling that I didn't even eat dinner last night! We finally got home around 9:30pm, and I quickly unpacked and started two loads of laundry. Tonite is all about finishing laundry and packing, and we are determined NOT to overpack this time, especially since AA charges for extra checked bags. We will miss our furry little babies, but we are SO excited for this new adventure! Until later......Adios Amigos!! :-)

Grateful today for: my grandpa being well enough to go home.