Mayhem

Really has it been two weeks since my last blog post?? It has been crazy around the Brown household! I had the bright idea of planning a long Easter weekend getaway to west Texas and Sea World, but failed to consider that I had multiple projects due for school at the same time and had volunteered myself for classroom duties with Mason and to chaperone a field trip all at the same time!

Accordingly, last week was filled with tests and research projects and power point presentations and coloring Easter eggs with 21 Kindergartners and going on a field trip with Conner in tow to the fire station and park for an egg hunt with 80+ kindergarten students, not to mention packing for 4 people and planning meals and buying tickets and making hotel reservations!

By the time Thursday evening got here I was ready to pass out! We made it to a family home in West Texas around 1 a.m. Friday morning and we all felt like we'd been run over by a truck - on the rode for 6 hours not counting stops was tiresome!  But we awoke 5 hours later to wild turkey roaming in the yard and that was a neat experience!  We spent the day exploring and enjoying the quiet of the countryside.  The terrain is quite different from what we are used to - very dry and rugged! We even saw a roadrunner and lots of deer and tons of cactus plants!

The boys playing in the river

Now we know why they call it Texas Hill Country!

Saturday morning we headed to San Antonio where our first stop was Natural Bridge Caverns.  Mason loves all things having to do with rocks and caves and nature type stuff so I knew for sure he would love this and he did  . . . except for the fact that he understood it was holding us up for our ultimate destination - Sea World and the Lost Lagoon waterpark inside Sea World!  He was very anxious to get there!

Mason & Conner dinosaur hunting 

at the entrance to the cavern - we hiked 200 feet below the surface and then back up again

(and I carried Conner almost the whole way, definitely got my exercise that day!)

We finally made it to our hotel and to Sea World with 2 hours of waterpark time remaining and two hours of Sea World time.  Ryan & Mason headed to the big slides while Conner and I checked out the Lil Gators Lagoon and Lazy River.  After the waterpark closed at 6 we still had two more hours of fun ahead going on the rides inside Sea World; however with wait times and Sea World being crazy big we actually only made it on 2 rides.  We felt prepared for the next day though!

Mason was not at all happy about having to look at animals the next morning when he could have been sliding but he endured it!

Here are the boys feeding dolphins! SUPER COOL!

After that we went and saw the sharks and stingrays and then went to the Cannery Row Caper, a show featuring sea lions.  Mason finally got his way and we headed to the hotel to change into our swimsuits and then it was waterpark time!

All the waterpark fun is on our disposable waterproof camera so you'll have to wait for those pictures!! I can tell you that they boys had a great time and we totally got drenched by Shamu and friends!! We sat on the 3rd row and the splash was big and hard!

Conner and I hung out in the Sesame Street Bay of Play area while Mason and Ryan did the rides and slides and it was fun and exhausting and a little nauseating (I don't do rides well!)!

A quick roller coaster ride for the little's!

Monday morning we headed back home - I feel like I've been all over Texas - we drove to west, south, and back east - and it was long!  I had not turned in my research project yet so as soon as we got home Monday evening I headed to the computer to get it all turned in.  Tuesday we took it easy and washed a little laundry and got unpacked but it was a fairly leisurely day . . . if I only knew then what Tuesday night would bring I would have been a whole lot busier!!

The boys were upstairs having a "sleepover" together and we wrapped up in sleeping bags watching a movie when the rain and the wind and the hail began.  They barely noticed when the power went off because their DVD player was fully charged and kept right on playing.  Ryan and I were a little concerned and then we started getting texts (we had no power and no news) telling us to take cover that a tornado was on its way.  We darted upstairs and grabbed the boys as non-panicky as we could and set up their sleeping bags and movie in the closet under the stairs where we all hung out for about an hour.  We finally put them in our bed while we waited out the storm in case we needed another trip to our "storm shelter."  In light of the devatation in Alabama and other parts of the south we are so very fortunate that all we have is minor property damage.  It was inconvenient to not have electricity or access to water for 48 hours but at least we still had a home and each other.  My parents had a tree fall on their roof and their hay barn was demolished, my brother and SIL had their fenced knocked over, and my sister and BIL lost all of their crops at their produce farm, and we lost our trampoline, water well building, and our swing set is debatable (we'll know more when we get the tree off it!) but all in all we are very blessed!

Normally, these steps lead to a trampoline! We noticed it was gone during the storm but it was too dark to see where it went.  Things didn't look hopeful the next morning when it was nowhere to be seen in wide open pasture.

Can you see the swing set under there?

The boys in I started walking in the direction the trees fell

and we finally found the trampoline behind some trees.

this is what we first found not too far from our house (pieces of the trampoline)

and I knew then it wasn't going to be good!

On the bright side the boys are enjoying climbing on the trees!

Ryan has been busy at work and is sick so we haven't been able to move them yet!

I wish I had pictures of our road - it was terrible - downed trees and power lines everywhere.  I lost cell service during the storm and my parents couldn't reach us and started to drive to our house.  Even with a big 4WD truck they couldn't get through and they only live 1 mile away!  Ryan and Dad went out in the rain with tractors and chain saws to help a neighbor get home and both said they'd never seen anything like it.

Anytime anyone prays Conner always starts saying "God is good, God is great" and in this instance and all of them really God is Good and just witnessing his power during these storms proves how great He is as well!

So there is my mayhem and chaos and what kept me from blogging!!