September in Fast Forward

The biggest event that happened in our family in September was that after only a few weeks, a lot of frustration, heartbreak, and countless tears, we decided to take Gabby out of public school and try out home schooling. It was not an easy conclusion to get to, but as it turns out, it was the right thing to do.

We found K12 (a home schooling program) and are absolutely loving the curriculum. During the first week of home schooling, we read about some ancient mounds in Anderson, Indiana. The following weekend, we took a field trip and brought along Katie (Gabby's friend) and the Bjorks.
We happened to arrive just in time for archaeology week so the kids got to dig for arrow heads and make petroglyphs.
We explored the two mounds on site.

We got in tuned with the ancient spirits of the mound the only way you can--by lying on the earth

...and by doing some yoga.
We went for a magical walk on a trail around the mounds
Oliver kept asking me to take pictures of him lying on the trail--he was really feeling it.
we even found some magic mushrooms (but don't worry, we didn't find out just how magical they were).

Noah discovered the mounds were only 20 minutes away from the ONLY radio control airplane museum in.the.world. So we took a gander and visited it. Honestly, it wasn't that bad.

We found a creepy manikin:
The kids found a hands on exhibit, which was a big hit.
And to finish the visit off, we bought all the kids little planes to fly.
The best was yet to come though...on the way home, we came across this on the side of the road:
A GIANT SHOE!!! You heard me!

What Matters

Yesterday, we got a little taste of the record breaking storms that have been wreaking havoc in the Midwest.

The kids and I watched weather reports and knew that a super cell (a violent storm capable of producing tornadoes) was headed right for us--like RIGHT for us.

Gabby was extremely worried about our house, particularly her room, despite my efforts in explaining that everything in the house can be replaced--except our family and a few other things like pictures (but of course, family trumps everything!). She and Alex devised a plan to take everything of theirs that was "irreplaceable" to the basement with them while we rode out the storm. Here is what they brought:

Alex brough his four "Wimpy Kid" books, a pair of sunglasses, a watch, a magnifying glass, a lanyard (in case we needed to be identified?), a top that lights up, and silly bands (not pictured).

Gabby (who also organized her items neatly) brought: her ATM, a head lamp, an eye mask (because when the power goes out, it's just not dark enough in the basement), a Harry Potter trivia game, a journal, Beatrix Potter books, Les 101 Dalmations (French edition), scriptures (that's got to give us points right?), an extra scripture case (in case the first one doesn't make it?), medals, a book she made, and a piano music box (for when our real piano goes to Oz).
This is what the storm looked like from the outside (I missed it--the kids didn't let me see it).
We made it through the storm just fine. At least one tornado touched down (about 2 miles away from our house), and two other funnel clouds were spotted. During the storm, a good part of our town lost power (we were lucky and didn't). Trees were uprooted, some fell on houses, signs fell on cars, a semi truck flipped over on the freeway and hail the size of golf balls fell. A few people were injured, but fortunately there were no fatalities.

And thanks to Alex, if our house had been taken away, we'd still be able to light leaves on fire with that magnifying glass!

The End of the World

Last night, we experienced what the end of the world will look and sound like.

I have never in my life experienced such an intense storm. I heard it coming around 3:00 AM and Noah informed me that some really dark clouds [were] on their way. I lay in bed and waited, debating whether or not I should check online for tornado warnings. My sleepy self won over and I stayed in bed. At 3:45 AM, the storm was right on top of us. The lightning was touching down about 5-10 times a second, keeping the sky brighter than noon day continuously. And the thunder--wow--the thunder was deafening. By this point Noah and I were standing at our bedroom window filled wonder (and quite frankly, scared out of our minds). I saw what looked like an explosion by our apartment clubhouse and then the power went out.

I turned to bring Gabby and Alex in the master bedroom, only to find Gabby shaking with fear behind me. I gave her a hug and made her a bed next to mine. Then I went into Alex's room and lifted my sleeping boy (how he was sleeping through this was beyond me) out of his bed and placed him on the floor next to Gabby in my room. We didn't sleep. The storm grew more and more intense until it reached its climax and Noah announced that we were all going downstairs to sleep. The kids got the hallway (deemed as the safest place in the apartment) and Noah and I got the front room. We opened the blinds and watched for another two hours until the storm had past.

And that my friends is what the end of the world looks like. Sorry for those of you who missed it.

Tornado Recipe

Directions:

Take a hot day and mix it with cool cross winds from a thunderstorm and voila!Today's Indiana forecast: 91 degree weather (that's hot, especially when you add in 100% humidity) with approaching thunder storm--you know, the same storm that's been wreaking havoc in other Midwestern states. For some reason, I'm not as excited about this approaching storm as I have been about others . . . and yes Gabby, you can sleep in my room tonight.

Sentenced to Court

Yesterday, after picking Gabby up from school I fell victim to a speed trap--here's the rub, I turned off of one road where the speed limit is 45 MPH onto a very similar road that abruptly changes to 30 MPH and got clocked in at 42 just after the sign change.
And so readers, on July 30th, you will be able to find me at the building pictured below disputing the claim. After all, it is one of my favorite buildings in Columbus, I just haven't had any desire to see the inside of it until now. Please note the ominous cloud cover in the picture.

While I was being ticketed, Gabby was panicking, thinking that the time when I took my own drink into the movie theatre finally caught up with us and we were going to get hauled off to this building:

Yes, that would be our beautiful county jail, just another one of Columbus's jokes on criminals--they think they're getting taken to a museum.

It's Electric

Last night we experienced our first real Midwest lightning storm. And it did not disappoint. See, in Utah the storms last maybe a couple of hours with spaced out strikes. In Indiana however, it's an all night spectacle that lights up the night sky continuously. I had a hard time sleeping, not because I was scared but because I didn't want to miss it. The kids on the other hand weren't such big fans and both ended up sleeping on the floor in mine and Noah's room.

Exciting Bike Ride

Gabby just experienced the most exciting bike ride of her life to date. While out with her daddy on a ride around town, it started to rain. Then there was lightning. And Thunder. Then the tornado siren went off (this time, it wasn't a drill).

For those of you who are already in a state of Punic, know that just because the siren goes off, doesn't mean a tornado will absolutely hit--it's just a friendly reminder to keep your eyes peeled. And as a further note, Noah and I are used to Utah where it can be overcast for a week without raining a single drop--Indiana clouds apparently mean business. Had we known this, we probably would have skipped the whole bike ride.

Now back to Gabby. . .

Gabby HATES the siren and the thought of tornadoes--probably because her science teacher in Utah did her best to instill the deepest fear of them to her students, knowing that Utah never (but for that one time) gets tornadoes.

When the siren went off, I started panicking knowing how petrified Gabby would be on her bike. I opened the back screen door and luckily found her arriving moments later (sobbing of course). I picked her up, hugged her, and did my best to comfort my shaken girl.

Then to pick up her spirits, we looked up tornado videos on You Tube (I'm fascinated by them, but for the first time in my life find myself never wanting to see one in person). Strangely, my method worked. Gabby calmed down.

Still no tornado by the way, but the watch is on until midnight. I'll let you know if we all end up sleeping in our bathroom.