The house across from our friend Josh's house. The tree in their back yard fell on their house.
We got our power back eight days after Ike came ashore. It was like Christmas. I was so excited. The first thing that Matt did was vacuum the downstairs.
Playing with his new toys.
My little boxer.
Zack and Kaesley after a walk in his new wagon. I found it for 25 dollars. He loves it.
Hanging out at the house with the cats. It cooled down into the 70's so we were able to open the windows. It made not having power a little bit easier.
Zack enjoying watermelon. We figured that if we were out of power we might as well be with friends.
Before.
After.
Zack swinging in a big boy swing. The little girl is Zack's friend Kaesley. Kaesley is 3 years old.
He would not get off the swing for anything.
Zack and his friend Ella. Ella is 19 months.
Matt sweeping off Josh's roof while the kids played.
Matt went out to help clean up. He did not know that fire ants were biting him. He was having too much fun. We never counted them all but there must have been at least 50.
"Mommy take a picture of my feet also."
Zack found some water to play in. The morning after Ike it rained some more.
Zack playing with the fire hydrant reflector in the road.
Matt waiting for Ike to be over with so he could go out and help clean up. It started to rain around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night and did not stop until around 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Then another storm dropped 6 more inches that night. Altogether, we got over 17 inches in 36 hours. The hurricane was between 400-500 miles wide with sustained winds (by the time it reached us) from 60-80 mph and gusts up to 100 mph. As far as we know, the eye (which was 30-60 miles wide) went more or less over us. But it was too early in the morning to appreciate the clear skies. Oh well. We'll just have to hope for another one to come over us. It took at least 11 hours (3:00 a.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Saturday) for the storm to pass us. It was a rather boring time as it was hard to sleep with the wind beating on the house and the heat (our power went out at 3:30 a.m.) since our fans turned off. We got our power back the following Saturday night. Our casualties included most of our fridge food, but that's all. We found some friends with generators where we stashed a lot of our freezer food (that which we hadn't already eaten). In anticipation of the power outage, Matt ate the remainder of the ice cream Thursday night (there was no school Friday). School was out for the entire greater Houston area (and beyond) from Friday Sept. 12 to Wednesday Sept. 17. Nothing like being in school for 3 weeks and then having a 2 week vacation. We didn't board up our windows, though some people here and there throughout town did. Being 70 miles inland, I wasn't too worried about our house. And since our neighborhood is so new, there are not even medium sized trees. You couldn't even tell that a hurricane came through our neighborhood or that 17 inches of rain was dropped on us either.
Zack playing with his toys by candle light.
The tramp we found in our front yard. Matt went out around 7 a.m. in the wind and rain to pull it into the garage so it would not have the chance to damage anyone's stuff. He was soaked after being out for just a few minutes.
We found out it belonged to our neighbors about 5 houses down.
Zack and Max watching Ike.
Waiting for Ike to be done.
Finishing off the root beer.
Sleeping with Max.
Climb on mom's bedside table.
Zack with one of the little kid pool sticks.
Zack getting ready for his shot.
This is a more fun way to play pool.
What pocket should I put this ball into?
Zack ready for lunch in his My Buddy hat. Do you all remember My Buddy? Well, Matt had one when he was younger. We had his mom send it to us with some other toys. He loves to wear the hat.
What more do you need than a burp cloth, baby lotion, and a My Buddy hat?
Zack playing in the little park in our neighborhood. He loves to go down the slide.
This is Zack's new favorite place to play.
I think this one looks a little like my brother Brandon when he was younger.
Zack will bring toys in and just play there.
I pulled up the blinds to let in the sun. Zack found out that he can climb up over the couch and onto the window sill.
Zack watching a movie from there.
