We do not like Ike!

If you are reading this you are either not in the Houston area, or you are fortunate enough to have a generator. Or, you are one of the VERY FEW people who have electricity in Houston and shame on you for not inviting us over! :) We survived Ike's mighty winds. It was seriously ferocious! Unfortunately, our only tree in our backyard did not fare so well. :( (I'll devote a post later specifically to this). She is completely split into two. She hasn't made her full trek downward yet because she is resting on top of the kids' fort and our fence. There has been tons of clean up, but compared to others around us, we feel grateful. We are still without power. We had no water, we got it back and then lost it again. Friday night/Saturday morning was filled with howling winds and then Saturday night/Sunday morning the rain was tremendous! This wasn't as "scary" as Friday night, but it was more eventful at our house because of the flooding that nearly occurred! The water in our pool was so high that Nicole, Matt and I began bucketing water out of the pool and dumping it into the grass. We had to make sure that the drains were clear of debris on the patio so that the water didn't make it's way into our house. We do have french drains that lead to the street, but when the street is full of water the water will actually drain back up into our backyard. So, once Matt got Nic and I started in the backyard, he went out front and began pushing water and debris from in front of our house down the street. What you have to realize is that all of this is happening in seriously heavy rain, lots of lightening and in complete darkness. If it hadn't been so crazy it would have been funny! And after a couple of hours of this it became humorous...because we were delirious. The other funny thing was that after sleeping in the HOT and HUMID HOUSTON HEAT, being rained on felt fabulous! And none of us knew what a workout this job would be! It was toning and aerobic! :) Needless to say, after our experience last night and then continuing to be without electricity and then again without water (not counting rainwater!), Nicole, the kids, the dogs and I are now in San Antonio staying at Tanya and Dave's this evening and then we are heading to the river tomorrow. :) We are "river ready" (minnow nets and all!) and we'll be enjoying a mini vacation while Matt hangs out at home awaiting news about work and making sure that our house is okay if we encounter more rain. :) I do have pics of the kids and the house, but I still can't upload them yet. I'll do that later. Oh...Nic's house is okay also. She does have some missing shingles and she had some water that got into her attic, but her house fared well also.