Hurricane Sandy AKA "Frankenstorm"

(Crossing the bridge from Norfolk back into Hampton.)

We were not expecting to move to Virginia and experience our first hurricane within the month but that is exactly what happened.  Thankfully, for us, it was nothing more than a lot of rain (like 5 days STRAIGHT) and a lot of stir craziness.  I definitely feel grateful especially since it has been so devastating for so many people.

 A lot of my neighbors told us not to stress.  They experienced Irene last year and were fine so they figured the same would happen here.  I wonder how many people further up the coast thought the same thing.  "No need to worry.  Irene wasn't as bad as they originally thought it was going to be.  We'll be fine."  This has gone through my head a lot.  I am so thankful we were okay but I don't think that we can become complacent about preparing for literal natural disasters or spiritual ones.  I am not one to get too deep on my blog but it has been on my mind a lot.

 Despite the fact that we were fine, people were definitely preparing for the storm just in case.  There were not parking spots to be seen at Walmart, water was either sold out or stacked in crates in the middle of the isles and batteries and flashlights were being sold like crazy.  Gas stations were constantly full, some with lines.

(All the boats were brought in from sea.)

My biggest worry was Todd.  He had flown out to Idaho to see his grandpa before he passed away.  I was a little nervous about him not being here with us just in case anything bad did happen.  We were also worried that if his flight was cancelled that he wouldn't be able to get home for a little while.  He changed his flight to come back in on Monday at 4pm.  We were supposed to experience "squalls" according to the news starting at 6pm.  I had to cross a bridge to get from our area to Norfolk and was worried they would shut down the bridge and Todd and I would be stuck while my mom was left with the three kids.  (Did I mention my mom was in town.  So glad she was able to come out to visit. :)  More on that later.)
Anyway, it was a good idea since the next morning the airport WAS shut down, everything was flooded and Todd would have been stranded.  We are glad it worked out the way it did.

 (Coming out of the tunnel part of the bridge.  It was really wet under the tunnel too.  Might as well have been raining.)

In the end, it was fine.  All the pictures are from the drive back when Todd was driving.  They aren't great, but they show a little of what the weather was like.  Gray and wet with choppy water.

(The reservoir by our house.)

What we learned is that the area we live in is as good as it gets if you live on a peninsula.  We were not affected by the wind as much as other areas, we are on slightly higher ground that a lot of the areas and so our neighborhood was not flooded at all.  There were areas all around town that did flood; some within minutes of our house.  We also did not lose power.  All in all, we were sitting pretty.  Once Todd was home safe and sound I felt a lot less uneasy about it all.

One thing I learned is that while my mom will worry endlessly about little things, apparently hurricanes don't make her lose any sleep.  It baffles me but I was happy for her calm demeanor during it all.  :)  Timing couldn't have been better for her to come out for a visit.  If she had been in Nevada while I was alone with the three kids with a hurricane coming at us she would have driven me crazy!  I love you Mom!

We have some company coming soon so I am posting this without proofing.

Have fun with that.