We finally got our power back today after it went out last Thursday night. November was a record-breaking month for rain. This left the tree roots unstable, and last week's windstorm pushed a LOT of them down. Being without power for 5 days was an experience I don't care to repeat; however I did learn many valuable lessons.
First lesson: Sleeping "puppy basket" style by the fireplace is a great way to stay warm. Also, when sleeping with 3 sons and a husband, don't serve chili for lunch.
Second lesson: If you will need to wake up at 4:00am and go to the bathroom in pitch black with nothing but a little candle to light the way, do not read Stephen King books at bedtime.
Third lesson: If you can see your breath inside the house, wear a hat, gloves and scarf to bed. Your family will laugh at you...ignore them!
One of our neighbors had a close call ~ this huge tree missed their house by a few feet. The roots on the left popped their driveway up like a piece of cardboard. All over our hill there are huge trees down, many of them crushing houses, cars and fences. The scariest were the trees that fell on power lines and were left dangling over the street....
Fourth lesson: It takes 2 days of putting on makeup by candlelight until you decide that it really doesn't matter if anyone sees you without makeup.
Fifth lesson: $5 candles from Safeway will light a room just as well as $30 Partylite candles.
Sixth lesson: Monopoly games almost always turn into a game of "Let's rip off Neil."Seventh lesson: Eating beanie weenie (cooked on a campstove), cookies and apple juice for dinner will make you queasy. Through the hill's grapevine, we heard that the neighborhood a couple streets up got together to make a cooperative bonfire and worked together to cook and share all of the food in their refrigerators before it went bad. After hearing that I felt really queasy. I bet none of their perfect kids were even fighting.
Eighth lesson: My kids will fight about anything if they're bored enough. Some examples that come to mind are: Who Gets to Lay by the Dog, Who Gets to Hold the Cheetos Bag, and His Leg is Touching Me.
Ninth lesson: As soon as you freak out, break down and spend $100 on Game Boy items to keep your kids occupied and not fighting, the power will go back on. In about 2 hours and 33 minutes, to be exact.
Tenth lesson: I am so lucky to have such a resilient and good-natured family. They hardly even complained at all. Of course, I complained enough to cover for them. Above all, we are lucky that this is not our house....
The view from Larry's window into the cul-de-sac. Neil's little friend Elias is heading over to our house to play. Not much snow left today....It's supposed to snow more tonight but warm up tomorrow, so that should be the end of our early snow adventure :)
Neil at his First Grade Thanksgiving Feast. They were served corn bread, corn chowder, pumpkin pie, and apple juice. Neil filled up on apple juice; the rest was DENIED.
Ack, vultures in the birdbath!
Here's Megan swinging on the Zip Line in our back yard. Note the green stripe that resulted from the pool leaking...otherwise it's as brown as can be! This was a very hot, dry summer for the Seattle area. Meg is now in 3rd grade ~ so beautiful & very grown up!
Here are 2 of my boys ~ their friend Alex is on Larry's computer. Alan's (10) on the left, Larry's (11) on the right. They are very excited for school to start tomorrow! I will post photos of the first day of school. Until then....
This year we got to celebrate my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary! Cyndi & Dave organized a nice luncheon at the Bandon Boatworks restaurant for family & friends. This is the happy couple, ready to cut the cake...
Carrie was able to make it too, even though she just graduated from the University of Oregon and is busy settling into "real life." Here she is on the dock in Old Town Bandon with the boys (notice how Larry, at 11, has already caught up to her in height!) 
The weather was great - sunny, but the wind made it chilly at times. That didn't stop the kids from getting soaked or burying themselves in wet sand, though. They also enjoyed building campfires on the beach at night, dropping crab pots off the dock (we ended up with 3 crabs that were big enough to keep), exploring the shops in Old Town, and picking blackberries out behind their great-grandparents' house. 
