Blizzard Recovery

We have recovered pretty well from the most recent storms. After the “blizzard” hit us on Thursday we had a lighter “dusting” (3”) of snow fall on Friday afternoon/night. I returned to work without difficulty on Friday morning.

Yesterday we trekked down to Lincoln to spend some time at the Children's Museum and Grandpa & Grandma's house. It did us all good to get out of the house. I had been thinking of this as a possibility for a short while, but hadn't said anything. We wanted to wait to see what the weather was going to bring us. We debated but decided to go for it. Once the kids found out what we were doing, they were so excited. They love going to the Children's Museum.

The drive there, oh wow was it amazing. The roads were fairly clear, but the spots that weren't clear really weren't very good... as evidence by the large number of vehicles ditched in those areas. They were definitely my indication to take extra precaution when approaching those spots. One section had 8 vehicles ditched in one way or another. There were a couple of semi's, one of which was twisted in amazing ways. I think we counted two vehicles flipped on their tops. There were also a number of vehicles ditched and nearly completely covered in snow with only a door or an antenna peering through the snow. The snow drifts were incredible and beautiful to see. I wish our camera had been up front, but it wasn't and there was no way Carie was going to climb back and get it. Unfortunately though, it is this drifting that causes so many problems.

We met Grandma and cousin Haleigh at the Children's Museum and had a great time. Carie painted fun designs on all of the girls’ faces while I played volleyball and football with Spencer. He definitely had his own agenda on what he wanted to do, so I hung with him and let him lead the way. After a while we all met up again and the kids played in the tunnels, water areas, on the stage, with the hot air balloon, etc... As expected, Spencer was so wet when we were done he required a new set of clothes before heading out into the cold air. Then we stopped and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, then headed to Grandpa & Grandma's for naps.

One Spencer was down for a nap, Carie and I headed out for a bit of adult time. We ended up at the mall for some window shopping. While the mall was crowded, probably due to the state basketball tournament, it was nice just being out and doing our own thing. It was nice having the flexibility of going in and out of whatever stores we wanted to. It was nice to make bathroom stops when we needed to. It was nice to stop and have a yummy snack and some adult conversation. It was fun buying some fun things, together, for the kids Easter baskets.

Upon returning back to my parent’s house we discover that 1) Spencer did not nap and 2) Ellie was napping and clearly wasn't feeling well. Though, for not napping, Spencer was hanging in there pretty well. Outside of being wiped out, we aren't really sure what is up with Ellie. She's running a bit of a temp and has a cough triggered by some drainage. Otherwise she's in great spirits. Though just now, as she's resting in the big chair, she asked to go swimming in her pink swimsuit. Umm... yeah, it is still a bit chilly to swim outside.

So we finish putting dinner together, get everything pulled together, kids jammied, and hit the road to home. I was hoping that all three would pass out on the drive, but no. We pulled into the garage with only one sleeping (Abby) and two still awake (Ellie & Spencer). Thankfully the two who were still awake practically fell asleep as soon as they climbed in bed.

The drive home was so much better than the drive there. What a difference a day makes.