Ice Storm 2008

So. Yesterday was another snow day for the girls. Second one in a row. It rained. Ed & I were going to spend the day in New York (kid free) and have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I was bummed. Then I got an idea. I called our babysitter (who of course was out of school too and hadn't had time to make any plans for the day!) and asked if she was available for the day. She was!! And she brought her sister, who is Katie's best friend, with her. Katie doesn't need a babysitter but I don't feel comfortable leaving the girls all home together so the sitter was here for Allison and Becky and Katie and her friend did their own thing. It worked out GREAT! Ed & I shopped and went out to lunch. We were gone for about six hours!! If we'd gone to NY we couldn't have been gone that long due to the hour drive there and back and the need to be home by the time the girls got off the bus.

Now, back to the rain we got. Our house sits at 1230 feet above sea level and we got nothing but rain. Heavy rain - all night Thursday into Friday morning. Roads were washed out, yards were flooded, water raged down the mountainsides into gullies and small streams. It was pretty remarkable. However, we kept hearing reports and seeing the evidence (cars caked in thick layers of ice) that just a little farther up in elevation got slammed with a MAJOR amount of ice. Today we went for a ride to check it out. Literally 100 feet higher up into the mountains we saw trees down, power lines down, icy roads, and lots of ice still covering EVERYTHING! The area we drove through is part of our school district and after seeing the havoc caused by the ice it's no wonder they called of school! Here's some pictures.

Pretty wild, huh? It was incredibly beautiful to see everything so thickly coated with ice. The sun glittered off of the ice covered landscaped creating a magical, sparkling wonderland. Unfortunately, it will be days (or longer) before many of those people get their power back on. Life is certainly easier with electricity.

We are getting ready to head out in the bitter cold to watch Becky's chorus group sing outside at our town's holiday festival. It should be a fun time with lots of festive music, festive lights, and free hot cocoa!

I need to do a post of my children's obsession with Fuse Beads. Fuse Beads are so fun! But I'll post about that soon! Stay Warm!!