me: Did you see that lightning?
him: It's just heat lightning.
Um, no. Within seconds, winds started howling and rain came pelting down hard. Was that hail? We ran outside to retrieve our patio seat cushions and I stood there paralyzed as I looked up and saw the forest in our backyard sway back and forth violently while the night sky lit up like a strobe light. I was terrified! Within minutes, our power flicked in and out, and it remained out for what we thought would be a few hours. Yeah, not so.
Wind gusts clocked at speeds of up to 79 mph were reported, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes in the Washington, D.C. area. They called this massive storm--Derecho. We had no power starting Friday night and didn't get it until late Sunday evening. With the temperature being in the high 90's each day, it was tough trying to figure out to keep the kids cool.
Just like any storm, when the going gets tough, the Rings get tougher. :) It was about 89 inside the house and all the pools were shut down. What to do? Let's hang our sprinkler on a tree and have an outdoor shower!
Saturday: We hung out at an air-conditioned Walmart most of the morning. We had lunch and attempted to nap Tristan in his crib with a newly bought battery operated fan. It worked for about an hour. We then headed outside until it was unbearable and then went to dinner with friends in our old stomping ground, Lansdowne, which had power the whole time. After dinner, we assessed the house temperature and decided not to go to Purcellville for the night.
Not the best decision. I won't lie to you though, it was HOT at night. The two older ones and I slept in the basement and Patrick stayed upstairs with Tristan who had the fan in his crib. By Sunday morning, after a popsicle breakfast in the basement, the church had power and we went there for service. Afterwards, we ate lunch in an air-conditioned Wendy's in Reston and napped Tristan at Karen and Michael's place. Thank God they had power in the nick of time!
By Sunday evening, we headed to Purcellville and had dinner with Patrick's parents and was bathing the boys when we got a text from our neighbors that our power had come back on! No other text was more precious than: "POWER BACK ON!"
This whole thing also made us realize what great neighbors we have, too. One neighbor traveled to four grocery stores and brought us ice Saturday morning to refrigerate our food. While they were out, we were able to take their dog out a few times. We checked on our elderly neighbor in case she was by herself. She wasn't. Another neighbor kept texting back and forth and when rumor had it that our power was back on, he left his hotel to do a drive by for all of us. This whole thing got us all a little closer together. Praise God we were all safe. I do feel so blessed as I was stripped away from everything that was convenient, especially in bringing up young children, and just felt like I took so much for granted.
We got home and the house started to cool down by 10 p.m. With all the food in the fridge and freezer thrown out, Patrick and I sat in the family room, just looked at each other with just relief and a gratefulness. On Monday, my sister in law and three kids spent the whole day with us because they STILL didn't have power in McLean. They had that same look that they just wanted to be home, too. What craziness!
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