Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy, the largest hurricane on record, blew into the area on Monday 29 October into Tuesday. It was Mia's first hurricane and Emma's second (She and Kurt weathered Hurricane Irene in August 2011). The weekend leading up to it, we did some prep work and Emma noticed. She noticed extra junk food and treats that we brought into the house as well as the flashlights we put out on Sunday afternoon.
We had this exchange on Sunday afternoon:
Emma: Mom, what are those flashlights for?
Me: For when the power goes out.
Emma: Can I have it?
Me: No we have to save our power because it might be out for a long time.
Emma: Like 6 minutes?
Me: Probably longer than 6 minutes.
Emma: How about 7?

On Monday, we carpooled to daycare and work and planned to leave at noon since the storm was predicted to really pick up around 2pm. In the morning, it wasn't too bad, really just a soaking rain. We got awesome parking at work because many people followed the Governor's orders and stayed home and off the roads. We left shortly before noon and the wind had really picked up and the rain seemed to have gotten colder and was not falling straight down any longer. After grabbing lunch, we got the girls and got home a little after 1pm. We had a good afternoon playing and hanging out. 

Kurt and Emma were having fun playing video games on the Xbox when, unfortunately, it crashed. Although Kurt was disappointed, I told him it was positive, that it meant we wouldn't lose power. :)  The wind continued to pick up and the rain continued to fall. We had the television on all day and they predicted the worst of the storm would end around 10pm. We got the girls to bed and settled down to relax for the night. Literally minutes after I looked at the clock and thought to myself, 'Just a bit longer and we're in the clear,' the lights flickered once and then went out completely. We both agreed that we were lucky. Prior to the storm, we assumed the power was going to go out early in the afternoon. Around 330am, Mia woke up and after feeding her, I brought her to bed because the house was starting to get cold. Then at 5am, Emma woke up and was scared because her room was pitch black. By this point, the wind had died down and we were back to just a soaking rain. I had been hopeful that we would all sleep in since it was so dark and the rain was soothing. Unfortunately, Emma woke up Mia and after several tries of one waking up the other, we lite a candle and let them play in our bedroom while we stayed in bed for a while. After eating breakfast, I went back to bed since she was very crotchety and Kurt and the girls played. After I  got up, Kurt and Mia napped and Emma and I went in search of coffee and survey damage. There were some tree limbs down and a few small trees, but overall, we didn't see too much damage. Many of the trees still had leaves on them.

Around 10, friends in our development came over and the kids had a ton of fun playing. For lunch we all went to Chik Fil A so the kids could continue to burn off some energy. While there, friends sent us a message that they got power back. We were cautiously happy since they are in a neighboring subdivision. Around 2pm, we walked back in our house and saw LED lights and felt warm air! All in all, we were only without power for 17 hours. Not too bad. We were also lucky that we didn't have any property damage.

Over this past weekend, we saw that a nor'easter is moving up the coast. Emma was very worried that we would lose power again. After I explained that it's not likely this time, I also told her we might get snow. This seemed to erase all worry and filled her with excitement!