Last week the officer took our daughter to the lake. They spent time swimming, fishing and driving the golf cart. I love that they can spend some one on one time together.
Of course, there was ice cream.
They also found the cutest little turtle ever.
And no trip to the lake can be complete without the spotting of a large snake.
While the officer and daughter were away, the son and I went to Martin Nature Park with some friends. It was nice and breezy outside. They have a great playground, easy hiking, and places to see wildlife. Most of the hiking is in the shade so even it it's a bit hot, the shade provides some relief.
We've had our fair share of rain in Oklahoma these past couple of weeks. Just last night our city had over 9 inches of rain. It was a crazy night! We had several days warning of the pending storms on Friday night. The weathermen said there as a possibility of tornadoes, softball size hail, high winds, flash flooding and severe thunderstorms. Whew. There were preparations made. Kid's backpacks packed. Tornado bag with weather radio, first aid kit, extra change of clothes for everyone, and dog food packed. All errands ran before lunch. Back to the house for lunch and to storm watch.
My sister called and asked if she and her five kids could come over. Of course! She even brought a homecooked dinner over for everyone. We fed all the kids and they went out to play before it started to rain. Thankfully, the officer did not have to work late and was already home. We carefully tracked the weather. When it was within 15 miles from us, we decided to get everyone down to the shelter. The May 20th tornado became big so quickly, we didn't want to take any chances. So down into the shelter went two teenagers, five kids ages 10 and under, one 64 lb. dog, and three adults.
It became very stuffy in the shelter pretty quickly. The officer plugged in a fan to help relieve it, but then unplugged it in case the cord got wet from rain since we were sitting in a metal box. Our neighbors texted to officer and asked to come over. So another teenager, another child, and another adult squeezed into our shelter. 13 people and one dog in an eight person shelter. It was tight to say the least, but do-able. We heard heavy rain and hail. We shut the door for not more than 10 minutes, but it was a little nerve racking. All the kids did great. No one panicked. God's hand of protection on us the whole time.
We listened to the radio and decided to come out of the shelter after it seemed the tornado had passed us. Everyone stayed at our house for another hour or so just to make sure we were not in any more danger. The rain was crazy. Our yard and street flooded again. It never reached our back porch though. Overall it was an uneventful evening - thank the Lord.
After my walk on Saturday morning, the daughter and I went on another bike ride.
This morning the rain provided some entertainment. Puddles to ride through.
In the middle of our bike ride, we had to take a break. You see, there was more water. We saw a mom and her two kids walking around in it. My daughter wanted to go down and play in it too. As soon as she got into the water, we noticed a fish flopping around. It was trying to swim upstream, but had gotten stuck. My daughter got a stick and helped it move downstream. The other mother told me they rescued two other fish.
With all the crazy weather we've had, it doesn't take much to realized we are blessed beyond what we deserve. It's the little things, time with family, bike rides, rescuing fish, drawing on the sidewalks that makes everything so sweet.
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