Going .... going .... gone!

Last night, an unexpected, and huge thunderstorm rolled in and rocked our little corner of the world. The winds were howling and it was it was raining ....errr... down pouring. It was blowing so hard, I could hear it howling around the house and when I looked out the window the rain was coming down sideways. UUUUUGH....

When I woke up in the morning, the news channel was reporting 70 mph winds and 1.5 inches of rain. Holy cow! I walked downstairs and Matt shot me a look. "Look out in the back yard" he tells me.

There I see Katherine's most beloved trampoline. It has been transformed into a heap of mangled metal bars. The protective netting has been ripped away and the rods holding it up are now bent beyond repair and touching the ground. Oh... it wasn't a pretty sight!

Immediately, and without discussion, we decided to buy a new one. After all, Katherine is on that thing every day ... literally, and practicing her gymnastics. I feel so badly for her. When she walked downstairs this morning, she came and cuddled on my lap. I told her to look out in the back yard. The poor girl ... immediate tears. We assured her we'd buy a new one, but it just broke her heart...

We (read Matt) spent the better part of the day taking it down and trying to decide how to dispose of it. Oh, but get this.... Matt had it anchored into the ground with huge steaks and a metal chains around the legs. The clasps on the chain held, but the winds were so strong that it literally pulled the links apart. Holy winds!!

So now we are on the lookout for a new trampoline. Matt found one he liked on the Internet, and he's going to get a new system to secure it into the ground. Hopefully this one lasts a little while longer than a couple of months!!

In other storm news... Our neighbors in the back lost a huge tree. It came crashing down right through our next door neighbor's fence and took over a good chunk of their back yard. Two other huge trees also came down on the street causing quite a bit of damage. It was crazy around here this morning!!

Andrew has been under the weather lately. He's had a stuffy nose, breathing problems and a low grade fever, so Matt took Katherine and Caleb to church while I stayed home with him. It was a perfect excuse to spend a little time snuggling with just him and them we took off to survey the damage. Let's just say, that given the damage I saw around here, we got lucky!