Post-Mandatory Evacuation

Thankfully, Isaac was no big deal for us.  To sum it up, it was just another rainy day.  The "worst" was Tuesday, and it rained off an on throughout the day (and when it wasn't raining, it was sunny skies) and there was one 25 minute period where it rained really hard.  The power flickered once, and it was windy, but the leaves all easily stayed on the trees.  Our house didn't flood.  In fact, the water didn't even come close.  I did notice that the water was about 2 feet above where it usually is, but that isn't even close to topping our little sea wall.  But, just in case, we were super ready.  We got everything up off the floor and took off for our friend's house.

 Don't worry - the TV went up and in our closet later.  I just didn't get a picture.
This was the worst rain of the day, and also when I realized that it's really hard to get a picture of rain falling.  It doesn't look hard, but it was raining HARD!!!

 Luckily we were high and dry and all of these kiddo's had a blast playing together!

 These kiddo's also loved playing together on their day off!

 I know that Jaden LOVED the extra Daddy time he got!

We are very glad that the storm was very minor for us, but we are always mindful of those that didn't fare so well.  Please keep Louisiana and Mississippi in your prayers!

Pre-Mandatory Evacuations

Well, the order has been given - we are to evacuate.  We kind of knew this was coming since we live right on the water (picture evidence to follow) so it wasn't a big deal.  We were ready!  One of Jake's Navy friends offered to let us stay with them for a few days while the worst of it blows through.

We found out yesterday afternoon that we would have to evacuate so we packed the car up and then planned for all possible scenarios and then watched some TV, played some computer games, and went to sleep.  This morning, Jake had to go to work so Jaden and I just hung out, and then when he went down for his nap I started putting together some clothes and toiletries.  When Jake gets home in a few minutes we'll roll up some of our rugs, put some trash bags around the TV, maybe put the couches up on chairs, pack up more food and games, and head out.  It's a very gradual evacuation - nothing like in the movies! :)

Here are our pre-evacuation pictures of some of our house:

 Yep - that's the water.  We live on an island, so the water here is technically an Intracoastal Waterway, it will still be affected by storm surge.

Those tall buildings in the background are the condos on the beach, so at least that is a mile away.

Basically we are in danger of flooding and not much else, but back in June we got 14 inches of water in a day and everywhere in Pensacola was crazy flooded but our house was fine except for a little water in the garage.  We are sandbagging in front of the garage and everything in the garage is in water proof containers.  Gotta go roll up some rugs!

Please Stay Away Isaac

Tropical Storm Isaac is headed our way, and I'm not going to lie - I'm getting really nervous!  Originally it was only supposed to be a Category 1, but the newest models say it will probably be a Category 2 when it makes landfall.  It is headed right for us here in Pensacola, but we are just praying and hoping it shifts a little to the right because the best place to be in a hurricane is on the left side (less  severe wind and lower tides and storm surges).  We live practically on the water, so chances of flooding are high.  We have done all we can to prepare:

• 72 hour kits are packed and ready to go
• sandbags are being filled
• plenty of non-perishable food
• plenty of water
• a propane powered stove
• propane
• both cars are gassed up
• an extra five gallon gas can filled
• an evacuation plan in place
• all important documents in one place ready to go
• dry ice in the freezers to try and keep everything frozen for when the power goes out
• flashlights with extra batteries
• a hand powered radio
• a car adapter for our cell phone chargers
• extra cash on hand

If you are prepared you shall not fear, so I am having faith in that!  Now I just obsessively refresh the hurricane path maps to see if anything has changed!

Best Day EVER!!!

Men: Imagine that the NFL has decided to have a post-Super Bowl scrimmage near your home and not only are some of the big players from the Super Bowl going to be there, but some other players from other major teams as well, all in one place!  Then, when you go, you also get to meet your absolute favorite players that you follow all year long and get pictures and autographs!  Awesome!

Women: Imagine that your favorite movie stars/authors/designers are all going to be together in one place and you get VIP tickets to a dinner in their honor and then get to meet them and get pictures and autographs!  Awesome!

Teens: Imagine that Justin Beiber, One Direction, Adele, Carly Rae Jepson, and Taylor Swift are all going to be in a concert in your town and you get VIP tickets to go!  You are then lucky enough to have them autograph t-shirts and signs and hats and then you get your pictures taken with each of them!  Awesome!

So many people don't understand my obsession with cycling (which I understand) so I tried to put what happened to me in ways that other people will understand just how amazing it was!

A couple of week ago, the Tour of Utah started and my mom got her and I VIP tickets to the team presentation.  We went up to Ogden (thanks again Ana for watching Jaden!!!!!) and had a small dinner and then took our VIP seats for the introduction of the teams.  The Tour of Utah has been happening for some time, but this year there were some REALLY BIG names in the cycling world coming, including Jens Voigt, who is my mom's favorite cyclist by far!  She had promised him via Twitter that if he came, she would get him the best cookies he had ever eaten.  He agreed to come and she delivered on her promise!

We were pretty much stalkers and went crazy tracking down all of our favorite riders, but in the end, it was worth it!  Here are some of our pictures, but I won't tell you who they are, since most people really don't care and that doesn't bother me because I know who they are!

It was seriously one of the best days of my life!  I feel a tradition starting....

18 Months

Weight: 17 pounds, 7 ounces (0%)
Length: 28 inches (0%)
Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (0%)

So he is tiny.  He has never shown up on the regular weight chart, but this time we are getting really close to the 3rd percentile for his head circumference, so at least he's got a lot of brains!  His pediatrician isn't concerned because he is a healthy looking baby, he's just really small.

He:

• is walking
• is climbing on EVERYTHING
• is talking (he has about 4 words)
• is able to put really big legos together
• is sleeping really well (we are consistently back on 2 naps a day)
• is eating many small meals instead of three big meals
• is drinking lots of milk and apple juice - he only wants water if it's from my water bottle
• has 4 teeth
• loves to read books
• loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
• is loving Nursery!!!
• is seriously the cutest baby ever!!!!!!
  

Utah!!!

Jaden and I just returned from a quick and fun trip to Utah!  We mainly went for the Cuthbert family reunion up in Park City and it was such a blast!  It was so fun to show Jaden off to everyone and see all of Jake's family.  It was very different from reunions past since I now have a child.  And not only do I have a child, but I have a child who wants to just walk and explore all the time!  It limited my talking time with everyone, but there is nothing better than spending all of that time with my little boy!

We loved spending time with everyone, and especially riding the Coaster with Claire!

We also loved spending time with my family!  My dad loves to take Jaden on walks, and it got to the point that if my dad walked into the room, Jaden would immediately run up to him asking to be picked up to go for a walk.  They were so cute together!

It's always fun to see everyone interact with my cute son!

P.S. Thanks Mandy for unknowingly letting me steal some pics from your blog!  I appreciate it! :)

Master Chef

I was so exhausted this evening that while Jaden was playing I actually fell asleep for a few minutes on the couch.  When I woke up, this is what I found:

I have no idea how he got his bowl down from the table without tipping it over, but that's Jaden for you.  We call him Mr. Grabsy Handsy because he can reach farther and faster than you ever thought possible.  But, I did have an extremely happy baby!  It only took about 10 wipes to clean all up, which is a small price to pay for that smile!

When "No" Means "Yes"

Jaden has been really slow in the speech department and doesn't have many words that he actually says.  One of those words is "No".  He has yet to figure out how to say 'yes' so he just uses 'no' instead.  For example:

Mickey: Say, you wanna come inside my clubhouse?
Jaden: No
Mickey: Well, alright!

Mom: Do you want a banana cookie?
Jaden: No (and then he opens his mouth for the cookie)

Mom: Ready to go for a walk?
Jaden: No!  (while smiling and laughing and dragging me to the door)

We have figured out that when he really means 'no', he will shake his head as he says it.  Crazy kid!

Check That One Off The Bucket List!!!

While my mom, Alex, and Robbie were here, Alex and I both discovered that we both had the life-long dream to go parasailing.  My mom generously decided to foot the bill and so we all (Jake, me, Alex and Robbie) booked our flight time and off we went!

Alex and Robbie decided to go first so that Robbie wouldn't chicken out.

They were both a little nervous as they started to climb high into the sky.

But once they came back down they were all smiles!

They had such a great time, so it was now time for Jake and I to go up:

We all had a great time but I learned some things in case there is a next time:

1. You get a choice to fly at 400ft, 600ft, or 800ft.  For some twisted reason I thought that if I picked 800 feet, that meant that I would be 800 feet up in the air.  Nope.  It just means they will let out 800 feet of rope.  I felt like I could have gone up higher (we went for the 600ft option) and still been fine.
2. I would have moved my harness farther back.  The strip of fabric that goes under your legs and acts as a seat of sorts was way too far forward towards my knees, making me scrunch up and move awkwardly in the air.  
3. Chill out.  I wasn't scared (which surprised me since I'm not a heights person) but I was so preoccupied with my harness position and how I kept banging into Jake that I really didn't take the time to just appreciate where I was and the view I could see.
4. Get more professional staff.  We were with two young guys who were more preoccupied with flirting with some of the other guests than they were with those flying in the air.

All in all, it was awesome and if I have some reason to splurge again, I would do it all over in a heartbeat, but on a calmer seas day - my stomach didn't handle the rolling waves too well.  Thanks mom!

Happy 4th!

Having a baby who doesn't stay up very late and who definitely doesn't stay up late enough for fireworks, we decided to light a few fireworks on our own in the middle of the day.  Our other reason for this was that Jaden doesn't deal well with unexpected things (like playing in fountains that randomly shoot off water - he got really upset when some water unexpectedly shot up and drenched his hair).  So we decided to just do little fireworks that wouldn't scare him too much.

Daddy lit the fuses:

While Mommy and Baby waited anxiously:

Surprisingly, Jaden handled it all really well!  We didn't have too many fireworks, and mostly cheap flowers at that, but it was fun all the same!

Happy 4th of July from the cutie with the messy face!

Time To Put My Life On Hold...

THE TOUR IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My life is once again complete.