What a ride and I’m so happy to be off of that rollercoaster!

We came out alright over here and Dominion Energy got our lights back on at 1pm today! So thankful. We only lost power for 33 hours total and while of course that’s no fun, it’s nothing considering what it could have been so no complaints here.  This is the first hurricane I didn’t evacuate for since Irma and boy was it scary for a little bit, but the kids slept right through it while I kept watch all night making sure we didn’t need to make a mad dash to the laundry room. We stayed inside all day Thursday, checking in with the hubs who was out patrolling the Mount Pleasant streets. He got to come home Thursday night before going back in early on Friday.

The sun showed up right before it set on Thursday night. I had been on the porch soaking up any bit of ‘light’ since our house was all boarded up. I ran inside for my camera and grabbed just a few shots before it was gone as quick as it showed up. It felt like seeing a rainbow after a big storm. A sign that it was over!

This natural light lover didn’t waste any time on Friday getting that drill out and pulling those window covers down to let the light inside. I felt 95% better after getting those down and being able to open up my blinds. We had to board up and prep early b/c we didnt’ know exactly when Tommy would get activated and we wanted to make sure it was done just in case things got bad. All I was hearing was, ‘there’s still so much we don’t know about this storm’ from the weather reporters. The window covers weren’t necessary for this storm, but the ‘just in case’ factor put my mind at ease. I hope you all are ok too with no magor damage but stories to tell.

Here are some shots I took to document the kids first ‘hurricane’ experience. Mine was Hugo and I was 6 and have little memories of it. Even though I’m aware this was a picnic compared to Hugo, I thought it would be cool for them to have some photos to look back and remember it. They built epic forts, painted some rocks and we just hung out eating more snacks than ever with two confused dogs stuck inside with us. I let our retired k9 out Thursday morning smack dab in the middle of it b/c he needed to go and he just turned around and looked back at me like, are you kiding me? He walked and got his tennis ball across the yard and came right back, ready to come back inside. We dodged a bullet with this one and we are fully aware of that and just feeling incredibly grateful to be just fine.

I’ve been trying to find the best place to help in whatever ways I can for the folks in the Bahamas who endured the very worst of this storm. 

I think I have decided on Samaritans Purse though I’m still on the search. I want to make a donation by Sunday. Click to visit their site. If you have suggestions, please post them in the comments for me :).

Update: I also chose WaterMission.org  -Based in Charleston

From their site: “Thanks to our generous partner, Foster Friess, all gifts to support these relief efforts will be matched, up to $1 million.”

My personal experience top 10 hurricane tips if you found yourself unprepared:

1. Get a generator!! You will want that bad boy if your power goes out to get your fridge running again at least. 
2. You can use your generator to power a phone, but that’s just extra chords. We got this handy little device at costco that allowed me to charge up my cell phone so I could stay in the know a little and keep in touch with family. So have something on hand that can charge your devices too.
3. Get lots of ice and if you have a deep freezer, store it there until the the power goes out. Use that ice in coolers if you don’t have a generator. I used the cooler until the winds died down. I don’t play with generators/rain and wind, so I waited to hook ours up until most of that was gone and our cooler kept things nice and cold until then. If you have a big and nice enough cooler, it should hold things like milk and cheeses over until the power comes back on.
4. I filled up a bunch of big cups of water and stocked them in the fridge. When we needed drinking water, we used those instead of bottled water. Though we still bought some just in case.
5. Fill up the bath tub. We didn’t lose our water so this wasn’t needed, but do this just in case you lose your water supply.
6. Put pillows/blankets, shoes and a flashlight in the inner most room of your home. This way, everything is there if you need to hurry up and take cover. People just north of us found this out with the outer bands htiting them and tornadoes brewing up.
7. Get one of those handy lanterns that will light up a whole room +lots of little flashlights and batteries. 
8. Things for the kids to do! Board games, things to paint, books, etc. I also had charged up their ipads and turned them off, so they had a full charge to use those when they needed some ‘just them’ time.
9. The day before the storm, I made a big meal of pot roast and all the sides. I thought we could eat well at least one night before just cold meals and snacks. I also went ahead and made 2 boxes of the Suddenly salad pasta b/c we like that cold and it’s something besides PB&J.
10. Oscilating Fans! Again, you’ll need that generator to power them, but when it hits 90+ after the hurricane and you still don’t have power, you might want some airflow to keep your sanity.

And of course, if the storm is going to be bad enough, just pack up and get the heck out of dodge. This one came a lot closer than I thought it would so it was scary seeing it moving so close to us and gaining strength. 

This storm is gone, but it’s only September and we could be going through this again soon, so plan ahead and you’ll be much better prepared to ride it out at home.