Our Flood Weekend

We had planned on having a little girls' weekend in Nashville last weekend, but things didn't quite go according to plan. Brad had encouraged me to make the trip since Hunter would soon be making it difficult to travel, so Emily and I headed out Friday with my mom. We pulled in at my sister's house, and Emily immediately began playing with her cousins. She, Allison, David, and Nathan ran all over the yard and had a big time.

I had planned on going to Rebecca's Saturday for lunch to let the girls play and then out Saturday night with Lori, Rebecca, and anyone else who was able to make it. On the way to Rebecca's Saturday, I took Concord Road and noticed several spots with fairly high water. As we would drive through, the water would splash up higher than the Expedition. I thought it was due to all the construction on that small road and kept on going. We had a pizza lunch and got in some good play time with Abigail, Ansley, and Camdyn. By our 2:00 naptime, I was starting to realize how much rain was coming down. We decided to stay on at Rebecca's to wait out the rain. We began watching the news and realizing just exactly what was going on. The rain was coming down fast, and it didn't have any place to go. The footage on the interstates looked like special effects off of a movie. Just before dark, I decided to try to get back to my sister's. Eric led me back on some roads that were still looking good. I really appreciated them letting Emily and I stay ALL DAY LONG! :0)

Rain kept coming, and the next morning my sister woke me up to get in the storm shelter. Power went out around 7 that morning, and the rain just kept falling. We played inside and realized that the area between Nashville and home was getting pounded pretty hard, too. We stayed put since so many roads were closed. While out trying to get some bread and milk later in the day, we found out that there was a weather curfew of 6pm to 6am. It was so strange to see the big city of Nashville so empty!

By Monday morning, the rain had stopped and we headed out of town to come back home. My sister's house had power at this point, but the talks of conserving water had already started. I hear that there are lots of efforts now to conserve water.

The destruction all around the city was unbelievable! My heart goes out to all of those who lost homes, property, and loved ones. I don't think I truly realized how bad things were until I started watching the local news footage before we left. What a scary situation for so many people! Hope all my Nashville friends are doing well!

Once home, Brad showed me pictures from our own flood here at home. We have some water issues and have already had to get an estimate on getting a rock drain dug. Brad said it looked like we had our own Olympic pool in the back yard and canyon in the side yard! (By no means are we comparing what we have to deal with to the severity of Nashville's situation.)

I'll end with some pictures from the weekend. I wasn't able to get any pictures of the flood. I was focusing on driving since the traffic was so crazy. I did, however, get some pictures of some sweet kiddos who were completely oblivious to all that was going on! :0)

Emily won't even sit on the mini jeep she has at
home. But with cousin Nathan driving, she jumped
right in. She was hanging on for dear life and giggling!

Abigail, Emily, and Ansley-- cookie break!

Abigail and Emily kept trading off on the
"no pants" look :0)

Nathan will hate this picture in a few more years!
He was tap dancing and Emily was doing ballet.

Nathan, David, Emily, and Allison

Emily's first official bowl of cereal- Lucky Charms-
I was really impressed with how well she handled
the spoon and milk!

Emily followed Allison all over the house, and
Allison was SO GOOD to play with her!

Our back yard back at home

Our side yard/canyon