I think we can safely say we’ve all had enough excitement for one week. Throw a new driver into the mix and I can assure you I have had more than enough excitement for the week.

The past week saw us “survive” an earthquake ~ an experience I can surely live without again. I was less than fond of the earth shaking beneath my feet and the fear I felt as I told Zach to get out of the house. Moving forward to Zach and his permit ~ let’s say it was exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time. (I don’t have much of a choice about going through that experience again…I’ve got Lucas and Claire to go.) Then we get to live through Hurricane Irene. WOW! All in one week. Really, we couldn’t have spread out the excitement over the course of a couple of weeks? But nope, we had to jam all the action packed excitement of two nature “disasters” and one right of passage into one week.

Hurricane Irene created more than a bit of excitement in our house. The house was jam packed with kids, loud voices, games, screeching, pounding through the house and a general sense of kids running amok. Hurricane Irene was like a snow day on steroids. At least on during a snow day the kids can go outside and play. They make snowmen and snow angels, have snow ball fights and ride sleds…they get to expend some of their energy. During Irene all of their energy was spent inside the walls of the house. Throw in a power outage with no TV and things really get dicey.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen my kids so hopped up on excitement. They behaved like they had lost their minds. They spilled drinks, they spilled food, they didn’t use their little, tiny, pea brains, they tore the house up. I spent most of yesterday with my teeth gritted, trying to stay patient but losing the battle as the kids’ wild behavior ratcheted higher and higher. Zach asked me at one point why I was such a “Debbie Downer.” I was a Debbie Downer. I know. I was grumpy and impatient as the kids went on their rampage through our house. Their behavior reached a frenetic peak at 10:30. The kids went into a wild, and I do mean wild, frenzy when the electricity came back on. We lost power around 6:30 last night and got it back around 10:30. You would have thought we were without power for weeks, not hours, the way they carried on, jumping up and down, screaming and hugging each other. I’m thinking their level of excitement was so high because they’ve never experienced a true “hurricane day.” I’m not sure about that hypothesis but I can tell you I can live without them behaving like that again.

The day was packed with more wind and rain and for a much longer period of time than the kids have ever experienced. We’ve had our share of massive thunderstorms and tornado warnings when we lived in Louisville. But those were over and done with pretty quickly. Irene stayed put the whole day. The trees behind our house are probably about 50 feet tall. I sat, watching them sway all day long. Huge gusts of wind would come roaring through and the trees would bend in half…it was hypnotizing to watch the massive trees bend to near breaking and then snap back to upright. So much wind, so much rain…all day long.

Sometime during Irene, Stan decided a trip to Bass Pro Shops was just what the doctor ordered. He told me he wanted to get a new fishing pole. I told him nothing says “fishing pole shopping” like a hurricane. I don’t know why it didn’t cross my mind to go fishing pole shopping in the middle of a hurricane. DUH! How silly of me not to think about fishing pole shopping. Anyway…Stan and the boys loaded up and drove the half an hour to get to Bass Pro Shops. I thought they were crazy to go but I wished them well and sent them on their way. I think their trip out in the hurricane only added fuel to the fire of their excitement. The boys came home, victorious, after fishing pole shopping. Lucas’ wild side was brought out even more. He bought a fly swatter gun and proceeded to terrorize everyone for the next several hours shooting them with the gun he bought at Bass Pro shops in the middle of Hurricane Irene. Oh DEAR!

I have to say, if the worst thing about yesterday was my mood then we were more than lucky. I will take a sour, nasty mood any day over injury or damage. We were spared any damage to our house and everyone is safe and sound. I’m happy to grouse about if it keeps everyone safe.
I’m hoping others in Hurricane Irene’s path are spared any major damage, like we were, and only have irritation to battle as Irene moves up the coast.

But…I really can do without another action packed week like the one we just had. I am exhausted, my head hurts and I feel massively hung over ~ even though my alcohol consumption was next to nothing last night. I’m ready for a vacation…oh wait, I just had one. AND school starts in eight days. We’ve got a lot of preparing to do! So there’s no rest for the weary.

Oh, for the love of my children…