The tornado

Hello again.  Here is a photo of the twister that hit the Boy Scout camp last night.  If you remember from my earlier blog - or did I write this - there were storm chasers out last night from Discovery Channel taking photos and videos.  The photo is magnificent, the result is horrible.  The camp was completely destroyed.

Again...

Once again we are OK.  This storm was worse but we were fortunate there was no tornado that touched down in our area this time.  We did finally hear about the last tornado and the EF1 that touched down was 1/2 mile from the house...I knew that wind sounded bad.

Last night the sirens went off for over an hour while we waited with baited breath to see if something would happen.  The wind was never really bad but the hail and rain were. We actually saw the clouds rotating above us and watched from the front porch as a wall cloud passed to the north of us.  It was absolutely stunning and scary at the same time.

We are very fortunate that everyone was home at the time and we were eating dinner. If you haven't heard about the boy scouts, there was a tornado 21 miles from here that hit a camp.  Four boys - three from Omaha - were killed and at least 50 are at local hospitals for injuries.  There was a Discovery Channel storm catcher team out last night in an armored vehicle and the reporter said the winds were at least 150mph.  I believe that would have made the twister at least an EF3; major damage.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those families today and with those that have more damage to clean up again today.  Maybe Mother Nature will leave us alone for a few days so our grounds can dry up and our roofs can be patched. 

2:30 in the morning

There is nothing like being woken up at 2:30 in the morning by winds that sound like they are going to rip your roof off.  

We had severe thunderstorms earlier in the evening but the tornado watch had been canceled around midnight.  Jeff and I both woke up with the thunder and lightening booming around us and shinning in every window and the winds were pretty nasty.  Jeff opened up the laptop to check on the status and just as I was saying "these winds are way too strong for just a thunderstorm" the sirens went off.  Grab the kids, the blankets, pillows and the dog and run downstairs.  

Now for those fellow Nebraskans who are reading this last night didn't seem like such a big deal at first - in fact our neighbor across the street never even heard the sirens. But for us Californians who are not used to winds averaging between 60-100m.p.h. this was a REALLY BIG deal.  About 45 minutes later we had the kids tucked back into bed and Jeff and I were watching the news to survey the damage and if there would be another storm.  We took a quick survey of the house and figured no major damage had been done, must have just been some strong wind and rains.

Well, if you have seen the news today, we had an EF2 touch down and make a path 1/2 mile wide through the middle of town.  There is some significant damage done, but we were not in its path thank goodness.  The majority of the damage was done in the middle of Omaha where mostly businesses are located.  There is damage to personal property and homes - one family said their neighbors roof ripped off and landed in their master bedroom.  Around our neighborhood we have trees and fences down and some damage to signs, light posts and rain gutters on homes.  

Scary thought what some wind can do, then add the frightening sound of booming thunder and it is quite a show.  Terrible but beautiful at the same time.  I just wanted to let you all know we are fine and dandy, just a little soaked and tired today.

P.S.  I am just now reading the articles and looking at the photos.  I am so thankful our house was not hit and pray for those who have lost so much.  Here are some photos, check out the link and look at the World-Herald photo gallery .

The Workout!

I went to work out at the gym today with my new pal Jill.  She and her other pal Jill talked me into this new class called strictly strength.  I thought it sounded pretty good because I have no upper body strength now that I don't have to cart babies around on my hip any more.  Well, I am just here to tell you I cannot lift my arms any higher than this keyboard!!!!  I could barely shampoo my hair when I got home.

Isn't it amazing how something so good for you is so terribly painful when sitting in front of the TV watching E! with a gallon of rocky road ice cream is so much more pleasurable.  Life just is not fair sometimes, I would much rather eat the ice cream and watch TV but I know that the gym is better for me.  Hmmm, not fair....maybe I can have some low-fat ice cream  : )  

New Neighbors

We have new neighbors.  They closed escrow on the house yesterday and started moving some things in today.  Jeff went out to meet them when Gunther decided to make a mad dash out the front door.  Nice way to meet the new people next door...oh hello, here is our obnoxious dog!  Jeez!  

I have not met them yet, not feeling good today so I have stayed inside like a humbug. They have moved from Texas for the husband's job at Union Pacific.  He is an environmental lawyer for the company and his wife is an RN when the kids are in school.  There are two younger children, a boy who is 5 and will go to kindergarten in the fall and a 4 year old girl.  Not too shabby for our little ones.  There is also a 14 year old who is visiting his mom from Florida this summer.  He normally lives with his dad during the year.  A new friend for Ian this summer I hope.

Well that's the scoop.  It is nice to see someone fill the house but the kids miss the girls terribly.  It is not so much in what they say about them but what they don't say.  Ian & Kayla just don't know what to do with themselves without four little girls running over here every time they come home from school.  Hopefully the new neighbors will like us and not think we are too crazy....who us crazy?  NEVER!

Graduation Day

Today was graduation day.  Never in my mind did I envision watching my baby girl graduate from kindergarten and then later that day watching my little man leave elementary school forever.  We had a wonderful day we had, watching both kids interact with their friends and their teachers, listening to all their accomplishments and then watching them move onto the next step of their lives.  I tried so hard not to cry, it is just elementary school, right?  But right before my eyes, I watched Ian go from a kid in the 5th grade to a young man in junior high.  

Ian was blessed to have not one but two great teachers.  Miss Hasselbalch, pictured with him here was selected as the Teacher of the Year for our school district and we couldn't have agreed more.  No matter who the child in her class she found some way to connect with each of them.  With Ian, they always talked sports even though she really didn't like them all that much.  But Ian thought she did.

We had breakfast today with McKayla and then had a bubble party with her class.  That is how we celebrated her graduation today.  Her teacher was wonderful as well.  She was loving and kind and always had a spare hug when out little diva needed some love.  

We were truly blessed this year and as we take this step forward to junior high and the 1st grade, I hope that we enjoy next year just as much as we did this one.

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to all!  Since we live in a city near a very large military base and SAC just around the corner I have to give some thanks to our men and women in uniform.  We live near many families where one and maybe two parents have served or are serving right now.  What a noble and brave job, it is more than I could ever do.  So thank you!

Today is going to be a mellow day for us.  We celebrated yesterday.  McKayla has a friend that she really likes and Jeff and I like her parents too.  Its really nice.  So we had them over yesterday to play on the water slide, teach everyone how to shoot a bow - cuz you know that's what we Gibson's do - eat some great food and of course watch some NASCAR!  Go #9 - I know you are excited too Wendy Lady!!  We also played some Rock Band and sang out of tune.  That was a great time.  But the really fun part was the storm that rolled in like a rocket ship.  

It was just beautiful outside and we could see the thunderheads coming fast.  So, we cleaned up a bit and decided it was time to go inside.  Jeff and our friend Brian had just finished putting the patio table in the garage when the wind came....FAST!  And then the thunder rolled and the lightening struck - have I heard this somewhere before - and the rain came down.  It was great!  For about 20 minutes we got rain, and storm and wind and then it was gone with a gorgeous rainbow outside.  I love those summer storms as long as there is no twister with it.  

Today looks like some more normal rain so we will just hang out and relax today.  Maybe take a visit to the gym or some shopping.  Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday weekend!