A Weekend Getaway

We weren't exactly planning on going away for the weekend, but when our power went out (yet again) we were prompted to spend a couple of days at Gramma and Grampa's house. We went to bed Friday night feeling 99.9% sure that we would wake up without power. So in an effort to preserve some warmth in the house we cranked the heat up a bit before we retired for the night. It seems that the electricity went off and on a couple of times throughout the night, but we think the power actually went out for good at about 5:15 am when we witnessed three extremely bright multi-colored flashes of light near our house. These flashes were bright enough to light up our entire bedroom, and a little unnerving because they were pretty close to our house. After that third flash...nothing. No light. No clock. NO HEAT!! We actually stuck it out at our house until after Banana's afternoon nap and then we decided to pack up and head to my mom and dad's house, since they had lights and heat. It was a good thing, too, because my nose was starting to run just being inside the house. We all said it felt like were going camping as we loaded up the car for our weekend getaway. My mom already had the sleeping arrangements all figured out, and she was anxious to get meals planned for at least the next 24 hours. None of us knew how long it would be before our electricity would be restored. Fortunately it didn't seem like Gramma and Grampa were in any hurry to get rid of us.

It was a little like a vacation. We played games, worked puzzles, watched movies. And Gramma and Grampa have cable, a real treat since we don’t ourselves subscribe. I think the kids really enjoyed hanging out over there, and they definitely made themselves at home. Big D kept referring to the middle room that he was temporarily sharing with Miss M as his room. It was starting to remind me of going to visit my grandma in Texas. I told my mom this, and reminded her that we usually stayed at least a week with Grandma Dot. She laughed, apparently still undaunted by the thought of us staying that long. However, on the second night of our vacation, after the kids had gone to bed, we received word that our electricity was back on. We didn’t want to wake anyone, and we knew it would take a while for the house to warm up, but we were relieved by the thought of going home the next day.

But we didn’t go home the next day. That is, not right away. It was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday so the kids were off school and Dad took the day off work. We had made plans the week before to go bowling and out to lunch with my mom and dad. We kept those plans, even though we’d had plenty of together time over the weekend. I’m glad we did, though, because it was a fun day. Miss M enjoyed bowling, and she wasn’t half bad – she scored an 85.

It was Big D’s first time bowling and, while he enjoyed it, I think he was more impressed with the shoes. He wanted to wear them home. Big D scored a 65.


C.B., on the other hand, changed his mind about bowling as soon as he heard he had to wear special shoes. He and Banana were spectators.


Grampa beat us all with a 174. I know he was just warming up and would have broken 200 if we’d had the energy to make it through another game. He, like the rest of us, was a little rusty. Oh…I probably shouldn’t mention this, but I beat out my hubby 106 to 88. Go, Mom!

When we finally made it home the house was a toasty 68º. Our little holiday was over and we had to get back to the way things usually are around here. The Banana took a long nap, Miss M, Big D and C.B. played school (until the boys got bored with it and started wrestling instead), Dad went to work getting his new computer set up so the kids can have the old one, I began re-stocking the refrigerator and freezer, and cooking things that had defrosted and shouldn’t be re-frozen. Yummy! It was a nice, unexpected vacation. We’d like to give a big THANK YOU to Gramma and Grampa for housing the Reddy Zoo in our time of need. We love you guys!!