Easy There, Ice Storm

Wow. That ice storm certainly showed up out of nowhere. Wednesday evening, as our snow started to freeze, we lost power for two hours. I had anticipated that happening, so I had a few candles lit.

Wait. I need to stop. Last year, I bought a big stash of Jesus candles for emergency purposes. Actually, I bought the plain white ones because I wanted to keep it simple (and honestly, I felt a little guilty buying candles with Jesus' image, knowing they'd just be hidden in a closet). They cost a dollar or less each and last forever.

Okay, I did buy one candle with Jesus:

Back to the story... The power stayed out for two hours. We busted out the full Jesus/white candle collection and about twenty glow sticks. All of us (yes, even Chris) were decked out in bracelets and necklaces and we danced to Owen's keyboard music. Heck, we even started a fire in the outdoor fire pit for fun, because we're awesome like that! Two hours later, the power came back on. Chris and I watched the movie we'd rented and went to bed. The power went out again overnight, and during the next several hours it played cat-and-mouse. On, then off, then back on. Finally it stayed off forthe rest of the day and overnight. Over the next couple of days, we were without power for about 30 hours total. Not as bad as others.

Every now and then I'd run out to knock ice and snow off the trees and shrubs. It doesn't look like I lost anything, thankfully.

We didn't mind the outage and our boys were great. They were happy playing with their flashlights, glow sticks and silly made-up games. Naps and bedtime were still easy. I know a lot of people with kids struggled with the disrupted routine, but we were fine and actually had a lot of fun. I really think it's because of all the camping we do.