Shelter from the Storm!

Yesterday afternoon I was enjoying the quiet. Both of my boys were asleep upstairs. Yes, even Atley. The day was a little gray and there was a light rain falling. It suddenly turned fierce. The wind kicked up and the rain was falling faster. The lightening and thunder were constant. I decided that I should turn on the TV to check the weather reports. Just as I grabbed the remote the power went out. I was getting the feeling that this might be serious. I stood there in the living room contemplating whether I should go get the boys out of their peaceful slumber and take them downstairs. As I started for the stairs I almost turned back. Was I just overreacting? I have a tendency to overreact sometimes. But, the thunder grew louder and I headed up the stairs. As I reached the top of the stairs I could see out the second story window. Just then a tree across the street came tumbling down. It hit the transformer on the power pool next to our house. Flames shot out of the transformer at least ten feet into the air as the power lines were ripped off of our neighbors house. My ears suddenly became plugged but even still the sound outside was loud, like a train driving through the neighborhood. Even the windows were shaking. I opened Atley's door and yelled for him to get up. He didn't move. I clapped my hands and made lots of noise thinking it would wake him while I ran into Nash's room to grab him. I yanked Nash out of his crib while Atley still lay sleeping. Finally I grabbed Atley with my one free arm, tucked them both like footballs and headed to the basement. Atley was screaming, scared to death and Nash was laughing and yelling, "CRAZY, CRAZY!" We made it to the basement and spent the next couple of hours down there until the tornado warnings had expired. When we finally heard the birds chirping outside we knew it was safe to emerge from the dungeon that is our basement. Atley was only comforted by the fact that I let him eat some of our food storage goodies. He has been told that it is emergency food only. He informed me soon after our arrival in the basement that a tornado was definitely an emergency. Scott eventually made it home safe and sound. Later that evening we realized that a tornado hit Annandale road. This is approximately 50 yards from our house. The tornado killed at least one person when a tree fell on their car. The coolest thing about the whole experience was seeing our neighbors come together. Everyone was out helping each other clean up. One neighbor made hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone. Those with generators shared with those of us who didn't have generators so that we could keep updated on the news and have a little bit of light. Needless, to say the power came back on for us this morning. Although there are about 250,000 people in our area who are still without power. We are grateful that everything turned out okay and we do not look forward to another tornado. Here are some pictures of the boys in our tornado shelter. Notice Atley clutching his flashlight and weather radio. At least now his biggest fear is no longer his bike.