Haws Household: Hurricane Irma

Things got a little crazy over around Southern Florida. Hurricane Irma headed straight for us (well, straight for Miami and Delray Beach is just north) and it was pretty intense. It had sustained winds of over 185 mph for several days--the longest ever recorded--and the eye of the storm was something like 25 miles with the actual hurricane extending out 160 miles. The state of Florida is about 140 miles wide. It was huge and horrible. The islands beneath us got hammered and so did the Keys (we are so sad, we love it there!).

Last year we had Hurricane Matthew where everything shut down for about two days, we taught Ruth to ride without training wheels, and life was business as usual after less rain than normal Florida thunderstorms. Sterling's school waited to the very last minute to cancel school for Matthew. This was not the case with Irma. It wasn't supposed to hit until Sunday and on Tuesday night his entire campus was closed until further notice. We had dental appointments and doctor appointments on Tuesday and all the tvs were all about Irma and every single person seemed glued to the screen just watching that swirling hurricane.

As soon as we found out Sterling's rotations were cancelled and that they encouraged students to evacuate- we went. We prayed about it and thought we would be just fine at home, we had gone through our 72-hr kits just the Saturday before and our food and water storage is plenty, but we had seen Hurricane Harvey's aftermath just a week and a half before. No power, no running water, and here in South Florida we still have intense heat and humidity. Also--if that storm hit us head on, as it was projected to do, we were toast. Areas directly below us were starting evacuation and since there are only two roads out of Florida, it's pretty scary to think of that many people on the roads.

We packed clothes and important papers and diapers and headed out. Tuesday night. We were worried about gas because already the majority of stations around our area were out(also all the water was off the shelves and other random food items, so aisles were completely bare) and we didn't want to get stuck. Once we hit Tampa I figured we were fine and we slept at a rest stop. We drove another 13 or so hours the next day and stopped at our really good friends the Nielsen's. You've seen Tricia on this blog a LOT in the last year. We lived in the same complex for a year. They moved in June to Virginia and we moved to Delray. I miss her soooo much so it was really really awesome to stop and sleep at their house. We ate breakfast and hung out for a bit on Thursday morning before heading to Kayli's. Which took another five hours. At that time the storm was still projected to hit straight on Miami.

Luckily, we all know how this story turned out. The hurricane shifted and hit western Florida instead of eastern. It was still huge enough that it downed our power for six days (SOOO thankful we were at Kayli's and not sitting here in the horrible heat like some people were!!) and our water was restricted and our streets look crazy. Although, that is probably more in part due to the tornado spawned by the hurricane that was in our county. Miami was still hit and had waist-high flooding, but most of it turned and hit Marco Island and Naples area---we've visited both of those places and it is absolute heaven on earth. I am just hurting when I think about them. It also turned up and hit some of Georgia and...really it was just crazy. We feel so blessed that we could get out and treat the week like a vacation rather than going through all the hardships that so many others had to.

Cousins. Every time I visit family I just want so badly to live closer so my kids always have cousins around---they love them so much!

Tea parties.

The trampoline. On Friday when everyone was at school my three kids spent about two and a half hours on the trampoline. They were in love. Also--it was a GORGEOUS 75 degrees the entire time we were in Pennsylvania. It felt amazing. On our way home we got out at a gas station in Georgia and the humidity and 95 degrees hit me and I was thinking "take me back Pennsylvania!!"

This kid. Haha.

Everyone needs a big brother like Jethro. To whip you up onto the tramp when you are whiny.

Navy bean. Cutest little bean around.

Coloring extravaganza.

Every time Navy caught sight of Russ she'd go "Awww BABY" and it was the cutest thing ever.

I look weird, probably because I'm practically jumping to be Kayli's height. Good times.

Saturday evening my good friend Aleesha and her family drove ALL THE WAY from across the state to hang out with us. It truly was a party! We just played and played!

Finlay and Navy

Poor buddy, we had about three outfits for him that had pants and he wore them on repeat. Then he caught a cold and had goopy eyes and started teething. Being the awesome babe that he is, he was slightly fussy.