It took a few moments to register why the earth was shaking last week but still, it was only seconds to understand that we were indeed quaking in Raleigh. Nope, not a plane, a truck or the nearby mine. This feeling was too familiar and reminded me of living on the West Coast. Ahhh, to be in fear of "the big one" all the time. I sure do miss that suspense. Not! Actually, earthquakes are exciting but only if nothing bad actually comes of it. And thankfully, nothing did. Just 25 seconds or so of shaking and wondering if we should rescue our sleeping child or what.
I'm glad we didn't have much time to dwell on the event that was kind of a non-event. (Ok, we weren't at the epicenter, but even there things were pretty much ok, so we can move on news media!) Instead we had Irene to focus on for days at a time. The hurricane made her announcement a week beforehand and that too was getting a little exciting as it approached. To get extra bread or not? Do I know where extra flashlights, or any flashlights, are? I guess I'll take in the loose toys on the deck - just in case. The wind blew, the trees swayed, the rain fell. It was more like a rainy day around here. We were lucky to be on the edge of the real action and that's just fine with me. We never lost power and there was a single tree in the neighborhood that fell. The pictures from NY though were pretty amazing. They were right in the path and had flooding and power outages that we didn't even come close to. That too seemed to come and go without too much hoopla. (Yeah, a couple people died but usually those people are too stupid to stay inside and keep still until it's over. Duh.)
So while the coast was getting much more weather than we were here, we went on with our day and had quite a bit of fun. There was a free event at the Fair Grounds where an entire huge building was filled with inflatable jumpy houses and other kid activities. It was big and practically empty which was awesome! Nathan was very excited to jump and be wild for an hour or so - and hardly any lines to keep him back. They had snow cones and popcorn and the only 'admission' was to listen to them preach about Jesus and stuff. It was a church run thing. Don't ask me which. I don't know or really care (sorry, it's just not my thing) but it sure was nice to put together a thing like this. I can smile and wear "Jesus Loves Me" stickers for a few hours if it makes my kid happy.
We were sure Nathan was going to have a nice nap after all that but a quick snooze in the car (like, 2 minutes - seriously) seemed to throw him off kilter. He stayed awake and was ecstatic to see yet another jumpy house at our next destination, a birthday party across the street. The wind and rain moved their party indoors but didn't stop them from blowing up the main attraction in the garage. Nathan and the other kids jumped on and off all afternoon and make me wish we had one of these suckers. They are seriously cool and makes everyone, even the adults, happy.
I left my boys still playing across the street to get ready for a night out. I was off to a bachelorette party that involved BBQ downtown with the girls. After a lovely dinner we headed to Rum Runners, a dueling piano bar. These places are fun but make sure you participate. If you sit up front and they catch you not singing along you're in trouble. Friend Eleni was embarrassed into singing and you can be sure she clapped and sang the rest of the night too. She and I called it a night before midnight. I can hang with the girls, but it's not the same as I nurse my bottled water and know I have to get up in the morning when my kid does.
Leo was a super good husband and daddy the next morning though and made sure to get up with Nathan to let me sleep in a bit. Aahhh....that was nice!
We were all exhausted on Sunday and stayed in to relax. Today I was thinking we would spend some time outside now that the weather has cleared up and has even gotten nice (like not in the 90's). But Nathan had a tummy ache this morning and ended up yacking all over the place. We were on the deck (good boy) so it was easily hosed down. But I have been following him around with a bucket all day to catch his sickness. Poor thing hasn't been able to keep anything down today. We're hoping it's a one-day thing that does not get passed to us.
And that's the news. I'm off to NY for a quick jaunt on my own soon. Tim's wedding is getting closer as is the time to find out the sex of Baby Trend #2. That will be an exciting post. Boy or girl we can't wait to find out!
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