Crazy and Now Calming

tired from all the jumping

The snuggle bug tired from jumping and playing

The other snuggle bug tired from playing

Can we jump too???

Me first back up!!!

How does this thing work anyway??

We are "The Boys"

Aren't we cute???

What? We needed a break its hot out here!

Where is Mikayla doing???

We all fall down!

Jump, Jump Jump and until we reach the sky

Hi Grandma J, How are you I am having fun laughing in your ear, giggle giggle giggle!!!!!

Bet you didn't know I had a private plane

Come fly with me

As you all know we were to go to Nashville for the week and if you keep up on the news, I am sure you have been wondering how our trip went with the flood. This is how the story went...

We headed out to Nashville on Sunday, which is the same day a good friend of ours (who is also known as our step daughter) was heading home from Nashville. We were all excited to go on this trip as there was to be so much Mikayla can see and enjoy. When we hit rain on the way, in Kentucky, it was no surprise to me, since I don't think we ever went to Tennessee without hitting rain somewhere along the way. At this point I thought I would call our friend to see where in the route they were from us. Turns out she was already back in Illinois. She did inform us that the only dry day she had was Friday and it has been raining since Friday night none stop. She also stated they had to detour quite a bit to head home as several main roads were closed due to flooding. We were not concerned as we figured they were downtown and we were not going that way and we passed off the road closing and flooding as not where we were going and that it was probably more of an exaggeration. We finally arrived at the Opryland Hotel where we were going to stay and the line to get to the door to unload was backed up quite a bit and the valet guy told us that if we wanted to have valet parking we were out of luck due to that parking lot was closed to flooding. Still we had no concerns as it was raining pretty hard and people were just trying to stay dry and rain always delayed and messed up time issues. Once we finally got our luggage out of the car and inside (leaving all Mikayla's toys in the car, along with our snack bag with the intention of going back to car later to retrieve it) we found the line inside to check in was so long that it zig zagged throughout the gardens of the hotel. Now if you ever been to the Opryland Hotel you know how extensive the gardens are. One of the bellhops (I guess) took our bags and gave us a ticket so at least we would not have to stand on the long line with it. Once on line and talking to other guests we started hearing the stories.... The computers were froze, half the rooms have no power, people have been waiting on line for hours and all sorts of stories we began to wonder. After waiting on line for 2 hours and receiving free water and sodas twice from the hotel workers the line began to move at an extremely fast pace, which made us wonder what was going on. We got closer and heard stories of being bus-ed to other locations, we thought no way.... but sure enough there were bus after bus outside the doors and they were loading people like crazy onto all the buses. We tried to inquire as many did about what was going on, where they were sending us, what about our luggage and what about my car. All of these questions came back with no answer at least not that anyone knew an answer to. It became very confusing and frustrating to everyone on line. Finally we got to someone who was kind enough to find our luggage and also hang with us until we found where they were sending us. The next part was the fun part (not). We were trying to find someone who would tell us the location and also give us a route to take us there as I was not going to leave my car there. The story we got as to the moving was that half the hotel was out of power and they were busing people to other hotels cause they were afraid the water from the river was rising and they might get flooded. I asked about my car which they told me I could leave there and take one of the buses but they also told me they could not guarantee that my car would not go under water. Hmmmm now that sounded strange when they were at this point only taking precautions and nothing but power was the problem at the moment. So of course I told them I wanted to know where we were to go and how to get there as we WERE taking my car, NOT the bus. Finally after several calls and hassles we finally were able to head to another hotel... the kind bellhop still with us even took our luggage all the way to the parking lot where the car was for us. We wound up at the Airport Marriott which was nice enough but also bombarded with many unexpected guests. After we checked in and got our room in less than 5 min. since we beat the bus load coming. We went to the restaurant inside the hotel to eat. Now about 8pm and we had nothing to eat but breakfast and snacks we brought along it was at about 9pm we ate our dinner, it was very good but not as good as it should have been considering the wait. We headed back to the room and turned on the news. Between the news and other friends that G works with that came from Hawaii we found out they were shipping all checked in people (the 1500 they talked about on the news) to a high school gymnasium. This 1500 were told to come to a ballroom and that was all, so you know people went with nothing but the clothes on their backs. At the ballroom they were told they were being shipped out. I felt bad for them as they did not even have a room or food or possibly money and surely none of their packed clothes and stuff. I also was very happy we never got checked in and had a nice bellhop to help us. At this point is when they mentioned the water was rising and that their basement was getting water in it. It did seem they were still saying the power out and precaution was the main reason for the shift. Come morning about 5:50am is when we found the levy had broke and that the hotel was in 6-12 feet of water and all you could see of the mall was about 1-2 feet the rest was under water. This was from a friend...not the news. The hotel that day told the 1500 they did not know when the people would be able to get back in and that they could find their own way home best they could and their luggage would be shipped to them a soon as they could get to it, can you image??? I know I would have said I am going no where until I got my stuff. Somewhere along the line someone tried to get their luggage and was told they could not, the only guests that were able to get luggage were ones with meds in the rooms....hmmm I know I had tons of meds in there.... didn't you??? Well, back to us... we did OK in the hotel we stayed but now our trip was more of an adventure we could have done without. After a nights sleep and waking to the disaster that had occurred we searched for a route to head home and did just that. I am sorry to say I did not get any pics of the flood as I just wanted far away, news and others had that covered well. Once back home with our boys we just hung around close to home, praying for those who had to and who are continuing to deal with the flood in Tenn. and thanking the lord we have never had to endure that kind of devastation. Once back to home life, Mikayla broke out her plane and flew around the neighbor, stayed in side and jumped her heart out and talked to Grandma J on the phone as if she owned it, telling of her fun. The boys slept for two days then ran, boxed and wrestled indoors and out. They even tried to get in a jump or two, too. Soon we plan to head out to Iowa for a weekend with Mikayla's best bud Lila and her sister Grace. We hope that trip is better than the last. Talk to you all again soon, AJ

flying around the neighborhood