Riley’s First Hurricane Party

No, I don’t mean we took the boy to the piano bar at Pat O’s and got him all liquored up for his birthday yesterday. We’ll wait at least a couple of years before we do that. I mean, he is only two.

Nope, I’m talking about Hurricane Isaac, the storm that barely qualified as a Cat 1 when it came ashore into Louisiana late Tuesday evening. Isaac managed to wreak havoc across the southern part of the state for more than 24 hours straight. Hard to believe but luckily for us, we haven’t had to deal with a major storm at all in Riley’s lifetime. Whew.

At first, Isaac wasn’t much to worry about, so we had ourselves a bit of a hurricane party. Kenny was home from work, so we cooked good meals, played lots, and enjoyed our little mini, unexpected vacation time together. We even walked up to the levee to see the lake before the storm arrived. Riley had a blast running around in the wind.

 

After lunch, Kenny took Riley back out to play in the rain. It wasn’t coming down hard, and Riley was so happy walking around and collecting sticks and hanging from the tree while Mama stayed nice and dry inside. Thanks for making his day, Ken!

Then on Tuesday evening as I was putting Riley to bed, we lost power. And we didn’t get it back for just shy of 48 hours. So. Much. Fun. I thankfully had Riley out of the bathtub before the lights went out, but we did have to read books and prayers with a flashlight, which he thought was so cool.

Once Riley was down for the night, Kenny warmed up our dinner on the grill, and then we killed a bit of time before bed by playing a couple of rousing games of Rummikub by candlelight on the dining room table. So romantic, right?

We would sadly not get much sleep Tuesday night: the noise from the wind and the rain was practically deafening at times. We lost two of the trees in our front yard, had some siding and fascia rip off from both the north and south sides of the house, discovered water coming into the attic as well as around the window in Riley’s room and the front door, and our back canopy was completely shredded. With all of that going on, I don’t know how he managed to do it, but Riley slept through the whole night. We even had to wake him up at 8:30am. Such a good boy.

Nola and Nopsi never lost power so, after a slightly sweaty breakfast at home, we finally decided to pack up our food from the fridge and head over to their house around 10:30 Wednesday morning. Hooray for a/c, lights, and internet access! Jeff and Erin brought Kate, Doug, and Fate over too, and our hurricane party was expanded. Kate and I had a nice nap on the little sofa in the kitchen; Riley “played ta trucks” and in the rain; Nopsi, Uncle Jeff, and Kenny cleaned up limbs and leaves outside and patched the roof once the wind slowed down; Nola made cookies and a scrumptious dinner; and we all watched the never ending storm coverage on the tv. What a day.

But Isaac just would not go away. The storm slowed down and barely moved, which meant we kept getting more and more rain and more and more wind. When we woke up on yesterday morning (Riley’s second birthday!), the storm had mostly moved through but it was still windy and rainy. I was supremely grateful we had power because it meant I could make Riley cake batter pancakes for a special birthday breakfast.

  

  

Sadly, nothing else I had planned to do with my boy (bouncing at the mall and lunch out at Gott Gourmet) was possible, but at least he got to spend his birthday surrounded by lots of family. We’re still planning to have his party on Saturday morning, with only minor adjustments. I may be crazed running around doing last minute things for most of today, but it will be worth it.

So, Riley-bean has officially survived his first hurricane, and over his birthday no less. I think everyone’s fingers are crossed that this is the worst we have to deal with his hurricane season, but my brother and I are so grateful we had a place to take our families that had power the whole time. That certainly made things much easier. Thanks for letting us move in with you for a couple of days, Nola and Nopsi! We greatly appreciate your generosity and hospitality!