Tornado aftermath/ craziness turned staycation
Friday, February 7th started out as a completely normal day. Mefi had a thousand alarms go off to get him up at 4:30 am to leave, I woke up with Nathan and Niko, got us ready, and per usual we were running a few minutes behind. I always aim for a time way earlier than when we need to be out because I know something always happens. That something is usually caused by a dirty diaper, a mess made by the boys that needs cleaning, or me just poking around. I found out this was a blessing in disguise.
The boys were playing and I had just finished packing lunches when I turned to Niko and said, "It's time to get our coats on."
"Okay Mom," he replied. As he turned to reach for Nate to go help him get his coat on, Niko and I both heard the rushing sound of water. We looked up and saw that it was pouring rain outside, like that raining cats and dogs, monsoon type rain. Niko looked back at me, "I don't think we are going just yet huh?"
To which I replied, "There is no way I am driving in that. We have time to wait it out. If we go now we will get drenched."
Just moments later I heard my grandmother's phone from downstairs going off with a weather emergency alert and asked Niko to run down to check things out. He quickly screamed up that there was a tornado warning. I looked outside and saw that it was extremely windy and the rain was pouring just buckets out of the sky. I didn't think we would be hit though so I kept watching in case I had to grab the boys and run downstairs. Two minutes or so passed by but it felt like eternity as we waited for the weather to let up.
The weather did in fact pass and we gathered our things and set out for school. As we went down the road I recall seeing a large piece of metal laying in the road. I thought it was peculiar as I went around it. Then, I saw another. With one glance I saw the farm field to my right that was covered in metal scraps thrown about. To my left were trees broken in half and uprooted from the ground. It was then that I realized a tornado had wreaked havoc momentarily. There was a fireman ahead blocking the road with downed power lines and poles.
I made a uturn and Niko was still freaking out. I had to tell him to calm down and be quiet so I could think of another way around all this mess. I still needed to make it to the daycare and then to work. I figured a way out and then notified my school I would be late. They said many people were in my position and just get there when I could. It felt as if every turn I made there were trees down or in the road but I eventually made it to the daycare. I found out the daycare had no power but dropped Nate off anyway. I told them I had to get to school because I didn't know how crazy it would be there but if they didn't get power back soon and were going to close to call me. I got to school and we thankfully had power. The children started arriving and were terrified by the events of the morning too. We had to do a quick check in once everyone was there to feel calm and reassured that it was all over. We had a good discussion linked to our curriculum about what government services were being used at that time. I then heard from the daycare they were closing and had to throw some sub plans together (thankfully I had things) and leave. It was at that moment that for the first time in two hours I was able to breath and not have to think and worry about all the split second decisions I needed to make that morning. It was a relief.
I left school, picked up Nate, went home through a long detour, and he took a nap. We still had no power and we were told by 11:30 am it would be back on. My grandmother and I decided that if it wasn't on by then we would go to lunch somewhere and just make the most of the day. As 12:30 pm approached we decided to go and we went to Chick-fil-a and she treated. Gotta love her. :) I did not expect that. It was about 2:30 pm and we saw people in our community post that they still did not have power and Potomac Edison was quoting until 11:30 pm that power would restore. This was insane. We briefly discussed the idea of getting a hotel for the night and then packed up to head out. We had a long detour back to my elementary school to pick up Niko. While we drove, my grandmother said, "Uh oh, people are now saying they have no expected restore time for us." It was then that we decided that we needed to get the hotel. We didn't think that with my grandmother and the baby that we could last the whole night with no power in the dark and in the cold.
I sat in the car rider line and called the Hilton Garden Inn and got frustrated with the lady because she was talking a thousand miles per minute. I may have been able to deal with her on any other day but this was a whirlwind day. I told her I would call back and didn't. I called the Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Frederick, Maryland instead. They had a pool, were inexpensive, and convenient in terms of location. Read my Fairfield Inn Review to learn more about them.
Anyway, after getting Niko, we went home and I quickly got everyone's stuff packed up for the night. I wanted to be ready to roll when Mefi got home since I knew he would need a shower and it would be getting dark soon. We drove to the hotel, checked in, and Mefi got ready while Nate had fun walking between the adjoining room we got with Gram. The boys also watched a bit of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while they waited for Papa.
After Mefi finished getting ready we let Niko pick a local restaurant. Niko loves Golden Corral and we were right around the corner so we went there. The night ended with me taking Niko to the pool and Papa staying in the room to put Nate to bed. We had a wonderful end to our day. Thanks for reading about our tornado day! I hope we never have to go through this again.