Rain, Rain, Please Go Away...Plllllleeeeaaaase!!

Well, Friday was a interesting day to say the least. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Carvelli, Chris and I were able to celebrate his one and only 31st birthday at the CA-Sino, Treasure Island Resort and Casino (lovely song). We had the buffet with Erik and Amy and then spent a few hours giving our money away. Chris isn't much of a gambler so having him part with his money was a challenge to begin with, but he finally got on a Black Jack table for a little bit. Jimmy (dealer) was great at giving friendly advise and taking their money.

The way the casinos are set up there are no clocks and the only view of the outside is through their doors, so when we left we didn't know that the weather was getting bad. The ride home was exciting to say the least with the torrential downpours and lighting strikes that seemed to be right at the car. We realized that the power was out once we hit Hastings and knew that our house was going to be black as well. We weren't prepared for what was in store.

At once we realized it was bad, when Tim was out in the addition with the wet vac trying to stay on top of the water pouring down the South wall of the addition back into the addition and kitchen, but unfortunately with no power the wet vac didn't work and Tim was left with a squeegee and no place for the water to flow. Quickly Chris had to move the sheet rock that Tim was courageously saving away from the water to drier ground and then they did a quick assessment to a temporary solution.

Leaving the guys to their way of thinking, I made the mistake of jumping into the kitchen with whooooshing sound of water running into the room after me. There I found Vicki with the lights out, four scared kids, and a dog with an upset stomach. Jasmine and Grandma were trying to head off the rain before it made it into the living room as it rushed into the kitchen with a decrepit mop. They did a great job saving the living room from a disaster.

By this time it was 1:30 in the morning and Excel was predicting lights back on around 4:45 in the morning and there was no end in sight to the rain. Squeegeeing continued at a frantic pace as well as cleaning out the kennel after poor Emma's stomach had acted up. Everyone was a trooper and thankfully Jayna was sleeping for the better part of this adventure with her winter Pjs in a humid room with no air conditioner.

I am truly grateful for everything Grandma and Grandpa did while we were gone to make sure our water adventure didn't get really out of hand. It was around 2:00 when the light came back on and Chris found his way onto the roof with a piece of metal in his hand WITH lightning to reroute the water away from the door. Finally around 3:00 in the morning things were settling down, Grandma and Grandpa went home and my kitchen floor is the cleanest it has been in years. The kids were sleeping and the dog was washed, clean and in her clean kennel.

Sleep was calling us...Ohhhh did I tell you that the entire South wall of the addition and the house was wet including our bedroom? At least the bed wasn't completely wet! :-) Nighty Nighty. Morning came all too early and Chris is off and running trying to figure out a more permanent way to reroute the next rain fall. Again their adventure started with a trip to Menards, but of course shortly after their departure I got a phone call. The silver trip took a dump and was broken down. High Ho mini van to the rescue. Don't tell Chris but I think this is a scheme to show me that we need to keep the tow truck around. With the mighty tow truck, Chris rescued the silver truck and is now trying to diagnose the problem.

With only a hint of sarcasm, Chris said there could be a chance that someone put sugar in his gas tank with a weary look at Ron next store trying to dry out his own basement in the new house. 8-) Let's hope it doesn't come to that and the timing is just off or someting.