What to do during the left overs of a hurricane

We were SOOO not expecting Ike to do anything way up here but on Sunday he came through and tore the state up. NOTHING like Texas, we have friends there and are definitely not about to compare our mild experience to their full-forced crazy freight train experience but Ike came through and was more than we've ever seen as far as strange wind storm...no rain, just strong wind. We didn't even know it was supposed to 'hit.' I hadn't charged my cell phone, we hadn't gotten out candles and flash lights and all of that and since we had just gotten home from Myrtle Beach we didn't have much food in the house either-which is GOOD b/c it didn't ruin in our fridge but not so good b/c we didn't even have bread for a sandwich. :) We went to a local gas station and got some essentials and came home to our dark house. This is a picture of trees down in a park. The good thing is, he hit at like 3:30 in the afternoon so we had plenty of time to find our lights and candles and lantern (thanks dad!).

We had MINIMAL damage, one big limb hit my car but just scratched the top, nothing major but the entire city was crazy, with trees down and power lines everywhere. Schools have been out all week, over 2 million were without power. We were somehow lucky enough to only be without it for like 7 hours but sooo many friends and family were without it for days and still don't have power as I type this. So what do you do with no electricity? Well...

You watch your Clifford DVD on the car dvd player...except she had gotten up when I snapped the picture.

You eat some ice chips just for fun b/c we also bought a big big bag of ice at the gas station.

Then you suction your little bowl to your face.

You keep telling everyone to shh for no apparent reason other than it's dark.

You call Neena using the light of the lantern.

You talk to Neena on mommy's phone...

And then when mommy's phone dies after a couple of minutes b/c she didn't know she should have it charged...you call Neena back on daddy's phone. :)

You have your cousins over the next day so that they can store a ton of food in your empty fridge and freezer...and enjoy watching some tv while theirs is still out.

And have your cousins' grandparents over so they, too, can store food in your freezer. :)

You eat your cousin's grandparent's pizza for lunch and your aunt's roast for supper...lest it go to waste from thawing. :) You play lots of games and just enjoy the 'different' time with no 'electristity' all the while remaining thankful that you're so blessed to have only lost it for a few hours.

Overall it was a fun evening and we didn't really miss the electric except when we occasionally flipped on a switch out of habit.