earl-maggedon.

{yet another blog title idea that i stole.  for shame, for shame!  this one came from the preppy bumpkin.  part of me feels like i need to rename earl as shrek since fiona is behind him.  and, we'll call the other tropical depression behind fiona, donkey.  but, i digress...earl-maggedon, it is.}

my area {i'm not just talking virginia beach, but all up & down the eastern seaboard} is not immune to coastal tropical/subtropical weather systems.  we've had some intense storms lately, but nothing like nor'ida from last year.  it's also been quite a while since a hurricane did a "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" of our coast.  sure, there have been tropical storms, a couple hurricanes & a few nor'easters here and there, but nothing sticks out in my mind like isabel. 

september 18, 2003 {also know as my 26th birthday}.

isabel crushed our plans to spend my birthday weekend camping on hatteras island in the village of frisco.  in fact, this was as close to hatteras as we got that weekend:

{our mailbox - that i painted - with my interpretation of the cape hatteras lighthouse.  clearly, this picture was taken AFTER isabel blew through our area because my neighbor's yard is never that messy.}

we made the best of it.  we were fortunate enough to be the last section of our neighborhood to run out of electricity.  we had eggs & bacon {and beer & birthday cake} for breakfast while others were scrambling for ice & batteries.  we were NOT going to go thirsty because i had nearly $100 worth of bottled water in the house.  i mean, i had to keep these guys in good spirits:

{aidan, 3 months old, september 2003}

{malia, 30 months old, september 2003}

clearly, even at 2.5 years old, malia was on point with being prepared for isabel:  blanket in one hand, change of clothes in the other & a spare pair of undies...on her head.

we did not evacuate.  the thought didn't even cross our mind.  we were going to stay.  if anything happened to our home, we wanted to be here.  fortunately, we were spared.  our pine trees stood tall.  the clean up was a pain {because who likes raking pine needles?}.  we did lose our fence & a small tree of our neighbor's did fall in to our backyard.  we were without power for nearly a week.  we filed our one & only homeowner's insurance claim.  but, this is all we had to deal with:

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fast forward nearly seven years & here we are: sitting, waiting, wishing.  sitting around watching the news & hurricane coverage.  waiting to see what earl will do.  wishing earl would take a more easterly path & stay off of the east coast.  period.  i'll admit, when i heard that earl was a category four storm my mind started to race.  my children are older now.  they watch the weather with me.  they know a big storm is coming.  they might not say they are scared, but i'm scared for them.

should we stay?  should we go?  i'm pretty positive we'll stay.  but, we go back & forth in our decision.  for the time being, we're making preparations.  water, batteries & extra flashlights have been purchased.  patio furniture is being put away.  we're taking the cover off of our canopy this afternoon:

and, just like isabel cancelled our camping plans seven years ago, earl has cancelled our labor day weekend plans to go camping on ocracoke island. 

it's the last "official" weekend of summer.  the kids go back to school on tuesday.  come hell or high water {pun intended?  golly, i hope not.} we will make the best of it.