Catching up, Part I

If you ever stop in and check you may have noticed we've had a hiatus for a few months. It truly has been "no news is good news". I'll try to do some catching up!


Trav finished out a busy semester by mid-May. He enjoyed a little over a week off before his big summer workout. More on that in a bit...

Commencement was wonderful. I love planning and organizing NDSU's Commencement ceremonies. This year our keynote speaker was U.S. Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert Gates. There were many, many extra details. The Advance Security Team was wonderful to work with and I have to be honest...the ceremony was flawless. We all couldn't have been happier. Our President was pleased as well. It was so much fun to be a part of the day!

I had a meeting in Bismarck the third week of May. It was great to see Dad and Loni's new place north of Mandan. They've done a lot of work since they moved in last November.

While I was in Bismarck/Mandan, it was easy to see the Missouri River was high. It was creeping up Dad and Loni's yard (typically the river is not visible from their place). When I asked if they needed to be concerned, Dad commented "If we are in trouble, all of Bismarck is in trouble".

Fast forward about a week...the river was still rising and recent updates from the Army Corps of Engineers was not looking good. Bismarck/Mandan was now in trouble and so were Dad and Loni. We rallied the troops and soon Travis, Loni's two boys, and Kelly (a dear family friend) descended on Dad and Loni's and began their week-long quest to save their place. With countless dump loads of dirt, they constructed a levee (known as 'dike' around this area), covered it with plastic, and then hauled in hundreds (thousands?) of sandbags. It is a ring dike around their home, garage and shop. If you want to see the pics of the effort, I've posted them all on Facebook.

The kids and I anxiously stayed home. It was so hard not to go out to help, but it was a dangerous place for the kids. There is no way they could have been in that area.

The kids and I had a few projects - we took apart and hauled down Carson's bunk bed set to the garage. We bought him a new bedroom set and got things set up and ready. Looks great! We also cleaned house and had a lot of snuggles.

We spent a scary time in the basement on Memorial Day late evening. It had been a warm day and we had been warned of brewing storms all day. Grace was in bed and sleeping by about 8:30, so I was doing some clean up when I stopped to check the radar. I could see a huge system coming right for us. I quickly got Carson's attention and as I gathered emergency items, he would bring them down to the basement bathroom. After several trips, he tearfully asked if I was going to get Grace. I reassured him that once we gathered everything I would get Grace. The storm hit just as I was bringing Grace through our main floor. As I looked into our lit-up backyard (from all of the lightning) I thought we had lost a couple of trees, as they were gone. Turns out they were nearly flattened from the wind. Just as we got settled into the bathroom we lost power. We cuddled together amongst the blankets and pillows. Carson shared that he didn't want to die in the bathroom. I explained that the storm was coming from the other side of the house and in a small room with now windows, so we were in the safest room in the house. We prayed and sang a few songs from Sunday School. We all felt better. I couldn't get the radar on my phone, but I could certainly tell when the bulk of the storm was right on top of us. The entire house shook. I did manage to get through to Trav out in Mandan and he was able to tell us when the worst had past.

The kids and I stayed in the basement for a bit, but went out to the couches. By this time our power had returned and I thankfully didn't need to worry about bailing out the sump pump. Trav had installed a battery back up to our sump pump two years ago during the flood but I really didn't want to have to test it to see how long the battery would last. I did hear it kick on while we were in the basement, so that was reassuring. A quick word about sump pumps - ours runs year-round. During the summer it pumps out a lot of water. During a downpour of a storm it really runs. So I was not looking forward to the prospect of trying to bail it with a flashlight.

When I finally did get the kids back upstairs, neither one was too interested in sleeping. Carson asked if I wanted him to sleep with me in case I was still a little scared from the storm. :-) I told him yes, and he told me he would only stay for a little bit then he would go back to his room. Needless to say, he stayed the entire night in our bed. And I felt VERY safe! :-)

Grace was a different story. Since she had already 'napped' for a bit before the storm hit, she now thought it was time to be up for the day. Except for the fact it was 10:30 at night...so I got her into bed and told her it was time to sleep. Fifteen minutes later I could hear thumping from her room. When I checked on her she had changed into her gymnastics outfit and announced that it was time for "Nastics!". She was doing somersaults in her room. At 10:45 at night. Lovely. We went several more rounds like this. The next time she had added "chick socks" to her outfit and by the third time she donned slippers. Apparently all of those items help with 'nastics'. Grace was disappointed that these details were lost on Mommy and that Mommy didn't share the same enthusiasm for 11:00 p.m. gymnastics. By the time it was 11:15 I announced that if I had to come in again she would get a little swat on her bottom. Within a few minutes she was sleeping and now Mommy could go to bed too!

After our storm experience, I announced to the kids that we were going to make an emergency kit to stay downstairs. I've never been through a storm of that magnitude (75 mph+ wind) and never hope to be again, but we want to be better prepared. So we gathered and bought supplies that stay in a tote in the bathtub in our basement. We've got a blanket, pillows, flashlights, an emergency radio, batteries, snacks, pitcher, cups, small games for the kids, first aid kid, and a few other odds and ends. No more running around like crazy trying to gather these items. The kids were great helpers in brainstorming what we should gather.

We were grateful we had minimal damage outdoors. One of our exterior lights on the house snapped in half. We thought we had lost the lids to our sandbox and one of our compost bins, but a neighbor found them a few blocks away. Our heavy playhouse did move back about 6 inches. Most of our neighbors with fences had significant damage. We were very fortunate.

While Travis was gone we also had a special visit from Grandma Mary - Grace's biological Grandma. We enjoyed seeing her and her friend and Grace was so very proud to show off her room. We had a nice visit, even though I was a bit pre-occupied with status updates from Mandan.

Travis arrive back home in time to surprise Carson on his last day of 4th Grade. We celebrated Daddy's return home after his week-long absence. Trav was tired and sore but had done an incredible amount of work in the week he was gone. We set up a massage for Daddy when he returned and he enjoyed it a lot! After a few good days of rest he was in pre-flood fighting condition!

I'll post more about what June had in store for the Kitch family later this weekend.

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