An update...

Remember in this post when I talked about how excited we all were to go to Florida to visit family? Well that 8 day trip has turned into day 18 and counting. Hurricane Sandy has unfortunately left us stranded. After many frustrating nights and a bazillion booked, re-booked, and cancelled flights, we've made the decision to stay in Florida until the power is restored at our house. The thought of being home with two kids in a 40 degree house is pretty unrealistic at this point.

We left for Florida not knowing anything about the storm. We weren't prepared. We were 100 percent caught off guard. But we feel extremely grateful that our house was spared. Although our vehicle may have some damage, our son has missed more school than I care to even share, the city that we've called home for the last 7 months is in complete uproar, and the end date to this staycation is unknown, we are blessed that we are here with supporting family and friends and I couldn't imagine it any other way.

 

Here's a few pictures of the storm in case you've been living under a rock.

 

The size of the storm was monstrous. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would leave NY to go to Florida where I've experienced many a hurricanes to be finding refuge here.

 

Remember that fun boardwalk that Norman would ride his bike up and down for hours? I've heard that that boardwalk no longer exists.

 

These are pictures of the townhomes downt the street from us. You can see how high the flooding got. Remember when I complained about those three flights of stairs here and here? Looks like they really saved us.

 

And here's a shot of the townhomes with the waves just waiting to crash in.

 

Rockaway Beach was one of the hardest hit areas. It's also one of the areas you'll rarely hear about it on the news. It breaks my heart. These people are going on day 9 with no power and they are saying it could take another 7-10 days. They are being hit with another storm as I type this and are trying to find comfort at night with lows in the 30's. I try to remind myself how blessed we are that the only things that are bothering us are just minor inconveniences. We've heard of friends whose houses litereally were flooded up to there chests, cars floating down the street, and priceless memories destroyed.

I sometimes feel a sense of urgency to return home. To get back to our "normal" life again. Our own spaces, our own things, our own food, our own car. But I'm quickly reminded when I look at articles on line, that nothing about that life will be normal for awhile. Please keep the families of the storm in your thoughts and prayers.

Norms 4 week break couldn't have come at a better time. Little Normans school has been damaged and they are busing the students to Brooklyn. This gives me all sorts of anixiety that I may cover in a whole other post. Claire and I are just enjoying all the extra help from our family.

I have yet to blog about all of our fun that we've been having here in Florida. Although I've done a horrible job at documenting things like Claire's birthday party, all the cousin loving, girls nights and so forth, I promise when life gets a little normal I will play catch up.