Taylor, Matthew & Brayden: Bomb Cyclone

Last Monday, I saw a blog post from my favorite weatherman, Cliff Mass, about a bomb cyclone approaching Seattle. It was titled "The Deepest Low Pressure Center in Northwest History? Damaging Winds West of the Cascades." To be honest, I did not understand most of what Cliff said in his post, but my takeaway was that a big storm was approaching. The local weathermen mentioned it and cautioned about possible power outages, but none of us were prepared for what was coming.

Tuesday evening, the sky grew very dark around 5:00 (as it typically does this time of year) and the wind picked up speed, but then the sky started lighting up. I am not sure if the light in the sky was from lightening or substations losing power, but it was a beautiful sight. Brayden and I were driving to his first orchestra concert at the middle school and had full view of the light show in the sky. The streets grew dark, and it was obvious that homes/businesses were losing power as we drove. By the time we exited the freeway, I got a text message that the concert was cancelled.

Brayden and I turned around and made our way home. Tommy was with Matty up in Woodinville for baseball, so they headed home as soon as practice was over. Taylor was at her friend Grace's. Her house had not lost power, so Taylor decided to spend the night there (Grace later lost power at 11:00 PM). The first night, the boys and I snuggled up in blankets in the family room and played Ticket to Ride. When it was time to go to bed, I made everyone sleep in the downstairs guest bedroom because the winds were so scary. I was worried about trees, or big limbs, falling on the house. So, the first night was kinda fun...

We woke up on Wednesday morning to messages that school was canceled. Shortly after that, we lost all cell reception. It was a very strange day - no power, no wifi, no work, no school, no cell service. The only thing we had was hot water. Around midday, we learned that our friends, the McNamaras, got their generator working, so we invited ourselves over to their house Wednesday evening. As soon as it got dark at 5:00, our house was eerily cold, dark and quiet. We spent Wednesday evening grilling meats from our fridge that were going to spoil otherwise and playing Taboo. We received notification early in the evening that school was cancelled again the following day.

We woke up on Thursday morning to an even colder house. After walking to the McNamara's for coffee, we rounded up the kids and drove to SouthCenter. We ate lunch at Corner Bakery and took the boys (and friends) to SkyZone to burn off some energy. Tommy and Taylor went back to Corner Bakery to charge their laptops and use wifi, and I stayed at SkyZone and used the wifi while I kept an eye on the boys. While we were there, we learned that school was cancelled again the following day. That evening, we went back to the McNamara's for more food and movies. When we came home and went to bed Thursday night, our house must have been below 50 degrees. We don't know because our thermostat was not working. Even Annie needed extra blankets.

We woke up on Friday morning to another cold morning. Tommy and I returned to the McNamara's for coffee. The Kinghorn's and our kids came a bit later. At 10:40, after 64.75 hours without power, we saw the lights flicker, and the McNamara's generator turned off. The power was back on! It was so amazing to return home and feel the heat coming out of our vents. It's amazing how much we take for granted on a daily basis - refrigeration, heat, lights, garbage disposal, washing machine, dish washer, etc. I kept reminding the kids that there are villages all over the world that do not have reliable access to electricity. How spoiled we are.

It is Sunday afternoon now, and Tommy and I spent the majority of Friday and Saturday cleaning out all three full-sized refrigerators and freezers. They have never been so clean and so organized! We have also been to Safeway, QFC, Trader Joe's and Costco to replenish all the food we had to throw out. And Thanksgiving is days away - we are hosting two other families and Ethan (Alexa's boyfriend). No rest for the weary here!

While this past week posed a huge inconvenience, I enjoyed the bonus family time and neighbor time! Memories were made!