Cowboy morning, noon AND night?!?

So this is a little update from the post about the boots. We had what you might call "battle of the boots" last night when I told him he could NOT wear the boots to bed. He just could not understand why he might not sleep well in his beloved boots! So, first thing this morning, even before the magic serum (aka milk, anyone who has been around Liam first thing in the morning knows exactly how important it is!) Liam had already donned his cowboy boots. I think I might just have a FFA kiddo on my hands...

He Haw!

Ever since going to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo last year, Liam has wanted a pair of cowboy boots. I mean, really, what kind of Texas boy would he be without them?! So we've been on a multi-state hunt to find just the right pair...and we did! Liam hasn't taken them off since we got them!

Liam was changing his clothes and only got this far before deciding to 'boot up'!

Love my lil' wrangler!

Dan commented that this looks like an aweful lot like some of his pledge brothers did in the wee hours of the morning!

3:57 p.m.

Was the best moment in my life...at least the last nearly 11 days of my life. It was at this moment that power was restored to our place of residence ( I cannot bring myself to call this home..that is way too permanent). Liam and I were so excited to stumble upon this discovery and get to go pack up our things at the latest friend who was housing these evacuees. When we got back to Houston on Sunday we still did not have power so our long time friends, the Krenzke's, opened their home for us. What gypsies we are. We are so glad to be here and back to our own belongings! What an adventure Ike brought...

Liam and Owen Krenzke...two buds in a boat!

On the road again..

What a whirl-wind (no pun intended) the last few days have been. We are so fortunate to have such great friends who welcomed us into their home for the first few days following the storm, THANK YOU GRAYS!!! We were glad to find out Tuesday at noon that Dan would be off work until next Monday so we jumped in the car and headed north for Oklahoma. We got to my mom's house around Midnight and boy were we glad to be "home".
We've witnessed some pretty heartrending events--people lined up for MILES, wrapped around blocks for gas, grocery store shelves empty and grown men struggling to gain possession of the last bag of ice, only to render the bag ripped and ice covering the floor. We saw convoy after convoy of electrical company trucks headed in on I-10 as we were leaving Katy, it almost made me want to cry. So much of the greater Houston area is without power, very scary. Please keep all Houstonians in your prayers. It is going to be a long road to recovery.
Here are some post-hurricane pictures, some of which you can compare against those taken before the storm.

This shows the comparison of the water level in the San Jacinto River close to our apartment

Water level under the West Lake Houston bridge over the San Jacinto River

See the metal flashing caught on the chimney? Dan and I listed to it rattle around all night during the hurricane. We just knew it was going to fly through our window. Once day broke we found it hooked onto the metal part of the chimney on the apartment office building. This picture is taken from our apartment just across the pool, say 40 yards. It did eventually break the top of the chimney off and flew off.

See the black car? That's Dan's car, almost struck by the falling branch.

Just look at those two handsome guys. They're inspecting the tree that fell in the right direction...falling the other way would have flattened my car!

This tree fell into the fence and into the pool...

This tree was in our old neighborhood...it was the most beautiful bradford pear tree, split by the wind.

These trees are down near the river...

This tree fell from inside the apartment property into the fence and into a new construction town home.

This is just outside the apartment complex...

I was right...

we do NOT like Ike. We were OK until12:08 am on Fri night/Sat morning when the power came CRASHING down. at 3 something the winds were howling like I've never heard before. On Saturday, we went on a tour de Kingwood and saw what Ike left behind. LOTS AND LOTS of destruction. Trees down everywhere. We did drive by the old house and everything there was OK.
Needless to say, we still don't have power and who knows when that will come back on. We packed up yesterday (Sunday) and started for Oklahoma when our friends the Grays sent a text that they had a/c, cable and showers waiting for us so we turned around and headed for Katy. It took a while to get there but we made it. Now we're just waiting for power...I'll upload pics when I can.

Hurricane's a comin'!

WE DON'T LIKE IKE...at least I don't think we're going to. I hate to say it, though, but we've had a great morning. It's been wondeful to have Daddy home with us and have gotten to take it easy. Now I don't mean that we have not or will not continue to prepare, but the normal alarm going off at 5 am and out the door by 6:40 didn't happen and was a very welcome change. In fact, Liam thinks that this hurricane party is pretty cool...he got to sleep with Mom and Dad last night and will tonight too, if there's any sleep to be had!

We've heard from several people from north of the Red River expressing some concern. Although we do appreciate the concern and your love for us, we are following the trend and recommendations of the City of Houston leaders to "hunker down". IF you feel like checking up on the situation here, you can check the websites http://www.khou.com/ or http://www.houstonhidefromthewind.org/

We decided to go on a little walk this morning to see the calm before the storm and check out the San Jacinto river. Here are some pics of what we saw--

Liam and his trusty camera ready for the expedition

This is the office building for our apartment complex. Personally, I think they're overdoing it.

This shows the current level of the San Jancinto River

Again, river level. This is by the new strip of restaurants along the river near our apartment.

Bridge over San Jacinto River from Kingwood to Humble/Atascosita

BOOMER SOONER!!

We are so glad that ABC is carrying the OU football game today!! Liam and I are having so much fun watching his team and hearing the football music "live" instead of on CD! Liam is very into the Pride of Oklahoma and all their great music...especially GO GO GO Boomer Sooner! Listen...
(remember you might want to pause the music at the bottom to hear Liam!)

1st Day of School!

Liam was SO excited to get to go back to school on Friday! All the kiddos that were in his class last year were very happy to see my charismatic son...lots of cheers and hugs for Liam!

Old to new...with a little stop in between!

So the past week has been a little crazy...we've packed up 3211, moved to an apartment (thank goodness it's temporary!), closed on the sale of 3211, AND had the framing inspection of 26023 done with a subsequent review of findings with everybody who's anybody with the builder (I guess this comes with having a more than well respected home inspector on your side...thanks Grays!)

Gathering up at 3211...

Such a great packing helper! Liam crumpled packing paper better than any of us!

IT'S MOVING DAY!

(if you're in the Houston area, these guys were great!)

Daddy and Liam checkin' out the new pad!

Gettin' fresh...Liam and Lauren testing out the media room. This is cute now, we'll see how cute it is in 10 years or so...Liam LOVES his Lauren!!