Hot Burrito

I'll get to the hot burrito, but first a look back at the last week!
I'll start with Saturday because that's as far back as I can remember :)  On Saturday we joined up with friends and went to Las Paletas in Nashville. (first I had to stop at friend's house to borrow some shoes and socks because I left the house in my slippers and didn't realize it till half way to Gallatin). Anyways,  Las Paletas is a cool gourmet Popsicle place that's been featured on the Food Network. We all got our desired flavor and then made our way over to the park down the street. It was a beautiful day, but not really relaxing when you're chasing after your children making sure they don't escape. After some time passed, and all the mommies and daddies were tired of chasing the children, we made our way home for dinner and bedtime.
Sunday we started with church followed by a picnic in our yard (requested by Selina). Ryan made some yummy bunwiches and hummus and dip. But that day we were under a wind advisory and despite our best efforts to locate the least windy spot in our yard, we still wound up chasing our food that was taking flight.  I don't remember the rest of Sunday, so next is Monday!
On Monday we didn't go anywhere or do anything except fear for our lives! Yes, the windy Sunday turned to stormy Monday. It was so far the most intimidating storm we've experienced in almost 3 years. Like everybody I know here in the Nashville area, we spent most of the afternoon in our "safe place" without any electricity. I have a crank radio that helped me keep track of where the storm was, but getting reception in our area is rather difficult. I knew it was bad when the rain was falling, yet rotating in my back yard. As scary as this was, it was mild compared to our neighbors down the ridge from us who have no fences or trees anymore. Over 55,000 people lost power and many were without till the next day. As far as I know, there weren't any people injuries.
Tuesday came along, and it was a very nice day! So weird to go from really bad to really good. I took Selina to school which is 1/2 hr away and we saw many trees fallen onto power lines and tons of debris over the roads.  After school we went to the park and met up with some friends. The park was littered with fallen trees and branches. It was so sad because these beautiful trees have just sprouted their baby leaves and now they are dead. But at least the kids had fun with all the pieces of the trees. They made "tree soup" under a tire swing using all they could find!
And now Wednesday, today! This morning we went to the park in Portland with our friends. Another sunny, but super windy day. We decided to do a picnic there, which I should have learned, is not a great idea on gusty days! I like going to the Portland park, but for whatever reason, when I invite someone to join us there it turns into a bad experience. Not even 5 seconds after unloading the car, Keira managed to sink into a giant puddle under a swing. Her pants were soaked up to her knees and her shoes were drenched. She sunk so far that she got stuck on all fours when she tried to get her balance with her hands. So I hauled her out of the muddy puddle and rolled up her pants to get the wetness off of her. Our poor little friend Claire fell down and scraped up her knees too. They seemed happy anyhow so we proceeded to set up our picnic area. I tried to put the blanket on the ground behind the play equipment to shield the wind, but that was useless! So us moms sat on it and tried to distribute ourselves and food over the blanket so it wouldn't fly off. Little baby Ben laid on the blanket with an umbrella over him. Unfortunately, the umbrella flew away, the blanket blew over the food and knocked a can of pop onto it and everything else was up in the air too. Despite all of this, we tried to enjoy our little picnic. That was until the convicts showed up to do park maintenance. That did it, we packed up and got the heck out of there.
And now here I am, safe in my house away from harm, writing this blog. Even though the elements of the outdoors can't get me in here, my darn burrito I had for lunch was so hot it burned the side of my lip. I do believe I now have a blister there. Ouch!! I am going to investigate the damage now and maybe get some ice :)

Later!