We had planned all kinds of fun things for the weekend - I was supposed to have a ladies night on Friday night, Saturday was Owen's fifth birthday party, Eli Cummins was supposed to come to our house for us to watch him, and Sunday we were going to go to the zoo and pool with Julie. But, it was looking like none of this would work out.
Then, on Friday night, a quick but massive storm came through the region (it had started in Chicago and gone through Ohio around the time I was on the way home from the pediatrician). Winds were 80 mph, and we lost power on Friday night. We went to bed thinking that power would be restored by the time we woke up on Saturday. Nope. There were hundreds of thousands of people in the area without power, and this could take awhile!
Here are some pictures of Jovie and Daddy sitting in our hot house.
Poor baby with a rash. :(
It was a scorcher weekend (100+ degree temps), so on Saturday we went to Pentagon City to soak up their power and went shopping and out to eat. Jovie seemed to be doing better, but Julie was getting sick. On Saturday night, I watched Eli at his house (with power) and tried, quite unsuccessfully, to buy ice to save some stuff in the fridge and freezer. I went to three different stores and two gas stations - no ice.
By Sunday morning, many of our neighbors had power, but we didn't. We could see the power across the street, but there was none. And we couldn't go stay with friends, because Jovie's hand, foot and mouth was so contagious. Besides, by Sunday, I was feeling really rough, and with three out of four people in the house feeling sick, we didn't want to pass it around. Sunday afternoon, I did drop off our frozen food at the McGinnises, to try to save something.
Sunday was spent doing some air conditioning seeking (McDonald's, Alexandria Pastry), late night walks and some laying around in the house. Julie and I were fighting fevers, and as terribly hot as it felt in the house, we would shiver under blankets and simultaneously sweat with our fevers spiking. Sunday night, we were laughing as we fanned ourselves with wet rags and laid on the floor and couches. Mike left the house a lot, running errands, taking Howie for a walk, anything to get him out of the house. It was frustrating seeing neighbors with power and being without it!
Some cuddle time with sick Mommy
On Monday, I went into work, still sick, but with lots to do, including interviewing a candidate. Julie stayed home with Jovie, who seemed to be feeling great. Julie, however, did not feel great. Sore throat and generally not feeling well. On Monday night after work, we finally got smart and went to ask our neighboring condo association with power if we could use their pool since our power was out and our pool was closed. They said yes. So we stayed at that pool for a couple hours, even though it was past Jovie's bedtime. I don't remember a pool ever feeling so amazing!
On Monday night, Julie and I went to Starbucks and McDonalds to charge phones (hanging from the ceiling outlets) and use the internet. We learned from someone at Starbucks who also lived in Fairlington Arbor that Tuesday night was the soonest we would get our power back, due to some crazy transformer issues.
On Tuesday at 2 am, Julie awoke to the sound of a fan, and woke us up. We had power!!! It was the best sound ever! By Tuesday evening, we all felt a little better.
It was quite an adventure, these three days without power and three sick people in the house. But, now we have interesting stories to tell and quite a lot of memories to share!
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