I've been wanting to blog about our weekend when Hurricane Irene made her visit, so here it goes! Joe was supposed to leave for Fallon, NV on Saturday Aug. 27th (the day that the hurricane was coming through our area). The navy decided to send him a day earlier (on that Friday) so he booked 2 hotel rooms at Town Center in Virginia Beach for my parents, me, and the kids to stay during the storm. Our street tends to lose power during storms and we also have huge pine trees all around the house, so we felt it was safest to not stay in this house during the storm. (The picture above is of the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier located at the oceanfront. It was taken during the storm (not my be, but I found it online)!
When we arrived on Friday evening at the hotel, the kids had a blast running all around the room. Nan and Pop helped get the room all set up for Joseph and Maddy to be able to sleep. The hotel brought a crib in our room for Maddy and my mom brought her breathable bumper pad from her house to put on the hotel crib.
Maddy loves finding small places that she can fit in and she had the most fun running from the end of the bed to that wall......
Joseph helped Pop set up his guard rails so he wouldn't fall out of his bed...
Maddy had more fun in the bathroom playing with toilet paper.....
The children slept great after a late bedtime. Maddy was scared in her unfamiliar crib and cried when I tried to put her down for the night. The crib was away from the beds and over by the bathroom. After I tried several times to get her to sleep, she was just too scared so I moved her crib right between the two beds (I was sleeping in one bed and Joseph in the other). This made her feel better as she could see me in the bed while she laid down in her crib). She was asleep in no time!The next morning, Maddy made sure we had enough water from our hurricane supplies! I took Joseph swimming in the indoor pool while Maddy took her morning nap. Joseph wanted to go in the elevator every chance he got and he was our number 1 button pusher for the elevator! :)
Maddy stacked the chair cushions and made herself a slide. She laughed and had a ball as she slid down the cushions. Joseph thought this was fun too. 
So glad I brought the portable dvd player with several videos. Joseph knows how to work it by himself and this kept him occupied for a while....
We had lots of time to play and be silly that day as we hung out at the hotel and waited for the hurricane to arrive.
After bath time, Joseph and Maddy watched a video before they went to bed.
Thankfully our neighborhood never lost power during the storm and no trees fell down. Our yard was a big mess when I got back home on Sunday morning. I took the kids outside in the front yard around 4:30pm to start raking piles of pine cones, limbs, and leaves. The kids were running all over the place and I just couldn't get the yard cleaned up while taking care of them too, so we all went back inside the house. My parents came over on Monday morning and they helped me finish cleaning up the yard. I looked at my neighbors yards and saw that many of them had about 3 or 4 bags on the curb as they had already cleaned up their yards. By the time I finished cleaning our yard, we had 23 bags on the curb. Yes, I counted them!!! :) 23 to be exact! LOL!
I'm glad we were all safe from the storm and hopefully the hurricanes will stay away from Va Beach this season!
Maddy stacked the chair cushions and made herself a slide. She laughed and had a ball as she slid down the cushions. Joseph thought this was fun too. 
So glad I brought the portable dvd player with several videos. Joseph knows how to work it by himself and this kept him occupied for a while....
We had lots of time to play and be silly that day as we hung out at the hotel and waited for the hurricane to arrive.
After bath time, Joseph and Maddy watched a video before they went to bed.
Thankfully our neighborhood never lost power during the storm and no trees fell down. Our yard was a big mess when I got back home on Sunday morning. I took the kids outside in the front yard around 4:30pm to start raking piles of pine cones, limbs, and leaves. The kids were running all over the place and I just couldn't get the yard cleaned up while taking care of them too, so we all went back inside the house. My parents came over on Monday morning and they helped me finish cleaning up the yard. I looked at my neighbors yards and saw that many of them had about 3 or 4 bags on the curb as they had already cleaned up their yards. By the time I finished cleaning our yard, we had 23 bags on the curb. Yes, I counted them!!! :) 23 to be exact! LOL!
I'm glad we were all safe from the storm and hopefully the hurricanes will stay away from Va Beach this season!
