Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
It seems so strange that while virtually all of New Jersey was without power and devastated by the hurricane, the rest of the country was largely unaffected by it. On day 3 of being without power or heat for most of us, I was getting all my news from Twitter and Facebook posts and only knew that it was Halloween seeing posts of other people’s kids in costume. Trick or treating was “indefinitely postponed” in Jersey.

Now here we are at day 11 post-storm. There are still at least 2,000 people STILL without power or heat, my parents included. (Thank you again to Grammy and Papa for schlepping generators and gas down from Maine to keep them warm!) Entire towns were so decimated that they may never make a come back. But slowly, we’re starting to recover from the wreckage Sandy left behind.

Daycare got its power back Sunday night and was able to open its doors Monday morning. At first Andrew fought trying to go, but he missed his friends and teachers. He has been so happy being back in some semblance of a routine again.

Tomorrow they are finally getting to do their Halloween party. Andrew is psyched to bring in munchkins. In the afternoon, all the kids are dressing up for “Trunk or Treat.” Yeah, it’s exactly how it sounds. Trick or treating out of the trunks of cars. I still need to acquire some candy for that one!

Halloween in our town has been postponed a number of times, but yesterday the state of emergency was lifted in town. Saturday will be the official trick or treating day. Andrew is going to be Luke Skywalker. 🙂

It’s going to be a while before things are back to “normal” for my family. But having these little things – going to school or work again, having a snowball fight in the middle of a parking lot, or celebrating Halloween – make everything seem a little more normal.

Have a great weekend everyone. And to those of you who are also finally able to participate in a belated Halloween, enjoy!

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
As a military family, we have lived all over the United States, but we grew up in the North Eastern US. So, when the north east was faced with the first major Hurricane to hit the Atlantic coast in several years, we knew how close this could hit to “home.” We had the misfortune of living through Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and several widespread tornado outbreaks in 2011. We have seen the absolute worst that nature can offer. We have gone weeks without power in 2005, and we saw vast areas and lives devastated by F-5 tornadoes across Mississippi and Alabama in 2011. As we watched the weather forecasts last week we did not know if the storm was the mega-storm that the media warned of or a storm that my diminish into nothing as it moved north.

Despite the hype surrounding the storm, we know even minor damage can have an impact on families. We have friends in New Jersey and New York who were directly affected by the storm. We have spoken to them, and they are doing better  – but many are still without power and basic services. Many of those people have small children. We have been very lucky to not be displaced from our home by mother nature. The thought of explaining water soaked stuffed animals to my children is a heartbreaking thought.

My husband has prepared our family for disasters. I laugh at how proactive he is, but know in my mind it’s better to be safe than sorry.  We’ve been through several close calls and learned to have a tornado alarm and safe location. We have food and water ready before the weather forecast turns sour. We warn our children about the dangers of fire and electricity. We try to educate  them about the dangers of weather without scaring them, although I’m a nervous wreck every time.  We also teach them the importance of preparedness and how it can make a difference.

There are some situations that no family can be prepared for, but we hope that every family effected by Hurricane Sandy has the support of their family and community.  I’m happy to hear Friday Mom and her family are safe and are getting the help they need.  Tate’s preschool is collecting supplies and donations for victims of the storm.  I’m happily donating items to help out those who were effected so they can return to a normal life.