Vaca-y Not So Much

Live blogging from Hilton Head. Thankfully we have Internet access (for as long as it lasts) which is a bright moment in an otherwise horrific 48 hours. Oh, where shall I begin....??

To say the past two days have been Hell would be an understatement. Hell is not a strong enough word. I don't know what is.

Friday: We were awakened at 1am on Friday morning to the sound of the tornado sirens. The Teens came running out of their bedrooms, and I grabbed the sleeping Little Squirt in my arms (Happy Birthday, Baby!). The five of us huddled under the basement stairs, hearing the rain and wind blasting outside our home. "Will our house spin in the air like Dorothy's??" Little Squirt wanted to know. "Oh, dear God, I hope not," Super Hubs said, visions of his recent paint job botched into oblivion. The sirens silenced after 30 minutes or so, and we headed back to bed. Yet I was awake the rest of the night, adrenaline racing through my veins, my ears fine-tuned to every night sound. My Mama Bear Protective Instincts were powered up. I was ready to battle a twister with all my might if necessary to save my babies.

We arose a few hours later, packed up the car and headed to our long drive south. It was Monotony in its most Monotonous Form, broken up by a few pit stops and by allowing The Now 6-Year-Old Little Squirt to open a birthday present at the '06 of every hour. Then ferocious storms began in Kentucky; giving me the willies since last night's tornado scare, and worrying that we might end up vacationing in Oz. Right outside of Lexington, our car came to a screeching halt in gridlocked traffic. It took 2 hours to drive 5 miles!! That is the God Honest truth. Just ask God if you think I'm lying. We lost 2 hours of driving time by the idiotic non-planning of the Department of Transportation bozos who decided to institute a lane merger for some unreasonable reason. (If you are an employee of the Department of Transportation, I hope I did not offend you. But please, talk to your people! This was dumb!!) We finally arrived at our hotel in Knoxville at 10:30pm, and fell into comas.

Saturday: The day began wonderfully enough; A refreshed family, a delicious breakfast, beautifully scenic mountains. We left our hotel, and headed souther. But our day took a turn for the worse at about 10am, when the air conditioning in our van gave a big last hiss and then apparently died without so much as a "fare-thee-well." At first I was in denial: "The air still feels...coolish....kind of. It's just a little hot." But then I had to accept the inevitable: We had 600 miles and two more southern states to drive through without a/c. And if you can imagine our chagrin, just try to picture how well The Teens took the news.....

The good news is that we each lost 30 pounds of water weight. And we arrived in Hilton Head by 4pm without killing each other. And now we are happily ensconced in our beautiful rental, refreshed from a pizza dinner and dip in the pool. So thank you for allowing me to whine. And wine. Both feel lovely at the moment.