JR Turns 21

 JR turned 21 on the 29th.  I told him I'd go out with him at midnight on the 28th so he could celebrate.  The hardest part was having to stay awake until midinight.

I didn't think the bouncers were going to let him in as they didn't believe he was 21, but once he explained it was his birthday, they were very congratulatory. 

Here we are celebrating, and I think we were home by 12:30, since he had to work the next day, and well, I'm usually asleep by midnight. 

We went out to dinner on the 29th to celebrate, and they humored me and let me take pictures.

Last Day '24

 The last day of school is officially tomorrow, but since some people still don't have electricity and most people don't have internet, finals were optional. 

Kyle took his English final today, so he's now done.  He looked like this today.

Reed has been done since Friday, and he looked like this today.

It's nice to be done! 

Yearbook

 The yearbook came out right before the tornado, and Reed wound up in it quite a bit.  Kyle is in it too, but he hates his picture.

Reed had 2 track pictures.

A quote about running

And a picture on the newspaper page

Kyle had a picure and a quote on the FFA page, but he hates the picture, so I won't put it here. 

Reed Wins Awards

 Tornado Update:   The kids went back to school on Wednesday, but things are still getting canceled, which is what this blog is about. 

Due to floods, freezes, hurricanes, tropical storms, and now this tornado that they are calling a derecho, we aren't allowed to have nice things here in Houston. So even though the kids went back to school on Wednesday, they cancelled the awards night that was scheduled for that evening.

So here's my own version of awards night because Reed won outstanding sophomore boy.  

Yes, only 1 is given out.   It's voted on by the teachers and students, and it's a big deal.

He also won the teacher award for his business class, and he got distinguished honor roll for 2 years.

We are so proud, and I'm so disappointed we didn't get to have a proper ceremony to celebrate all his hard work. 

The last day of school is Thursday, we are crawling to the finish line at this point. 

JR Goes to Work

 Tornado Update: The power came on at 6:00 tonight.  The generator ran for 4 straight days.  We have 7 streets in our neighborhood and only 2 1/2 have power. No school again tomorrow.  Here's a picture of what our street looked like all day.  There was also a truck in front of our house and our next-door neighbor's house that you can't see. The truck in front of our house was from West Virgina. 

JR has an internship at a law firm this summer and he was able to start today.  He's working downtown, and they have power.  Here he is on his first day on the job.

He somehow made all A's (ok, so he made 2 A's and 3 A-'s, but those are still A's) and made the Chancellor's honor roll.  He also turns 21 in 9 days.  Not that anybody is counting. 

Kyle Goes Fishing

 Tornado update: 3 days without power.  Generator hanging on. School canceled again tomorrow. 

So while JR and I were at Kenny and Reed was in Chicago, Jason and Kyle went fishing in Galveston.  To say that they had a successful trip is an understatement.

I don't know anything about fishing, but apparently this is a really big red fish, and a really big deal.

Then he and his friends went back to Galveston this weekend, where he caught lots of black drum.

Reed Goes to Chicago

Tornado update: 2 days without power.  Generator still up and running. 

Reed and his BPA group headed up to Chicago on Mother's Day weekend to compete at Nationals.  We were super proud that they qualified, and were getting to go! 

Fancy Pants upgraded to 1st class on both flights.  Here he is getting called up from the back, I guess this would be the opposite of a walk of shame. 

And then on the way home.

They didn't place, but they are one of the top 35 economic research teams in the country! 

And they got to do so many touristy things! 

(I use Ferris Buller's Day Off as a reference of things to do there.)

Two moms (and a grandma) went along with the group, so that's why I have so many pictures! 

I'm pretty sure this is the only picture Reed would have taken if the moms hadn't been there. This is what he was most excited to see. 

Reed is a man of few words but I was able to get that he "had fun" and he's "glad he went". 

I Think We had a Tornado

 We were sitting around yesterday evening and JR casually said, "We're under a tornado watch."  I said, "Oh, I'll go put my ferns out to get some rainwater." (Which I did.)  About then JR called Grandpa Gary and then said "I don't know, he was complaining that it got completely dark and freaking out about the weather, I'll just call him back."  I still didn't think much of it, and walked back in our bedroom for a few minutes.  When I came back out, it was completely black and the best way I know how to describe it...all hell broke loose.

The wind and rain started, and we started watching trees fall.  Jason heard a crack and ran outside to check on the pool equipment which had a giant limb fall on it.  When he came back in (completely soaked) he said, "I think we're in a tornado."  As you know, Jason is the calmest person on the planet, so when he said we were having a tornado I ran and got in the closet and called my mom.  (As one does.)

The whole thing only lasted about 20-30 minutes.  Here's some video I took once the worst had passed and I was out of the closet.  The news is reporting we had 110 mph winds.   I've had so many friends say "I've lived in Houston my whole life and never seen anything like this", or "I've never been scared by weather before, but this scared me."   

There was definitely no warning for this one, I've never seen anything come out of nowhere like this did! 

Those videos were taken about 6:30, and I started taking these pictures about 6:45. 

A great view of my ferns that definitely got some rain water. 

We were blocked in on both sides of our street with trees.  2 trees fell from our neighbor's yard across the street.  

With JR home our house looks like a used car lot.  It's an absolute miracle none of our cars were damaged! 

Obviously school was cancelled today.  About a million people don't have power (we have a generator) and cell service isn't great.  We consider ourselves very blessed that we don't have a tree through our house or one of our cars!  And I'm so happy all my kids were home.  So many were out on the roads when it hit!  

Here are some pictures from around the neighborhood I took this morning.

Kenny #4

 I've now since Kenny Chesney 4 times, but only 2 of those times have been in Houston since it's like he tries to make his Houston stops when we aren't around! 

Last Thursday Kenny was in Houston, and JR just so happened to be taking his last final on Thursday. But thankfully Kenny was playing in Dallas on Saturday night.  So JR and I left Saturday about noon, bought tickets on the way, and had ourselves in our seats for Uncle Kraker who went on stage at 5:00. 

Megan Moroney opened for him and I found out she was a KD at Georgia.  JR noticed the girls in the audience holding up the KD hand sign, and then JR had to correct me and show me how to do it since I was doing it wrong (we didn't do that back in the olden days.) 

Zac Brown band also played (and they were great) and then we were ready for Kenny!

JR and I were like, didn't he wear a blue tank top the last time we saw him?  I went back and looked, and yes, he was wearing the exact same thing last year.  So either Kenny really loves that blue tank top, or he has a thousand of them.

As a Texans fan, JR was already upset about being in Cowboys stadium, but he handled himself better than you think he would have when Kenny brought out Dak and the offensive line.  

(I was really hoping for Troy Aikman)

JR and I got back to the hotel about midnight, and left Dallas at 6:00 to be at brunch by 11:00 on Mother's Day. 

It was a fast and furious trip, but we did it!