The Brooker Family

Pre Hurricane Imra...the Lumber Yard was super busy and Mommy had to work lots so that meant the girls had to go to work with me. They were such good helpers helping out at the store!

We knew that we might be without power for a little bit if the hurricane did come near us so Karsyn helped me cook and bake lots of food in preparation for the storm!

September 10, 2017 (evening/night)

Hurricane Irma...a hurricane we will never forget!

We learned this evening as we had been glued to the TV that the hurricane was going to come right over us...sadly it was coming at night too. I say sadly just because it was dark and we couldn't see anything happening but just hear everything. The girls were a little nervous but not too bad and stayed up as late as they could but fell asleep around 11:30 pm listening to sounds of a train coming through and horrible wind! It was frightful for sure!

Daddy fell asleep for a little bit with the girls but not me...I was too busy soaking up water that was pouring into our front door. :(

We all woke up early...sweating because we had been without power all night at this point and walked out to find so many trees down and debris everywhere! This tree fell towards our house into the road but did not damage anything. We lost limbs from our trees but not any trees. Some of our younger trees were leaning a lot though and we are missing some shingles off the house. Water damage was our main problem. Water came in the front door and went into the office and playroom some. The main damage was to Karsyn's room. Her room got flooded and had a lot of damage. :( We were so, so sad. I loved her room so much. She was so sad too. :(

There were many, many, many, trees down in the neighborhood. We took a walk and took in all the sights!

While all the adults were outside trying to pick up debris and cut down trees, the girls all played in the house. We opened up the windows and surprisingly there was a cool breeze today. We didn't want any of them getting hurt outside with so much debris so they were safe and happy playing inside. We had a generator and it was running a fan and the refrigerator/freezers so the girls got a yummy lunch too!

To try and cool off, the girls went for a swim in the pool too!

Days and days of no power...trying to keep cool with just a fan but still smiling and knowing we are blessed to not have lost our house and the things the hurricane did affect can be replaced!

Outside walking because its cooler outside than it is inside the house!

Keeping cool at the pool with The Webb girls!

I had to work at the Lumber Yard today because it is so busy with people needing supplies to repair their homes so Heidi kept the girls for me and they all went to Nicole's to swim! The girls had so much fun getting out of the house and staying cool in the pool. Day 5 with no power at this point!

this girl...she loves to do homework...it is so hot in the house, no power in 7 days but she still wants to do her homework! I am so proud of her!

We finally got two window units for our house and put one in our bedroom and one in Marlee's bedroom and everyone starting sleeping better throughout the nights! But we only ran them at nighttime so we soaked up as much at night as we could because during the day it was so hot!

Jen, Kyleigh and Kolton finally got power last night and knew that we still had no power so they invited us over to do some laundry and to play in their air conditioned house! It was such a nice break away from our hot house and it was awesome to get lots of laundry done too!

We were all at a breaking point today...everyone was hot, tired from not sleeping well, bored because we had no electricity and we just needed to get away. So, the girls and I loaded up and drove to Target! We got some yummy Starbucks right when we got there and literally shopped in Target for over two hours! It was so nice to be in air conditioning and we had so much fun looking at everything and having no time restraints! Best shopping trip ever! :)

We even found our sweet friends at Target doing the same thing and had no idea they were there until they heard us talking a in the store and knew it was us! Great minds think alike!

After our shopping trip (where the girls both got a new toy...the both picked out The Snackin' Noodles Baby Alive Baby) we stopped by Grandma Peggy's house on our way home because she had just gotten power!!! We enjoyed a yummy dinner with her and Easton, Papa, and GiGi and a nice hot shower/bath too! Our first hot bath/shower in 7 days! It was amazing!!!! That was one of the main things I had been missing...I do not like cold showers!

The kids were so excited to watch TV at Grandma Peggy's for a little bit! They hadn't seen any TV in 7 days so they were glued to it!

Day 8...playing outside because it is so hot inside!

Marlee and Margaret got very creative playing outside and made many habitats!

Halloween Gingerbread House Making...because when you are at Target and know it's going to be a few more days before you have power you buy lots of things that you can do with no power or extra needed supplies!

They had so much fun making the Halloween Gingerbread house and loved eating it all too, especially the icing!

And on Day 9...we got POWER!!! Hallelujah!!!
We were so excited and thankful to the linemen for working so hard and getting our power restored! These past 9 days were rough and have definitely made us appreciate electricity! Now bring on the insurance adjuster and let the repairs begin! :)

This year, just like every year, we go to Boca Grande for Labor Day! We all have so much fun being together! This year we did lots of fishing...everyone caught lots and stayed out on the boat all day every day! If we weren't on the boat or at the beach, we were in the pool at the beach house! A great long weekend filled with awesome memories!