The Calm before the Storm

Today has been a strange day.

As of right now, it is 10:32 pm on Monday evening, and we are still waiting for typhoon Choi Wan, or as some people are calling it Chop Suey to show up. We have seen some effects from it, it is much windier then normal, but its not bad. They say it is to hit us early Tuesday morning, so who knows exactly what that means.... but for now, we are home, safe, ready for bed, and ready to ride out the storm.

Today at school was interesting, like I said earlier, Mark didnt have to go in at all today, but we did, and man were my kiddos on edge. Every time it began to rain or the wind began to blow, "Mrs. Sawyer! ITS HERE!", "No guys, its just rain, no worries, you'll be home before it hits...."

I also went around the room, moving bookshelves and TV's away from windows, moved anything up off the floor in case of flooding, etc.... so we will see what my classroom looks like tomorrow or wednesday....

After school ended, Mark picked me up and we headed home, with making a quick detour to McD's for some french fries and bbq sauce =) The weather wasnt too crazy on the way home, but you could tell there was a storm abrewin..... some palm trees were leaning to the left and the right, while stores had their storm shutters closed....

The 4-runner getting a light rain this afternoon. Tree's on the side of our home, The Calm Before the Storm...

And last but not least for our day, a wonderful family, the Martinsen's, who live just down the road from us, and are sadly moving back to the states in 3 weeks, but happily moving to Washington State, so its really not goodbye, invited us over for dinner and games.... It was nice to take a break from thinking about the typhoon. We ate homemade soup, bascotti, and had fun with their two girls, Abbie and Emma...

The Martinsen's have a great look out in their backyard. We took a walk down there, and boy were the waves crashing against those cliffs! We certainly enjoyed the view though...

The Martinsen Home, all boarded up and ready to be beaten.... Most homes look like this right now....

Mark is soundly asleep in bed, i just took a nice hot shower, may be the last one for a few days..... but wanted to update you real quick before we wake up in the middle of the storm, with no power....

We are safe, its raining pretty hard as we speak, and getting a little windier.... But we will contact you once we are in the clear and up and running again....

Love you all,

Mark and Brittany

****If you want to find out more about the storm, you can always google JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER, and click on CHOI WAN W15.... its pretty good, and tells you pretty much everything we know.... =)