Lights Out

Last night we had some really bad thunderstorms roll through. Unfortunately for me, I was coming home from some friends' house with the kids while Mark worked late. As I pulled onto our street I watched the power go out. Lightning was flashing like a Fourth of July show and the wind was literally rocking my parked car. Since my garage door wouldn't open due to the power outage and I wasn't going to risk carrying the kids in with the lightning and drenching rain, I decided to wait it out in the car. I took both kids out of their car seats since Mia was having a complete meltdown. Austin had fun "bouncing" around the car and pushing buttons on the dashboard. Eventually, Mark called and said he was on the way home because the power was out at the office too. We got the kids in the house and began the search for the flashlights. This was a much better option than heat producing candles, since we weren't sure how long we would have to go without air conditioning after an over 100 degree day. We found 4 flashlights, and only one needed batteries, which I found miraculous. Even more miraculous was that we actually had the size batteries we needed to refill it.
Austin instantly became absolutely fascinated by the flashlights. He and Mark started playing with them and having a little, before bed, fun time. Here are some action pictures of their amusement.






After all that fun, he really didn't want to go to bed, especially since his normal routine was not going to be possible. Thankfully, using a flashlight as his nightlight was a hit and not a tantrum inducing problem. Our power finally came back on about 6 am and other than a somewhat warm night, we survived our evening of being unplugged. In fact, we were probably better as a result of it because we went to bed early and realized that we watch way too much useless television.