Hurricane Helene

Well that certainly came out of nowhere! The beginning of the week was a normal time until we started getting warnings about potential impacts of Hurricane Helene later in the week. Look, we've been here before. We're inland and usually we get nothing more than some tropical storm impacts because the worst has already happened along the coast. They can't run buses due to higher winds and the kids do e-learning. Done. 

Not this time! This storm was wild in so many ways. The path it took was completely odd for us as they usually come from the Atlantic and not the gulf for us to see any impacts. It strengthened so fast and all of a sudden we were dealing with a major event! I had already had supplies on hand and did some small things to prep in the event we lost power. Dish washer was run. Laundry was done. I didn't go to the grocery story so we had minimal food in the fridge. I had gallons of water and batteries were on hand. Cars were gassed up. Turns out we needed all of that, but we weren't even in the worst spot. 

I picked up Paige from school on Thursday and had already told her I would get her from carline along with a couple of friends who needed picking up. Thursday we had gotten a TON of rain that was just a front that stalled out ahead of the storm. We ended up with nearly 7 inches in just 12 hours. So, roads had already started flooding. I made Anna come home at the start of her study halls so she could avoid traffic and Patrick made his way back home from work early as well. We were all tucked in safe at home by late afternoon. 

Me waiting in carline an hour before school let out so I could get the kids in a timely manner

The front of our neighborhood

At about 4am, the winds really picked up outside and that's when we got the hurricane. I have to say, I have been through storms here in SC and this one in terms of wind was pretty bad. Lots of strong gusts. Patrick heard Paige early in the morning and then he was up pretty early. The power went out at 7am, just two hours before the storm left us. Fortunately, a few weeks ago we had this awful rain event that dropped 7 inches on us in a matter of hours and felled a ton of trees. I think that saved us from a lot of tree damage this time because the strong ones were left standing. By 9am, the rain was gone and we were left with milder winds. Our power did not come back on until mid afternoon, but it was only about 7 hours total. We were still able to go out to lunch and then cleaned up the yard in the afternoon. All in all, not bad at all. 

The meet in Spartanburg was cancelled and now we can go homecoming dress shopping.

BUT there are still people in Columbia who do not have power even today. My parents in the Upstate do not have power and lost it on Friday evening. They just got water back today and are helping several people in their neighborhood as many have not dealt with something of this magnitude. The power outage maps up there are lit up. John and Jessi in NC have also had it really bad. They lost power on Friday morning and have no power or water still. Part of their road was washed away to their house. They have a generator but that went out too. I also hear lots of western NC towns have been severely damages, to include the route we take to get to Patrick's parents. 

This has been a wild storm for sure. So many people were not prepared because they typically don't deal with things like this. I mean even though we were prepared, I still wouldn't have expected the range and impact as far into NC as it went. Praying for the recovery efforts and for power to come back on for many!

At least Teddy got a Lamb Lamb that is larger than him to occupy his time. 

Greek Festival and Student of the Month

Goodness, I wish I had time during the week to post more, but we're all busy bees getting work and school done. This week I also had book club and a playground meeting, which is really exciting because we finally have all three plans in and we've decided on which one we will recommend to Session. I will be presenting that next Tuesday and we'll see what happens from there! I'm also knee deep into grading mock interviews, which you know is my least favorite assignment. 

This week we also had a few special events. First up, Paige was selected as Student of the Month for the third year in a row. Funny enough, two of her besties from school were also selected at the same time, so they got to attend together. Paige was not really thrilled that her dad and I attended-ha! Oh middle school embarrassment...

She also had a half day on Friday. Patrick originally asked me to go on a date to the Greek Festival that day, but I suggested that Paige, one of her running friends and I would meet him down there instead. Madeline is a fellow 8th grader who attends a different middle school, but will be at BHS next year. She and Paige are so much alike and we've had fun getting to know her and her family. Since she was also off for a half day, it was fun to be able to take both the girls so they could eat lots of yummy food and walk around. I dropped them both off at practice that afternoon. 

This morning was another early morning with a meet in Chapin. It's less than an hour away, but an 8am start means getting out of the house at 6am. It was so early, that I didn't quite see what shoes I put on and ended up with two different colored shoes by accident!! Our youth director showed up bright and early and cheered on both the girls and a guy on our team who also attends youth. It was fun to have Caleb there and I warned him this was definitely a race where I ran to get to where I could see the girls next. He was such a good trooper to jog with me!

The girls had another great race on a tough course. This is not known as a PR maker because it is hilly, congested and warmer. There are 35 teams in attendance so it's a big one and because there are some tight spots on the course, it means at some places they actually slow down or even stop to get around. Plus, despite the fact that fall starts this weekend, our temps soared and it was a hot and humid morning. Despite all of that, Anna finished 4th overall, behind two girls she has beaten twice this season. The winner was a homeschool girl that is crazy talented, but Anna closed that gap from an earlier race in the season. All in all, Anna shaved off one minute from this race last year where she finished 19th with a time of 18:48. 

Paige also had a really great race, again beating the third place girl from our rival team. She also shaved off a whopping minute and 45 seconds from her race last year. It was a slow start due to all the bottlenecking but she sure made up ground quickly and passed a bunch of people coming in at 21:30. She is become a solid runner in the 21 minute range and I'm excited for her to break that barrier this season. 

Finally, we have released several butterflies this week. Yay! And Teddy has been working hard too...at napping. 

New school record and PRs

These girls of mine sure are FAST! We're off to a great start this season with our second real meet at Saluda Shoals, just across town. It means that we didn't have to get up quite as early as last week, but the darn sun wasn't out at 5:45 when the alarms went off. I looked at my radar and noted we were good for the morning after expecting some rain. It was all clear....well that was a lie. It started to drizzle on the way there and didn't let up for the next two hours. Good thing I packed a rain jacket, extra umbrellas and tarps. The funniest part is that we assigned a couple of JV girls' parents the tents, but the JV teams don't show up until after Varsity because they run later. So, we had all the stuff in the wagon, but didn't unload it due to the rain. Ha!

It didn't seem to bother the girls who got to the line and geared up for a fast course. It's an out and back, so I watched the girls at the start line and then waited 18ish minutes for them to return. Patrick said to me earlier that Anna had a chance to win the whole dang race and he wasn't wrong. She ran great and beat all the girls we knew of that had given her competition before. The problem was a girl we had never heard of before who was from a private school. I guess she decided to have the race of her life as an 8th grader who PRed by over one minute and 35 seconds! She had never even broken 19 minutes before. I say to that: good for you and way to go! 

All that to say, Anna came in at a blistering 18:24, shaving off almost 30 seconds on her PR. She set a new school record and finished 2nd overall in a meet that had 30 teams. It was a terrific run and we're so proud of her. Anna is now ranked the #1 5A girls runner in SC. 

Paige was our true second runner today as Mal was taking the ACT. Her goal this season was to break 21:30 and beat the 3rd place runner from Westwood, our current rival. This girl happens to go out fast, which Paige knows, and it means Paige has to run a smart race. Sure enough, she stuck close behind her, but didn't take the bait to get out way too fast. Then she reeled her in and passed her before finishing about 40 seconds under her PR at 21:15. She's now the 4th fastest 8th grader in 5A in SC and we're equally as proud of all she's accomplished. 

It was a great race for our entire team, boys and girls. Many earned PRs or were close. We even watched the boys school record fall by 2 seconds. Patrick had coached the previous record holder who is now in the military and still keeps in touch. He actually donated out of the blue $250 to the girl's XC fundraiser and I just thought that was the sweetest thing. 

After all the drizzle and rain, we were ready to load our soggy selves up and head home. It's always a process to unload things too because now everything was soaked and needed to be laid out to dry. Gotta love the tarp, tent and chair decos all over the yard! But at least we made it home in time to watch the Gamecock game (ugh, refs). Just another Sports Saturday at the Kelly house!

We hatched a butterfly!

Remember all that parsley I have been feeding the brood of caterpillars on my back porch? Well after 4 bunches and several days, I can happily report that we have our first butterfly. Woohoo! We noticed several chrysalis last week and have been checking daily. Then just like that, I was walking into the house with Teddy and noticed our newest resident flapping around. The girls and I had a release party right after dinner. 

In other news, I decided it was time to decorate for fall. Yes, it's not technically fall by date and yes, it's also still 80 degrees outside. But if I waited for the temps to drop around here to reasonable fall weather, we would skip right past fall and into Christmas. So, in my mind, fall generally starts rolling into the house decor after Labor Day. My people are definitely Christmas people, but we do enjoy my favorite Leaves candle, football, chili, pumpkin carving and pumpkin flavored items. In fact, I also made my way over to Trader Joe's and managed to snag my favorite pumpkin butter. As for decos, the usual items went out and then I got a little crafty, making these cute pumpkin towers for the front sidewalk. 

Other than that, we've been hitting school hard. Both girls have joined virtual classes to supplement their current schedules and are handling the extra work well. My classes are going well and it's hard to believe, but I am halfway done with my first group. This is hilarious because I just received my first paycheck. Yeesh! I'm also juggling all the playground planning and will hopefully be able to meet with my committee next week to make some decisions. Very exciting! Patrick has been doing all the things job related and commenting on lots of newsworthy issues lately. We also watched the debate and don't worry, Teddy is safe from being eaten. 

Anna doing her core work after a long day of school and practice. She's dedicated!