Five on Friday - Five Good Things that Came From Hurricane Irma

*This post may contain affiliate links.

Well this was a nice, short work week!  Sure would be nice if every work-week could be this short, minus the reason for said short work-week, of course.  (Irma, I’m looking at you.)

Now that Irma has come and gone, I’m going to focus on a few of the positive things that came out of the storm for our little family of four…

O N E – Lots of Downtime with the Fam

When the city is under a Tropical Storm warning, all schools and businesses shut down, and the mayor begs everyone to stay off the roads, you end up in close quarters with everyone for over 24 hours.  We definitely made the most of it, though.  We knew there was a good chance that we would lose power so we started the day with a hot cinnamon roll breakfast to a) guarantee at least one warm meal, and b) use one of the foods from the fridge that could potentially spoil.  We also let the kids watch aaaallll the TV in case we couldn’t utilize it later, and then B and I got caught up on the latest from the news before the power finally went out at 1:15 PM. 

Once the power was out, Jacob set up shop with his Legos.  He had taken apart the Star Wars Millennium Falcon that he had put together last Christmas and he decided to put the entire thing back together.  It was perfect because it kept him busy literally all day long.  Not one complaint from him!

Olivia was a bit harder to please during the power outage, but we used a good chunk of time doing baths by lantern light (before the hot water in the water heater went cold) and then doing at-home manicures and pedicures for her and for me. 

Lunch and dinner consisted of eating as much fruit, cheese, and deli meat that we could because the less we had to throw out, the better. 

We also promised the kids that they could have a campout in our bedroom at bedtime because a) it would be fun for them since we were without power, and b) because I honestly just didn’t even want them away from us during the storm.

T W O – Reading Time + Nap Time for Mommy

Another great thing that came out of the storm was that I actually got to snuggle up on the couch with a book and I got to take a nap right during the middle of the day… not much else to do when the power’s out and you can’t leave the house!  And let me tell you, I can’t even remember the last time I took a nap… maybe when I was preggo with Olivia??

T H R E E – NO DAMAGE!

We were very blessed to have come out of the storm unscathed and that was obviously the very best thing!  The only two things we experienced were a seven-hour power outage and a broken gate, and we are beyond thankful that we were spared, especially after seeing all of the wind damage around our city and, of course, all of the damage in Florida.  Our city had widespread power outages, some of which still haven’t been restored and there were many huge trees down on roads, cars, and even homes.  A huge oak tree fell across both lanes of the street right outside the entrance of our neighborhood and one of our neighbors took these pictures.

And here is one of the houses in town that was badly damaged.  Thankfully nobody was injured, but my heart goes out to the family.  I can’t even imagine what that must be like.  Hopefully I will never have to find out.

F O U R – The Glorious Weather that Followed

The day after the hurricane blew through, school was still canceled, so the kids and I ventured out for lunch.  The weather started out drizzly, but ended like this:

And it was SO cool all day… cool enough for flannel, leggings, and matching Chucks!! 

F I V E – And Let’s Not Forget About Those Memes…

I know I already posted all of these earlier this week, but I just couldn’t resist posting them again because they are so funny.  My favorite one has to be the Moana one just because we’ve seen that movie and listened to that soundtrack 1,232,507 times during the last few months.  And it’s always good to have a bit of comedic relief in times of despair.  

We are so very thankful.

Happy happy weekend!  

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five on Friday, A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites,  September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre for Friday Favorites, and Cup of Tea for High Five for Friday.