Ike Tops Gustav

Ike is passing by and is giving us lots of extra water. Surprisingly we are getting a stronger surf with Ike than Gustav even though Ike is further away from us than Gustav was.

It is fun watching the waves slam into the seawall. It has been entertaining us for the day.
Dale had a hard time trying to decide whether to sail or kayak. He is the only one brave (and strong) enough to go out in the water.
Now he just needs to find a way out himself...with out getting slammed into the wall by those strong waves.

Ready for School Too!

Nick sees the other kids do school and wants to feel just like a big kid. Usually, though, he uses this chair as a step stool to trouble!
Sitting in this chair sure makes him look big to me. He is turning in to a very fun kid-- laughing loudly and chasing his siblings...with less and less bouts of screaming :)

~Brooke

Surfside Shores Pics

Not exactly Weather Channel quality footage....... My Aunt and Uncle have a few condos over in Gulf Shores, AL. We had to get out and cruise up Beach Blvd to check out the surf. It is pretty impressive out there. Up toward our place in Perdido Key the waves had to be approaching 15 feet. The wind is still blowing about 30 MPH along the Gulf but there are plenty of people out and about.

Tough to see here, but Brooke and I saw our first ever funnel cloud today. I don't know if this is technically a water spout, or a funnel cloud. It was enough for me to push a bit harder on the accelerator.

Long post.........for a long day :) We are happy we decided to stick around rather than evacuate. With the storm moving so quickly and not losing power......we were very fortunate. It sure is nice to know hurricane season is almost over and we won't have to go through this again. ;)

Gustav

I had to take pictures of how high the bay was when we woke up this morning. Gustav came mostly through the night for us, and, fortunately, did no damage. The water has been coming up to the sea wall but has not spilled over to give any flooding.

Normally you can see a good 4 to 5 feet of beach and two sets of stairs leading down to the beach.



Since Gustav traveled through the night, we didn't see much of the sky. This is what is remaining of the storm after it already made landfall.

--Brooke

MMMMM CUPCAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder where he got his love of cake?

Family photo at Johnson Beach tonight. We had a pre-hurricane (tropical storm for us) party with Dotty and Mark. It was good to spend some time at the beach before the storm hits. I mean.....hurricanes and tropical storms stink, but at least the reward is on par with the risk. We are keeping a close eye on Gustav and have a hotel reserved over in Tallahassee if we decide to get out of here. We'll make that call in the morning........after a good sail on the bay ;)

Almost forgot about these...

We got this photo while Tropical Storm Fay was here. Fay didn't do much to our area except for these beautiful clouds and blowing sand.

We aren't used to being stuck inside, but when Fay gave us clouds, wind and light rain for a day, we had to come up with something to occupy our time!

--Brooke

They're calling for some rain today.

What an awesome morning for sailing. OK, maybe not the whole morning. It's just after 9am now and the Bay is getting a bit too choppy for my SunFish at this point. But anyway, I love sailing this boat when the wind is blowing hard. In this picture, I had to jump off the boat because I was having a tough time turning into the wind. Just as I turned the boat around......it took off fast. I had to jump on, with my legs hanging off, and pull myself on. Luckily I made it and I'm sure it looked pretty extreme.

That's Fay approaching from the north east. I'm sure we'll have some good pictures to post later today and tonight.

I really need to work on rigging up a Sail Cam.