Hurricane Irene

Long Island had its first hurricane in many, many years. We live 3 houses away from the water, so naturally, we were under mandatory evacuation. So, naturally, we went nowhere!!

We were the only ones left on the block. Bobby lives on the fourth floor of his building, so we told him to stay put! Michelle lives on the water, so she packed up her husband and their dog and camped out with us.

Since Allison was the one who has had so much hurricane experience - (nicknamed FEMA by the other restaurant owners) - she took control of the situation and we were all given assignments:

Mr. Wonderful got on the roof and secured the flashing around the chimneys and taped up all the skylights. He brought in everything from outdoors that could be moved (furniture, plants, small trees, etc.) He made sandbags and put them by the garage doors to stop flood waters from invading us. He filled the empty bottles from our water cooler with water in case we would need them to flush the toilets in later days.

I was in charge of food - I cooked up lots of things that were in the freezer in the event that we lost power. I could always heat things on the gas BBQ. I had enough food prepared to last a week!!

Allison made sure we had plenty of ice - and "adult libations".

Michelle took care of snacks and "adult libations".

Michael was in charge of keeping himself sober enough to get his sisters safely to bed!

We already had an ample supply of flashlights, batteries and candles. All that was left was to wait for the storm to hit.

We set up a makeshift bedroom with an air mattress for Michelle and hubby in between the livingroom and diningroom. We designated the garage as the smoking section. And we proceeded to do what we do best - HAVE A PARTY!!!

I am happy to say that we did not sustain any damage during the storm. We did lose electricity for a couple days AFTER the storm and we adapted just fine.

When we look back at "Hurricane Irene" - I am sure we will each remember all the laughs that we shared that night. We managed to make a wonderful memory from a "natural disaster". I am so proud to be the Mom in this family.