It rained all day and all night - and not just off and on, light rain - I mean, constant pouring down rain. We got 7-9" of rain in just 24 hours. At about 1:00AM yesterday morning, Eric peeked outside and came back to tell me that we need to get out. When I looked, the neighbor's garage was under water, as was the road, and the ditch was backing up towards our yard. We decided to not wake the kids and see how it plays out in the early morning.

Got up at 6AM and it looked to have receeded a little bit. Then we saw a number of fire trucks come into our little circle and a bunch of yellow jackets jump out and split up to knock on everyone's doors. They had come to warn us that the culvert underneath the only road out of our culdesac was flooded over with rapids and was eroding quickly, and if we were going to leave, we should do it now. We ran around and grabbed everything we needed for a day or two stay at his parents' house and jumped in the car. By the time I got to that road, it had washed out about 25% of the road, and the river that flowed through the far side of the large park now egolfed the entire park, parking lot, and was starting to come over the bridge on the main road. I had heard that the river had come up so far that all roadways that crossed over it were not impassable (including the usual road I'd take to his parents' house. So we found our way to the only road I thought was high enough to be passable and made it to his parents'.

As we watched the news and it kept raining, it became more and more evident that if we didn't find a way to get to the dogs and bring them back, we may not get to them. So his mom and I took of in the big truck and headed off on a long journey of detours and through many rivers that crossed roads, and were finally able to get into our driveway. Only now the water that was covering the park, now covered the road and the neighbor's garage, so we knew we had to move fast. We ran in, grabbed everything we could, and got out of there.

We watched the news all day and the pictures of everything that was happening around us were just so weird to see. AND IT KEPT RAINING! When Eric was done with work, he made it back to our house and got stuff out of the garage to bring to his parents' house (the neighbors even came over to help him load it all up). At that time (about 4PM), the water line came right up flush with our property line and was about 3 ft from our house. The neighbor's boat was floating around their garage. Everyone that lived downhill from our house (us included) had been ordered to evacuate. He made it back to his parents' house, and his parents took off to see if there was anything left of their business (they had been told earlier that the water was over the windows of the building and one of their trucks that had been parked outside had water over the hood - and no flood insurance). When they got back, he said they couldn't get near the building, even with chest-waders on.

Around 9PM, Eric went to check on the house/neigborhood and said that the water had started going down, and the police officer said since it wasn't going to rain anymore and it had started receeding, we could probably go back home if we wanted. But that we shouldn't flush toilets, shower, or do anything to add water to the city sewer since it was overflowing into people's basements. So we showered at his parents' before we left and headed home.

And today - the water has receeded back into the park. And although many of the bridges are out and roads closed or eroded away, we were able to find round-about ways of getting to daycare and work.
 
Our family is back to a little more settled routine and I can get back to this again! Eric's leg is doing very well. He's back to work and back to all of his old activities. Allysa and Alex are doing great! Getting big and really funny.

Alex has started sleeping in his "big boy bed" (which is really just his crib mattress on the floor). Apparently we were pretty spoiled when Allysa transitioned and she wouldn't leave her bed until we came to get her. He, on the other hand, will wake up at random times throughout the night/morning, go into the living room and play. And when he's feeling lonely, he'll just go wake up Allysa so she can play with him too. (There shouldn't be giggling coming from the hallway at 3AM). We thought "oh, we're smart - we'll just put some chairs in front of his door. That'll keep him in there." Ahhhh - NO! "ok, we'll put up a baby gate on his door." This only worked until Allysa showed him how it opened, and now he can do it himself. So aside from turning his doorknob around the other way and locking him in, we settled on a solution that seems to be working - wrap a chain around the unlocking mechanism on the gate. So far so good. Now instead of waking up at all hours of the night, around 6AM I'm greeted by "MAMA!! MOM!! MOOOMMM!! MAMAAA!!!" and when you go into the hallway, there he is sitting in his room on the other side of the gate with his pillow, his blankie, his stuffed animals, and all his toys surrounding him. "I done sleepin'. I wake up." But I'll take what I can get.

We're all looking forward to our House Family Vacation in a few weeks!