It's been a couple weeks, but I've hardly been on the internet at home...or at home at all. Start it off with Memorial Day weekend...
Memorial Day weekend
I started out my weekend off...by friday working 4am to 2pm after being called in early due to flooding concerns. My parents came down friday night as well, but I offered to be available for severe weather that night, so I worked another 5 hours from 9pm to 2am. That's about a 16 hour day, but a nice overtime paycheck. My parents arrived friday night and we spent the weekend busy running around. 2 exciting things for the weekend, 1. I got a new phone plan that will go with my new phone...once it's finally in stock. 2. My mom and I planted up a nice bunch of flowers for my deck...very nice to have the color out there. I then worked on memorial day and tuesday after gaining some more overtime with the hectic weekend of severe weather in Kansas and Nebraska.
Vegas
I headed out at 6am on Wednesday morning (after leaving work at midnight and then packing) for the airport. My flight leaving Wichita was delayed about 45 minutes or so (I slept through it, so I'm not sure on the time)and because of the delay I watched my connection leave without me. I was supposed to get in at 10am to Vegas, but fortunately for Standby working for me, I was able to get in around 2pm. I met Morgan, Sarah and Celia there and Jessica and Jill followed after.
Morgan and I went to Mamma Mia on Wednesday night, it was a GREAT show, I recommend it to all! Thursday we rented a car for the day, for a bargain 27 dollars including taxes and fees and headed to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. It was nice to have our own car and go around at our own pace. We also went to a outlet mall just north of the California boarder, so we drove into Cali for 5 miles and back around in to Nevada. Good times. Friday and Saturday we walked and walked and walked. Which is great for the body and heart...not so great for the feet. My feet hurt so so bad! It wasn't that I was physically tired...just that my feet hurt really bad. I got very sick of walking around. We rode the NYNY roller coaster and went up the Eiffel Tour and watched the Belliago water show, as well as a comedy show. Had a good time, but needed a vacation from my vacation. It was great seeing Morgan, Jessica, Sarah, Celia and meeting Jill.
Tornadoes
While I was driving around the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead I got a text message from Adam in NC that Kearney had a nice looking supercell heading towards it, so he kept me informed, and I called my parents about 5-6pm. They had just lost power and the sirens had been off 3 times thus far during the afternoon. My mom said she didn't have a good feeling about the day when she heard that the dewpoint was 70. I was shocked by this statement...because it's a pretty meteorological statement. She was right and Kearney was hit by 3 or so tornadoes with the strongest being an EF-2. My parents were alright, but the strongest tornado was only about 8-10 blocks away. They only lost power for 30 hours, which is a blessing for what happened elsewhere. A bit to close for my comfort. I watched videos on YouTube and it was quite an experience watching a tornado go through your home town. Not ok. I want to see it, and will in a week or so.
While Kearney got hit at the end of May, Omaha got hit a couple nights ago. Now this hit a bit close to home as well as it hit about 2 miles from my Brother, which seems like plenty far away, but really...I'm not sure if it was that far away. He said he woke up to the windows shaking and a 30 ft. tree bending so far it was going below an upstairs window. He's ok but all of these tornadoes hitting close to home is to much. There have been more than one tornadic storm going over my other siblings in North Central Kansas as well. This is a year of big tornadoes...just not in my CWA.
Birthday
I got back from Vegas and worked 7 nights in a row...3 of them with busy weather nights. However, they have been wind events in our area. I feel bad for the counties south of Wichita, a lot of 80-100 mph winds in one week can do a lot of damage. I made cookies for my birthday, but decided to take them in to work on Thursday and Friday because Thursday was a busy weather day and we had more people in the office. Friday I got a few text messages, a couple calls, a great bag from Emily and flowers from my parents which were sent to work. I also did a touch of some shopping, probably spending more money than I should have, but it's been about 6 months or more since I've bought any clothes and I needed jeans. Was nice to hear from those that texted, called and facebooked.
Weekend
My brother, sister-in-law and 2 nieces came down this weekend and I had a great time with them, even though I did have to work during part of their visit. I finally have a day off and I'm about to head to bed soon I hope for my week of days. Good times in my life. so that's an update on my life to this point in June.
Happy Birthday Emily!
Love all!
