Soakin It Up While We Can.....

We were taking advantage of an absolutely beautiful day. The kids thought it was pretty cool that they could take a stroll across the country before we even walked into the park. :)

  Alexa catchin' some rays in Florida ;)

We went to the playground on this gorgeous, sunny, low humidity day. 



Perfect day for swinging and climbing and sliding and enjoying the last rays of the warm summer sun. 


It was just slightly breezy and the sky was so blue, just a perfect clear blue. 

After many hot, humid days that kept us stuck inside, I think the general consensus of this day was, "WAHOOOO!"

So much swinging for Evan. "Push me higher"......."higher, Mommy, higher".  

Then the earth shook. I literally looked at my feet to see if I was imagining the movement. It felt, perhaps because I was standing on mulch, like the earth got jiggly....kinda like I was standing on a soft mattress and someone else jumped on. 

Then I heard loud noises behind me. I turned and saw the large metal poles of the basketball hoops rattling back and forth. I looked up, thinking there must be a helicopter flying VERY low overhead. 


But no, that wasn't it. All of my children were on swings, and didn't feel a thing. There was no one right near me that I could exchange looks with. The kind of looks that could confirm that I was not losing my mind. 


Luckily, my sister saved me from questioning my sanity any longer. 

She called, from Pittsburgh, and said, "Where are you?" I said, "the park". 
She said, "did you feel that?". 

I was thinking how in the heck could she know the earth just moved under my feet here in VA, the whole way up in Pittsburgh....within a few minutes?! 

Apparently the earth shook her up there, too. And she confirmed her suspicion online. 

Yay for me being sane! Yay for my sister helping me to realize it! And yay for a beautiful (end of) summer day!

Oh.....


and before we left the park, we came across this little guy. 

Maybe he came out because he was as freaked out as I was when he felt the earth shake.

We didn't take him home, but I named him anyway.  I was gonna come up with something "cheesy" dealing with Earthquake.  Something like Shakes, or Quakes, but I like just plain Herbert.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  We are expecting some sort effects of Hurricane Irene.  We are under a Tropical Storm Warning.  We are prepared, but not expecting much in our location.

Happy weekend!
Stay Safe!
TTFN
~Tina