Irma Evacuation Vacation

We recently purchased some land up in Murphy, NC where we will eventually build a little vacation cabin. The closing was scheduled for the beginning of this upcoming week, so Andrew was planning on driving up anyway; Irma's path towards the Gulf Coast just forced us to all come up together. School and my work were closed on Friday because of the upcoming storm, so Andrew and I packed and loaded the car on Thursday night once the kids were in bed. After watching the 11:00 news we decided we were definitely heading north. We left by 7am Friday morning, and what would have been a 9 hour drive turned into 18 hours! We were fortunate to find gas the couple of times that we stopped, but traffic was HEAVY. At one point we went only a couple of miles in an hour and a half. Ryder and Harper were troopers! They never once complained, but they did keep asking "how much longer" or "where are we now?" Andrew and I let them watch as many movies as they wanted to pass the time--it kept them nice and quiet. :) The weather was beautiful, so there were times we could forget why we were actually heading out of town. Then we would see a convoy of utility trucks or National Guard trucks or even police-escorted fuel trucks heading southbound and realize that something major was really about to happen. It was very surreal. Long before reaching Atlanta we hopped off the Interstate to get out of standstill traffic. We relied on our GPS to take us on some back country roads and highways the rest of the way to Murphy. It added 30 extra miles, but we didn't care as long as we were moving! We finally pulled into our hotel at 1am, delirious and exhausted from being in the car all day.

To avoid being pent up in a hotel room all day long, we spent yesterday and today on our property. Once again, the weather has been beautiful here--even cool!-- and it has been a much needed distraction from what is going on back at home. Pops, Grann, Steve, Ali, and Maisie decided to stay in FL, so we are still texting or calling them and checking the TV and phone constantly for news updates. Playing outdoors has definitely been therapeutic for all of us!

Andrew bought a chainsaw so we could clear a few small trees and dead limbs from our land. He quickly hand-crafted a little "loveseat" and coffee table for the kids to sit at. It was the perfect spot to have lunch!

We gathered some large rocks and made a temporary fire pit to keep the bugs at bay. The kids had fun searching for sticks and feeding the fire.

Harper was confused when Andrew started blowing on the fire to get it going.

Yes, that's me firing a gun! Andrew set up some targets and empty water bottles. It was a great way to release some frustration!

Harper was searching for the perfect rock...

for the sling shot. 

Ryder had fun with his new BB gun. He's a pretty good shot!

Andrew found a cute little pair of connected acorns. :)

When Andrew fired what the kids and I refer to as the "scary gun", we all knew to plug our ears.

some leaves beginning to change!

Harper and Ryder enjoyed exploring some of the land by themselves. We let them go off together as long as they stayed on the path.

Andrew snapped this picture last night of Garcia curled up next to Ryder. 😍