Friday, September 9

the Southern California blackout

kids ride with our good friends on the little train

Yesterday we lost power around 3:40pm and did not get it back until after 10:30pm.  It was a little crazy not knowing what was going on, why the power was out and when it was going to come back on.  Fortunately the kids and I were at home and had just finished decorating Mike's birthday cake.  Mike was at work but left soon after our power went out.  He was able to avoid traffic congestion up north and had no problems on the Interstate so he really only had to deal with the 1.5 miles from the Interstate to our house.  We got lucky. 

Immediately after the power went out the kids and I gathered up our candles, lighter, flashlights and headlamps.  We chatted with our neighbors and learned that the power outage was actually quite widespread.  It's one thing to have a small area (like a neighborhood) lose power, but an entire region?  It is unnerving, to say the least.  Early predictions said we would not have power back for a day or two.  We were lucky to have it back after 7 hours.

The entire County closed public schools today but some of the private schools were open.  While Meredith was in preschool during the morning hours, Thomas and I joined friends at Legoland.  After picking her up from preschool, we went back to Legoland for a few more hours.  For a day with nearly every school in the County closed (and all the vacationers have gone home), Legoland was surprisingly empty.  It was one of our best and most fun days spent at the park!

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