And then the rains came

This picture doesn't do the situation justice. I took it quickly as we were leaving Keith's. I should have taken my camera four hours earlier when I took him through the water to the shed to get his pick-up truck!

Monday a.m. we were to leave for home and Linda, Burt, Keith & Ryan were going to go golfing. The night before the forecast Keith looked at said only 20% chance of rain. About 3:30 a.m. I noticed lightening to the east. Then a little later thought a t-storm was going through. Well, it did....and did....and did. About 5:30 a.m. I heard a drip, drip. In my foggy state I was trying to figure out where it was coming from. It didn't make any sense to me as the drips came more quickly. SO I got up to discover water dripping through one of the recessed lights onto our suitcase and splashing on the carpet, my laptop, and a nearby table! I stumbled into the bathroom to get a towel and then to the kitchen to find something to catch the drips. As I did this I looked out to see water standing all over. The construction of the house kept me from really "hearing" how hard and how long it had been raining. As I was returning to our room, Linda came out from the room next to us indicating there was a leak in her room too! I really didn't want to tell Keith of another problem with his almost 2 year old new home, but he came out of his bedroom dressed to go golfing.....not! So he began the search to find where the water was coming in.

In the meantime, it rained and rained and rained. About 7 a.m., I took Keith over to the shed with our van to get his truck. At the corner south of his driveway the water filled the area and was over the road in one spot. As we drove west, there was a "lake" in front of Ryan's house from the road to very close to the house. Keith rode around and explored the water situation. He figured they had close to 4 inches of rain. The areas replanted weeks earlier from 8" of rain in the spring were again under water.

We finally got everything and everyone (Scott and Jenn and the girls stayed over too) loaded and left about 11 a.m. The water had gone down, but going north to Rt. 36 there were 3 other places where water was across the road. There was water all along 36 and there were "water on the road" signs in several places where the water was over the road earlier.

By the way, the golf outing turned into a shopping trip to some Amish stores!

We drove home with a tail wind and hazy/clear skies. Scott & Jenn & girls met their friends, the Tiedes, at a water park in Normal for the afternoon. They got home just as the storms hit the Rockford area. At our house, we had thunderstorms and lost our electricity about 8:30 p.m. It came on around 3 a.m., I think.

Wind down day

Today things began to wind down. My family has been here since Thursday. We were all together for breakfast - brunch actually. Then Lisa and Laban left to meet Laban's Mom. Then Chris and Heather and kids left as Chris needs to be back to work in the morning.

Learning from whence we came

For me, the big event was talking with Mom and Uncle Burt about our Stauffenberg roots. We had Aunt Mabel's "book" and pictures I had scanned so we identified pictures and listened to stories Mom and Uncle Burt remembered.

In the afternoon Scott & Jenn took the big girls to the Children's Museum in Decatur. I'm sure Jenn will post some pictures from that adventure. The rest of us watched the Cubs beat the Cardinals or sat outside and enjoyed the day. The cameras were more quiet today as we wound up Christmas in July 2008.

Erich and Avery.....plus

The "Official" Day 1

This is how the day began. I found Chris & Katie in the chair. She was up early and so was her Daddy. It also shows how I was trying to send out pictures this morning with everyone around me.

The day began...

Of course, the kiddos wanted tractor rides. William did the boy things - he wanted to drive. Uncle Keith said the girls wanted to know if the tractor had a radio!

Tractor rides

We did the usual get-together stuff - eat and sit around and talk.

Food

Sitting around

Jenn had the idea that we all decorate "stars" and hang them up for our picture. So we all - with exceptions, Angie did Keith's and Linda did Aunt Marilyn & Uncle Burton's - decorated them and hung them on the wall.

Stars

And so, we posed underneath the "stars" and here we are minus the Burnses and the Slatterys....

Group photo

Supper at Grandma Marian's

Grandma Marian had her crew at her home for supper last night. Riley and Shelby wanted to see the fish (at the neighbor's across the street) and Aunt Jenn brought fun stuff (party poppers and pop-its and sparklers) for the kids. See the action.

Seeing the fish & birds

4th of July fun

You need a parade on the 4th of July

There was a parade in Sullivan where Ryan teaches. Ryan's band marched. He only had 1/3 of his band, but there was fire trucks, and Shriners, and tractors, a band......and candy. Again, there's some neat pictures of the kiddos. If you go through them quickly, it's almost like a movie!!

We love a parade

Flag waving......and a puddle

Lots of new experiences for the younger ones in the family yesterday. Here everyone was trying out their flags before going to the parade. Uncle Chris took some neat pictures.

Flag waving.....and a puddle

Xmas in July 2008

I decided to start this blog to keep track of information and pictures related to the annual get-together of Howard and Edith's children and offspring.

We began these gathering in 2005. I think Linda was instrumental in the idea as our families usually gathered during the Christmas holidays. When Keith's family and Mom moved several hours south, this was a way to get together and not in the winter weather!

I will add the past years later, but for now we look forward to Christmas in July 2008 coming this weekend.