re. We have been busy (it seems, that or the days aren't long enough).We finally had a snow storm roll through. It Pretty much shut the city down, it cancelled our Scouts Pine Wood Derby. Who would think that a little snow would stop everything. Clark, Ryan and Emma were so excited for the snow they had to go out and play. Mom was sick with (I think it was bronchitis), so I didn't want to go out. They made me go take pictures of them. We have been gone from Utah for a year and my kids have not had to go without snow yet.
So back to the cancelled Pine Wood Derby, we ended up having it the next Saturday. The boys had a lot of fun. Clark took first place for the Weblos what a way to go out for his final derby, and Ryan came in 4th for the Wolfs. Ryan is already thinking of how he can make his better for next year.
A few Saturdays ago Dad, Clark and
Ryan went on a hike with the Eleven year old Scout troop. The Weblos were invited to help them out with their Arrow of Light. Yes, we found out that there are some small mountains (Dad calls them hills). T
he boys said it was fun, and it reminded them of camping the mountains. Ryan said his favorite thing was when they stopped for lunch, he is only a 8 year old Wolf, (they had Ramon noodles and hot chocolate). I keep asking them when they are going to take me there and Ryan says he doesn't want to because it hurt his feet to walk. I thought that was a good answer, but I would still like to go.
he boys said it was fun, and it reminded them of camping the mountains. Ryan said his favorite thing was when they stopped for lunch, he is only a 8 year old Wolf, (they had Ramon noodles and hot chocolate). I keep asking them when they are going to take me there and Ryan says he doesn't want to because it hurt his feet to walk. I thought that was a good answer, but I would still like to go. 
Over Martin Luther King Jr. Day we all had a day off, we headed toward Selma for a drive. We ended up in a ghost town called Cahaba, we found out it is the site of the First Permanent State Capital of Alabama from 1820-1825. It is right along the Alabama River. It was so cool to see some of the things that were still there. The town kept flooding so that is why the State Capital was moved. The boys also enjoyed it, we learned about a part of Alabama history that we never knew.
On Sunday February 17th, as church was just getting out and families were heading home the tornado sirens started going off. We knew were supposed to have storms that day, but they weren't supposed to be that bad. So I turned the radio to a station with the news and listened, they didn't know why our sirens were going off, because the storm was north of our county and we are at the very bottom, so we listened to the t.v. for the afternoon, tried to take a nap and just go on with normal Sunday afternoons. At about 3:05 I heard a noise that didn't sound like rain (we were in the middle of a downpour) so I opened the back door and looked towards the south, it was black and I didn't like the sound it was a loud growling wind, so I came back in and shut the door. Not more than 2-3 minutes later we heard that a tornado hit Prattville at the corner on McQueen Smith and Cobbs Ford roads and then we lost power. We live 1 1/2 - 2 miles north of the intersection that was hit. The amazing thing was that there was not one fatality, there were 2 serious injuries and some minor injuries, but nothing to bad. After driving through it it is amazing that no one was killed. The tornado hit 50 yards from one of the elementary's here and it only had miner damage to one of the halls. The intersection it hit was where Kmart, Sears, an Army Recruiting building, Walmart, a strip of stores next to Walmart including clothing stores, a salon, Bath and Body Works, and Sally's and three banks (the banks make up the corner) are. Kmart had the most damage it took a chunk of the back wall, Walmart wasn't hit as hard but it did just reopen this morning only one of the banks is open the others were damaged a little bit more. One of the banks is a three story building, and all of the windows were blown out on one side, it is still boarded up today. The strip of stores is still closed they are trying to get them opened temporally. I think the businesses are taking this opportunity to remodel now that they have been forced to close and fix themselves up. Some of the homes that were hit only had their interior walls left, the exterior were gone. As I drove through the subdivisions it just made me think how lucky we were to have it miss us by that margin. There were 800 plus homes and 50 businesses damaged but everyone was alive out of the 800 plus homes 100 plus a few (I can' remember the exact count, I know it is over one hundred) have been condemned. I have a friend from church whose house was hit, the roof was torn off, it is a total loss. She was home with her 9 year old and baby when it happened, (he is one of my scouts). I have put some of the pictures that
I took on our Picassa link, check them out, the pictures don't even do it justice. That tornado was to close for comfort. This picture depicts the path the tornado took from the air and the damage it did, the rectangular buildings just off center is Daniel Pratt Elementary School. We take too many things for granted, and when something like this happens we realize what we have.Things are good here and we hope everything is well with you and your families have a great day.
The Draper's
