Sirens

This morning, a little before 5 am, Shannon and I were awoken. I thought I heard a door shut, but when I woke up, I realized that it was really really windy and raining out.

Shannon got up to see what the noise was and how it looked out side, then we realized we heard sirens.

Crap.

Shannon turned on the tv to see the radar and listen to the weather man. Since we don't have a basement (almost no one does in Tulsa), I started to gather important things (like purses, glasses, cell phones, etc) and place them in the utility room. I figure that is where we'd go. But then Shannon said the half-bath. So I started to place things there.

Then I went to see what the weather said. I was not extremely freaked out, but I was definitely very awake and intent on not being blown away by a tornado.

The weatherman said the sirens were being sounded because of 70 possibly up to 100 mph gusts of wind. Not tornadoes.

What?! How can you waste your sirens on wind gusts? Really? We happened to hear sounds, and decided to get up, just so we could know that it was really windy out and that we should stay inside. Really? So after making fun of Oklahoma for wasting its sirens, we laid on the couch and listened to Mike and Mike. Then decided to go back to bed. But not before we learned of my awesome skills in case of tornado.

What Nicole intended to do: get important things in one safe location.
What Nicole actually does: scatters Shannon's things about the house.

I had put his wallet and keys in the utility room. But then I put his cell phone in the half-bath. And his glasses? Well, I thought I put them in the utility room. But no. The bath? No? Left them where they were? No.

I had put them on my dresser.

Good news is there wasn't any damage (that I noticed) to the house or lot. The only knocked over plant pot was the one that we haven't planted anything in. And now we know, don't freak out in Tulsa when you hear sirens, just check the weather and you can probably go back to bed.

More about Exploration Place

I was having troubles uploading pictures the other day. So, instead of going back to add them, I'll just new post them.

Here are some pictures from Mom, Maria's, and my trip to Exploration Place in Wichita!

We all tried this little maze thing. It was pretty hard. Mom did best.


This was awesome. It's a bunch of floor tiles and you need to make it from the center of the bottom row to the middle of the board. Rules are, when you step on a new tile, you have a choice. Follow that arrow's direction or ignore the arrow and keep in the same direction you were headed. We spent a while working on it. Maria finally finished it.


Here is Maria and I riding some medieval horses near the keep.


And Mom and I in a tornado chamber.


And Maria in a baby tornado.


There was also a whole room with logic puzzles and a sweet wind wall. However, I didn't get any pictures that are really good of that. So, I'll just say "It was awesome!"

Crazy New World

After I passed my Master's report on Tuesday, Shannon and I packed up my office and ate a Manhattan dinner at So Long Saloon with Jenette, Chris, Maria, Mandy. It was nice to eat some good food with everyone. Afterwards, Shannon and I drove to Wichita to gather a lawn mower and some other random objects before going to our new home.

We are here now, in Tulsa, in a home we own. It's crazy. On Monday we start our new jobs. It still doesn't really feel real. I like it all so far, but it just doesn't seem like its anything different. Although I know it is.

What is also different is that a tornado hit Manhattan! No one in Manhattan was seriously injured and everyone know I know well enough to hear from is fine. Thank goodness. K-State's campus took over 20 million dollars in damage. Ace and Midas are gone and plenty of other buildings and homes are either damaged or gone. It's insane. In the 7 years I lived in Manhattan, we never had a tornado, or even anything worse than that ice storm last winter. And now, 2 days after I move away, a tornado hits. It crazy!

Shannobo

This last week Shannon and I spent some time with his dad, Gary. With a new world starting for us in about 2 weeks, we may not get the time to spent a week in Colorado anymore. So we made sure the trip was good. Friday we bought a Nintendo DS and Puzzle Quest and headed on out. We started with a long drive from Manhattan to Longmont accompanied by a tornado. You can kind of see it in this picture from my phone below.



But here is a more impressive video from someone else.

Saturday we went to a Colorado Rapids game. We would up with great seats and I got a nifty scarf.

Sunday we went to Colorado National Speedway for some good ol' races. That was fun, as it usually is. We saw a 31 car super-stock race. It was full of LTD-goodness.

Monday, Memorial Day, we headed to Boulder for some art show and looked around a lot of neat things, in the rain. But we ended the day with fabulous Japanese food and sushi from Ai Steakhouse and Sushi.

Tuesday we went to Estes Park. Not much new there. Just pretty, expensive things. Oh! Gary got me a pocket knife. It's a good little knife for me to keep in my purse and use when needed. Thanks!


Wednesday, I went to Casa Bonita for the first time. I was impressed. I can see how it would be the most rockin' place when you're little. I mean, I'm 26 and still thought it was pretty neat. It reminded me a lot of how older parts of Disney World are.


Thursday I did something I haven't done in about 15 years. I shot a rifle. And something I've never done, I shot a pistol (4 different ones actually). Gary took Shannon and I shooting at his gun club in the morning and it was a lot of fun!


We left for Garden on Thursday as well. No tornadoes on that trip.

Friday is today and we made some strawberry spinach salad for dinner, yummers. On to the last 2 weeks of freedom before we start our jobs. Wow. No more school...