~165 miles for a Coca-Cola~

It wasn't the hotel,

or the pool,

or the Jacuzzi that got his attention. 

Not the breakfast buffet,

 or 3 days of playing against the toughest elite baseball teams.

It wasn't the lunch out with just mom,

or the big comfy beds with 4 pillows each,

or the pizza party after a victory.

It wasn't downloading new songs for an

"Indiana Playlist" on his iPod,

or hearing his mom sing 'Pontoon' over and over in the car.

It wasn't the 104 degree temperatures, or hail storms, or rain delays. 

You want to know what was worth the 165 mile drive this past weekend?

The look on Austin's face when he saw this touch screen 

Coca-Cola machine. 

He thought it was the bees-knees.

And when his little brother and dad drove in the next day,

we had to go back to show them.

It was just that cool.

Any drink you can imagine in any flavor you can think of. 

Austin went nuts about the Vanilla Coke. 

Derek tried the Raspberry Sprite. 

Dad went for the Orange Coke.

I opted for the Indiana Water... I wasn't disappointed.

Have you seen one of these new dispensers?   



~this moment~

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

~Sunday Storms~

Sunday morning was just gorgeous.  Beautiful skies, warm air, and a perfect day to enjoy the weather outdoors.  After getting some things finished around the house, we decided to run a few errands.

We stopped by the park on the way home and let the kids explore and wear off some of that constant boy energy.

 The clouds were lovely on the ride home.  Fluffy and delicious... like cotton candy.  We had the sunroof open, radio cranked, and were enjoying the wonderful day together and the awesome weather.

Until....

We got home.

 

It just hit us.  The wind was gusting and the rain came down in buckets.  More like swimming pools.  Or rivers.

And it came...

And it came harder...

Then the hail started.  At first it was really cool.  We ran into the master bedroom to shut the window. I went ahead and left it open at first... letting the boys feel the mist of the storm through the screen. Then the hail came down harder.  The sound of it ricocheting off the grill and the patio furniture got extremely loud. It got a little scary... for us all. 
I decided I should go ahead and shut the window.

After the storm died down we decided to head outdoors to check out the damage.  It looked like it had rained for days, even though this storm had moved out just as fast as it came in.

The water had completely covered the drains along the side of the road.  You could see the water swirling where the holes to the drains lay. 

 The sun appeared again as we walked to the end of the road to check out the neighbor's yards.  It could have been worse.  And we are thankful that it was not.

Later that evening, our oldest son came out of his bedroom while doing homework to ask us a question.  He just finished reading The Terrible Wave and was working on a few assignments pertaining to the book.

He asked us if there was any "good" that could come out of a natural disaster.

Of course there is.  Whether it be a tornado, earthquake, hurricane, etc., there is always good that can come from it.

 

Community.  A comminity working together, supporting, caring, comforting, rebuilding.  That is the good.

We explained how even with our storm we had that evening, we saw our community coming together.  Neighbors were outside checking on eachother, people were using garbage can lids to scoop out water close to houses, tractors from local farms came into town to help clear out drains and move the water. 

There is good all around us. 

We just need to see it.