It started out like such a normal day....

...but the weather had other ideas in store for us.

At about 3:00, we experienced the worst storm I've ever been in. It came out of nowhere, immediately knocked down limbs, wiped out our electricity, and pelted us with huge hail. The kids and I hung out in the basement until it all slowed down, then went out to investigate the damage.

When I stepped outside, there were neighbors standing in my yard. Not a good sign.

I turned the corner of the garage and was met with this:

The biggest tree in our front yard fell onto our garage. Luckily, it appears as if no real damage was done, although there could be damage to the roof and gutters under all of the fallen limbs that we just can't see yet. We lost power for about six hours, but thankfully, it came back on right at the kid's bedtime.

The highlight for the kids was definitely the hail, although I think they were really enjoying all of the attention from the neighbors. Gracie kept telling everyone, "I was the one to hear it fall. I told my mom and brothers that I think a tree fell in the front yard." She thought she was pretty hot stuff. :)

So now I sit in a hot house and wait for the air conditioner to work its magic after being off for so long and dread going into the kitchen to unpack the coolers of food that I packed about an hour before the power went back on. And to think that I thought is was going to be a quiet Tuesday of beginning to pack and organize for our trip!