Galveston

Hurrican Harvey delayed it a few weeks, but after seeing that the weather was still warm in late September, we decided to still do our annual Galveston trip. We tried a different condo than the one we'd gone to the past few years, and liked it a lot. It was cheaper to rent, and also cheaper to buy, which got us thinking again about owning a condo there.

The water was a little less hot than normal, but the kids didn't seem to mind. The condo had two boogie boards, and we ended up buying two more because they were having so much fun with them.

Carmen was the leader of the sand activities, collecting shells, seaweed, and "cement" (tiny shells mashed together).

She also dug two big holes which provided enough sand for my castle and other sand structures.

The only drawback to this condo is that it is along the seawall, which means you have to cross Seawall Boulevard to get there, so we bought a wagon to make the trips easier.

On the second day, we sat near a woman who had a daughter who played with our kids, and she insisted on turning Olivia and Carmen into mermaids.

We went to the Galveston Ward on Sunday, then returned home that evening. Nobody got sunburned, and we were all exhausted by the end, so I'd say it was a success.

Kid update

The kids finally got back to school after a week and half delay from Harvey. They had a bad case of cabin fever after being cooped up in the house for so long and were happy to go.

Olivia has really matured in the last year. She wants to be in charge, so she was very excited when we started letting her and Carmen babysit. She also frequently volunteers to put the boys to bed, helps resolve differences between her siblings, and even willingly helps clean up sometimes.

Despite that, she is thankfully in no hurry to grow up. She and Carmen play for hours together with Itty Bitty's, My Little Ponies, Tsum Tsums and whatever random craft supplies they get their hands on.

Carmen is a perfect child as always. She is always obedient and willing to help and works hard at whatever she does. We enrolled her in gymnastics again this year. She moved up a level and is enjoying the new things she's learning. She also wants to try out for Strikers, the school's drum club. She's becoming a lot more independent and doesn't let Olivia dominate as much anymore.

Her new hobby is catching lizards in the backyard. She's gotten very good at it and likes to impress everyone with her lizard catching prowess (like catching three at once!).

Damon is is usually rascally self. His hearing has improved, but his attention has remained as frustrating as always. You have to tell him everything two times, because he usually ignores the first one. The reason he's not paying attention is because he's either deep in thought about something, or busy unintentionally destroying something.

He's a very smart boy, and does very well when he has something to focus on. Now that school has started, Amber has started him on piano lessons and he's very enthusiastic about it, practically teaching himself. Like last year, he has access to some online learning games through the school, and he will play those as long as we let him.

He's very by-the-book. His teacher said he should read for 20 minutes each day, so he now gets out his tablet and sets a timer for 20 minutes and keeps tracks of all the books he reads. And he loves facts. After Harvey we realized we were at a slightly higher elevation, probably because of the Humble salt dome, a geologic feature that spurred the region's oil boom many years ago. After he learned of this, he told everyone for the next few weeks that we lived on a salt dome.

Miles, now especially that the other kids are in school, is Amber's buddy. He will protect her if other kids are being "mean" to her (splashing water, or hitting her with toys, etc.) and tells her how things will be done, like "I've found us a place to sit," as if it's obvious she would sit with him.

Other than having some issues with potty training, he's a pretty easy kid to have around. He's doing another co-op preschool with a couple other kids this year. He hasn't shown that same hunger to learn to read that Olivia and Damon had, but he still loves books. When I get home from work, lately he's been grabbing a couple of books for me to read to him, and of course he gets a book before bed.

He's a tablet addict (like the rest of the kids) so we've had to put time-locks on the tablets, but he and Damon have really started to play well together, so they eventually find something to do. It's not uncommon for the girls to be in their room and the boys to be in their room, with both pairs playing happily. Other times they'll all be playing together, usually when Olivia decides she needs more minions.

Harvey cleanup

Hurricane Harvey rained on us for about 4 straight days, Saturday through Tuesday, and when the rain stopped, and the floodwaters receded, we got to work helping people muck out their houses. We would gather at the church, divide into teams, and go work.

I volunteered on Wednesday and Thursday, worked my real job from home on Friday, then went back out Saturday, Sunday, and Labor Day Monday. We left the kids to fend for themselves many of those days, and Amber came with me.

That first week there was still a lot of water in the carpets and walls.

After Baton Rouge last year, I bought a pry bar and mini sledge hammer, and they both got a lot of use these past few weeks.

There were lots of stories to go along with these houses. While we were working at her house, this woman verified with the insurance company that her flood insurance was still valid. When she heard this she let out a series of loud praises to Jesus. Amber took her to go pick up a rental car at the end of the day.

Those first two days we spent in east Houston. Saturday and Sunday morning we went just a few miles north to some nicer neighborhoods along the lake.

One of the unflooded neighbors here wanted to help, so she cooked up some amazing barbecue for anyone who wanted it.

These people paid for having waterfront property.

This same house also had a huge pet pig, that survived when they left it behind.

There were a lot of people helping in the nicer neighborhoods, so much that we could barely get in to park. People who hadn't flooded came in big numbers to help.

So Sunday afternoon we went back to the area we'd been in before, where it seemed like our help was needed more.

And on Labor Day it was more of the same.

The next weekend I volunteered on Saturday and would have gone on Sunday except I had a funeral to attend that day. By this time the houses were starting to get moldy.

But volunteers were also starting to come in from other areas. We even had the Mormon Newsroom team drop by to interview the homeowner of the home we were working in. You can see it in this video at minute 2:23.

This last weekend I went out again on both Saturday and Sunday. By now, the black mold is on any wall that wasn't removed and the houses are beginning to be unsafe.

One of the houses we went to had the wall either pushed or warped completely off the foundation.

It's hard to describe how much damage was done. In addition to all the homes and the possessions inside, there were thousands of cars flooded too.

It was not really what I wanted to be doing the last three weekends. It was hot, stinky, and miserable and my body is tired, but I'm glad I was able to help some people. Many of them really had no one to help them, or didn't know what to do, or couldn't have done it in time without help. It was great to work with others who were ready and willing to volunteer, either ripping out walls with me, or providing lunches, or organizing the efforts. It will be a while before the region is back to normal, but this was a good start.