I Speak "Boy": Friday- Not as Planned

silly boys

The weather here has left us guessing every time we turn the corner. From clear skies to stormy skies. From clear forecast reports, to actual weather that would leave the local weatherman out of a job. Last night was no exception. We saw that there was something like 15% chance of rain at 1 am and the humidity level was supposed to peak between 1 and 4 am this morning, well it did like @100% humidity and precipitation!
I think mom and I decided that we had lived through one of the most torrential storms either of us could remember, last night. It started just after 1 am, I think I was awoken by thunder in the distant, but then I became more and more alert of flashes (no sound) in quick pulses. I was afraid at first that someone may be shining a flashlight around the side yard, and then as I woke up a little more I thought maybe the neighbors side light was flickering and as I came to full awareness I realized that what I was seeing through the cracks in the blinds was sheet lightning, going off every 2-3 seconds. Then the regular lightning followed by thunder started and quickly thereafter the rain came, and when it came it came with vengeance and its friend, the wind. I quickly closed our bedroom window so that the rain wouldn't come in then hopped up and closed the boys' window. I decided to brave it and walk out in to the living room to see if I could see the storm and great lightning strikes, but all I could see were sheets of rain blowing horizontally across the backyard and the wind howling like no other and flashes of light, brightening the sky. I decided that bed was the safest place and finally fell back asleep around 2:30 am.
ALL THAT TO SAY: we had planned to go to Whitesands today, but also saw a forecast of rain in the afternoon, and decided that after last night, we didn't want to chance it, so we stayed in and changed plans.
The weather cooled off today, most likely because of the storm, so that was a little bonus. We took the boys to a great wooden park in town and let them run around for about an hour then came back home for a much needed swim. Here are some pictures of our park adventure, and no, I didn't get any shots of the storm. I was trying for video but it was so dark that nothing was coming through.