Easter with a side of tornadoes

I haven't posted an update in a while...so I think I'll break up everything that has happened in to a few posts so that I can really focus on details instead of skimming over everything.

Easter

This year, I spend Easter at Chris' dad and step-mom's house for his step-mom's mother's birthday (and Easter). Most of his step-family showed up for the event, much like for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

There were four kids (6 and under) and over 300 eggs, both real and plastic. Everyone hiding the eggs ran out of places in the backyard and we just started throwing plastic eggs out on the lawn!

After the kids had their fun...the adults had their fun! Chelsea bought some lawn games (you can always count on her to bring the games) and one was called ladderball. Basically, there is a stand with three horizontal bars, and you toss a rope with a ball on each end and try to wrap it around the posts.

 

People took turns all day playing, some more successfully than others.

Another game that got brought out was Headbandz. I am terrible at this game...but they made me play anyway.

It seems simple enough, but sometimes you find yourself thinking too hard and just confusing yourself.

Basically, everyone wears a headband with a card attached on your forehead. The card will have a famous person (alive, dead, fictional or real), a place, or a thing on it, and you ask the group yes or no questions to help you guess what or who you are. I always get stuck with people and I am terrible at guessing people. I get stumped after "Am I fictional?" "Am I young?" "Am I a guy?" Once those three questions are asked...I usually clam up. Sometimes it's funny watching people try and guess. Chris, for example, had Darth Vader and though you'd think that'd be an easy card to guess...it took him at least 4 turns to guess it (I probably would have given up).

 Though I did have to throw away my flats when we got home (it had rained and the grass was muddy and wet, which then soaked through my shoes on all sides) it was a good day. We got to see Jeanette and Randy (we took April with us to the Easter gathering) which was nice. I really got lucky and have a great family-in-law that I love to visit.

Weather

How is it that many Okies live without ever having a real tornado threat to their homes...and my first tornado season as an Oklahoma resident...a tornado forms and goes not 2 miles from my apartment when I'm alone at home?

A little before 4:00pm on the 13th, I was getting ready to leave the apartment to go to work when I heard on the news that a tornado had touched down in Norman near I-35.

Needless to say, I freaked out. I called Chris, who told me to call work and say I wasn't going to be in, then get to the bathroom and take the mattress if I could. The tornado sirens started to go off, and I started to cry. I was shaking so badly that it may have seemed comical to anyone that saw, but I was terrified. I grabbed my laptop and went in the hallway with my cell phone and listened intently to the news streaming from my laptop. We have yet to invest in a battery operated radio, so I was relying on the power to stay on so I could listen to my fate (sounds dramatic now, but I was so scared).

After the tornado died down and the storm was moving northeast of me, I raced (carefully) to Riverwind to be with Chris, because I did not want to be home, and I did not want to trek all the way to work. The storm fizzled out after another hour or so and we figured I was safe to drive to Newcastle, so off I went. My co-workers were all very happy to see me. Apparently my manager had been trying to call my cell phone to check on me and it had kept going to voicemail. I'm guessing it was when I was in the back at Riverwind, because my cell service is pretty bad back there.

Chris and I now know where the closest shelter is, and we will be getting a battery operated radio in the immediate future. Storms are picking up again, and I'm really wanting to invest. Tonight there have been at least 2 tornadoes in northern Oklahoma, and it's raining with incredibly strong wind gusts. No tornadoes nearby, but lots of rain, hail, and wind.

Stay tuned for my second update, all about my recent biking and running!