Hurricane Helene - late September 2024

Living in South Carolina, we have experienced some crazy weather. Fortunately, we're far enough from the coast that we don't usually get the worst of it. This one was stronger than most. Surprisingly, it did devastating damage in North Carolina, which is never hit by these hurricanes.

Wind in the backyard.

Our neighbor's tree broke and took out power and internet lines.

The local elementary school had trees and powerlines down. Look at the broken pole in the back right.

Another neighbor lost a big chunk of their roof.

Downed trees and power lines in the neighborhood.

Tree that took out a garage a couple blocks away.

In another part of town this tree took out the middle of a home.

Closed street and downed tree in our neighborhood.

We were without power for 5 1/2 days! Fortunately, we had a hurricane lamp and a good generator. We were able to power a fridge, a fan, and charge all of our devices. Our stove is gas so we were able to cook.

Spike needed his heat lamp so we took him to the Brusins where they still had power.

Calee loves reptiles so she was happy to watch him.

We were lucky that the weather was mild, but the kids still chose to sleep in the living room with the fan.

We went to our friends' the Bailey's to do laundry and watch BYU football. They were out of town.

The kids were very excited when we finally got power back.

Some images to give perspective on the height of water in the rivers.

Like North Carolina, Augusta was heavily hit by the storms. Jalen and David went to help with relief work, clearing away trees. It was a great experience for them to share together.

While we are obviously very dependent on electricity, I was pleased that we were able to go 5 1/2 days without it and be fine. We were prepared for the emergency. It was also a wake up call about how we can better prepare for the future.

Tennis and Cross Country

It was an active sports season for both Baylie and Jalen. Baylie had a rough season. Irmo moved up to 5A, which means the competition was much tougher. Worse than that was the fact that we had a falling out the the man that has coached the kids for over a decade. It was really hard on our family, but especially on Baylie. He's her school coach and it basically ruined the season for her. 

She still played well and we were proud of how she overcame adversity.

By some miracle, her team made it to the playoffs. They won the first round against Lugoff-Elgin. 

The second round was in Florence. So of course we made a stop at Buc-ee's.

Jalen and I then made a quick trip to the beach.

Florence's tennis team was really good. The girl Baylie played was internationally ranked. Baylie played hard, but the team lost and their season came to an end.

She was actually glad for it to be over. (I had been the unofficial team photographer in the past, but because of the falling out, I didn't do it this year so they didn't get a team picture.)

Jalen decided to take up cross country this year. He was encouraged to do so by some of his closest friends - Gideon Stroud and Jay Brusin.

The cross country culture was amazing. The kids were always so supportive of each other - girls and boys.

Cross Country was hard. Jalen hated the running, but he loved the teamwork. We were so proud of how hard he pushed himself day after day.

That's our Jalen!

Baylie and I would get up super early to go watch his races. 

I love the way they support each other.

Baylie's friend Alexa also runs cross country.

Awards banquet.

Jalen got the paper plate award for "I'm Sick of It!" Pretty appropriate.

I'm proud of how hard my kids work at their sports, but even prouder of the fact that they show good sportsmanship.