Traveling Trampoline

What's missing from this picture?

Oh, there it is! How did it get over there? I took this picture standing dead center where the trampoline was.

We went to the eastern shore Saturday to celebrate the birthdays of DeeDee, Uncle Mark, Uncle Keith and Brett. We drove home through a terrible storm but had no idea what was waiting for us on the other end.

We got home around 11pm to no power. We're on a well so no power = no water. No fun. It was also hot and sticky. Because it was pitch dark we had no idea what the yard looked like.

Bill looked out the window the next morning "uh oh, the trampoline is gone." My heart sank. It was a Christmas gift from Bill's dad to the kids and the best darn money spent. They love to jump. Love, love, love it.

As I'm mentally figuring out how we could possibly replace it, he spotted it in the back corner of the yard, quite a ways from where it originally rested...and it was in pieces...and it appeared to be bent. My heart sank lower and I prayed that we could somehow salvage it.

Bill had to get to church to set up and I had to get the kids dressed so we could pick Jake up from camp so we didn't have time to really look at it. That afternoon we went out to survey the damage. Praise God we were able to put it back together and it's not bent at all! That baby flew a good 20 yards, smacked a tree breaking a good sized limb and apparently fell apart instead of bending and breaking. We were grateful (and amazed) that the mat didn't get hung up on the play fort or a tree limb and tear. I wish I could have seen it because it must have been amazing to see it fly across the yard.

We found part of our attic fan in the lower side yard so we'll be replacing that later today. And other than limbs down, we're in good shape. We get some wicked wind gusts, and after last year's spring storms blew much of our roof away, we replaced the roof with hurricane shingles (yes hurricane shingles in western Maryland!!) so that's in good shape.

Our neighbors (we have 2 within close walking distance) each have at least one big tree down. Bill is secretly hoping they'll wait until later this week to do any major cutting so he can break out his chainsaw and join the fun.