Sunday September 26th

The wind and rain remained very strong all day today and I think there was still a curfew on (not that we wanted to go out anyway!) so we just sat about the villa. We caught up on some sleep and read books, the kids played with Lego and toys that were supposed to be kept until they got home but we needed something to keep them occupied. The power was off and the phone line was down, however we still had gas much to everyone’s delight because gas meant cups of tea and the ladies in my family could drink tea for Scotland. It also meant that we could still have a hot shower so we weren’t exactly slumming it were we?

I ventured out to the van on and off all day to try and catch the news on K92. They confirmed that the storm had more or less passed right over us during the night but understandably the reporters were concentrating on telling us about the hard hit coastal areas and how the Sanford area was suffering very badly from flooding.
At night we gathered around our tea lights and played cards and drank beer, which was still relatively cold because not all of our ice had melted yet. We could hear the drone of a generator from across the lake and could see some lights on, obviously a well prepared resident.

Monday September 27th

Today the weather was back to normal, lovely sunshine and no wind at all. I spent the morning sweeping up around the pool and fishing all sorts of stuff out of it. Everyone was really feeling the heat and because the air-con was not working there was no escaping it. We all sat around the pool reading books and listening to the drone of the generator across the lake. Suddenly at around 12:30 the generator stopped and my immediate thought was that he must have run out of fuel, but then a much nicer thought entered my head. What if the power had come back on? I sneaked into the house and tried one of the lights…. YEEEEHAAAAA IT WORKED!!!!!!!![clap][clap][clap]

Well you should have heard us celebrate that one. I turned the pool pump back on and within the hour the kids were back in splashing about like loonies! The management company came to check on the villa and us and then we ventured out to Publix where we got some supplies and of course some beer. We saw lots of sporadic damage while we were out. A lot of pool screens in Crescent Lakes had been damaged and an awful lot of shingles had been blown off of roofs. There were lots of trees down everywhere and on the 192 a lot of the large signs had been damaged. It was difficult to tell how bad it was because there had already been a lot of damage around due to the previous hurricanes.

Back at the villa we sat around the pool while the girls decided to go in search of a phone to let everyone at home know we were okay. Once they got back we all got ready and headed for Denny’s for some grub. Denny’s was closed so we went into Bennigans for the first time. It was very busy but we had a very nice meal and really enjoyed it. Then it was back to the villa for a small refreshment before bed.

Tuesday September 28th

Today was to be the laziest day of the holidays. We got up around 9:30am and spent the entire day by the pool. The kids perfected their fish impersonations while the rest of us read books and generally chilled out. I had not brought any books because usually I can never sit still long enough to read them so in a desperate bid to relieve the boredom I borrowed my sons Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Five hours later it was finished and a very enjoyable read it was to. The girls ventured out again to phone Icelandair just in case there had been any cancellations for tomorrow’s flight, but no joy there.

We all got ready and headed back to Denny’s, this time it was open and we had a very good meal before returning home and hitting the sack. This doing nothing all day really takes it out of you!!!!

Wednesday September 29th

I was determined to do something today as we had sat around being lazy for the last three days. So after a long lie we all got ready and headed for Celebration. W