Tornado

Middle of May, we've learned to expect tornadoes in Oklahoma, but here in Colorado it catches us off guard. They don't call this part of the country "tornado alley" and it seems like almost everyone has a basement, whereas in Oklahoma the soil isn't right for basements, the water table is too high.

This year I was home alone with the kids when the sirens went off. We thought at first they were just testing the system again, so we ignored it and continued our home school work. When it continued a long time I went outside to listen to it, despite the rain. The annoying thing is that the whole message is said in Spanish first, so I had to wait through it to find out if we were in danger.

There was a tornado spotted nearby and an immediate order to find shelter. We brought the laptop into the basement bathroom and the kids kept their shoes on while we huddled inside watching a video on Netflix while checking the radar online every few minutes. It was about an hour of the kids trying to be brave while asking constant questions that I couldn't answer. Daniel called me on my cell phone and told me to stay hunkered down. He was going to drive home, even though I didn't think it was safe. After the hail stopped I took a photo. At least the kids got a real "tornado drill" unlike the regular kind where we all just pretend. I'm glad I don't live in tornado alley anymore, though, because it's so much scarier when you have children of your own.