And the rains came a tumbling down

Today I still needed to do some shopping, and the kids were all acting as healthy as can be, so we loaded up the family,  and we all went shopping together.

Afterwards we decided to take the kids on a picnic up one of the local canyons.   We  parked a short walk away from an awesome waterfall, went to see the falls, then decided to find a place for our picnic.  At this point the storm hit.

This was no little storm.  Winds were tearing through the canyon somewhere between 50-70 miles per hour, ripping tree branches and leaving their debri blocking our path.  Lighting lit up the sky, and rain and hail came pounding down on us, as we hurdled down the path back to the safety of our car.

Guy was leading the way, several feet ahead of the rest of us.  Cinderella followed a few feet behind.  I was carrying Spike as Aurora clung to my hand.  The hubs was barreling down the path with the stroller careening wildly  with a terrified Scooter tucked in the front and picnic basket perched precariously on the back.  Suddenly a blast of wind rushed through the trees, knocking the basket to the ground.  At this point Spike , fed up with the whole situation tried to leap from my arms.  We sat him down on the rear stroller seat, and Aurora climbed on behind him.  The hubs then took off again with the stroller, leaving me in the dust flying in the wind.  I picked up the basket and took flight.

By the time we reached our car, we were all drenched, and the kids were all screaming.   We piled in, and then passed out the food.  The kids finally calming down, and fealing pitty on those still out in the storm.

When we finished eating, we started driving down the canyon.  Traffic was really slow, and backed up.  We were wondering what was going on.  When we reached the foot of the canyon, we found the roads flooded with muddy water, some places over a foot deep.  We passed parking lots that looked like swimming pools, roads that looked like rivers.   Some places water was even bubbling up from the street drains.  It was crazy.

I am very greatful we all got home safe and sound.