We should have figured it out from the first clue!!

So, we left Thursday afternoon for Kansas and a visit with Steve's parents. The drive was easy an uneventful until we got just outside of Wichita. Our first clue that there was going to be trouble was this:



These clouds were sooooo amazing and beautiful. The picture really doesn't do them justice and we all ewed and awed over them. Look at the sun shining through the edge of that very dark cloud on the right.





Our second clue was this:




These dark clouds showed up in front of us. I took a picture because it was so drastic from the other picture and I was trying to get a picture of the lightening that was coming out of this cloud. I thought for a split second "this doesn't look good" but then Steve said "oh, this is a typical midwestern storm blowing in". He should know, he grew up there!!!



Our third clue came when we realized that all the cars were stopping along side the road (later to find out these were storm chasers) with people getting out a videoing the clouds and taking pictures.

Our fourth clue was when we saw this next picture and also the cop cars that were blocking the exits off the highway so that no one could go in the direction of this "cloud".


Yep, you guessed it, this is a tornado...not very far from us. But, at this point, we still weren't willing to concede that this was a tornado...mainly because Steve wanted to get to his mom's and knew that if I knew it was a tornado I would make him stop and take cover!!

Our last and final clue came when we got to the toll booth ahead of us. We pulled up to pay the toll and there were no people in the booths to take your money...just a sign that said "the toll workers have gone to take cover. Your toll is free...please seek shelter quickly" This last clue pretty much sealed it....it was a tornado!!!! I didn't have much time to let that sink in when we hit the worst rain storm I have ever driven in. Having lived in Texas, I have driven through some pretty hairy storms, but this took the cake. We could not see anything in front of us and we could barely see the road.....I was officially scared to death. I was never more grateful that Steve was driving in my life. It got so quiet in the car (amazing in itself with 3 teenagers), I am so thankful for God's unseen angels. I know, without a doubt, that they were all around us keeping that car on the road!!!

We made it safely to his mom's. I really don't want to ever do that again! We were able to calm down before bed (a glass of wine helped :) ) and ended up having a great visit. Below are some fun pics of our time:




Steve's mom and step dad. Joe turns 80 this month and was the reason for the visit. We had a great birthday party for him on Saturday.














We played a rousing game of yatzee on Friday night. This is Steve after rolling a yatzee.......too bad for him he had already zeroed out his yatzee.....which means it didn't count!!!

















This is Steve, his mom and his sister.











Finally, Steve's mom and my kids. She had so much fun with all her family there. We haven't all been able to get together for 3 years and it was great to see her so happy!!!








So, now we are back (a very uneventful ride this time!) and will start the routine tomorrow!!! I will be busy getting the boys packed and ready for their missions trip next week.

So your tip for the week: read your clues carefully and try to figure it out with the first one!!!!