Weather Stuff!

So we've had some wild weather lately...some here at home and some I had to track down. Here are a few pics and vids for your brief entertainment.

First up: We got (I am estimating) about 5 inches of rain on Monday morning in a four or five hour period. There is a pond out in front of my apartment complex. I think you will understand that the trees are NOT supposed to be underwater.
Who doesn't love ducks?
Oh, and about that rain...it did almost the exact same thing the NEXT morning too. Didn't get quite as much, and the water didn't come up quite as high, but it's a good bet that I got around 7 or 8 inches of rain at the beginning of this week.

Next up are some photos and videos from my storm chasing yesterday (Wednesday, June 17). The first picture is of a beautifully formed shelf cloud. I wish I could have gotten a more panoramic shot. I did use a wide angle lens, but the ominous nature of the storm isn't quite as apparent as I'd have liked.
Here is a rotating wall cloud I observed when I pulled over. I was just off of I-70 in Boonville (about 30 miles west of Columbia).
This is the same storm as it passed over the gas station I had stopped at.
This first video is actually from last week. It was taken just south of Lebanon (about 30 miles from my house) during a tornado warning.

These next two are from yesterday. Again, it's definitely hard to see the magnitude of rotation, but trust me it was there. I actually stayed inside the gas station as the storm approached and watched it from the door.

Little Rock....again.

We're working on another trip. Probably in August. Once we work out the details, we'll let you all know!

Summer Camping

This camping trip was HOT! We spent time having water balloon fights, swimming, and visiting the Marine Science Center.

Here's Dad and Savvy getting balloons ready for the show down:

Of course, there was swimming. AJ's hitting the wall here... very tired.

Savvy, Emily, and Nate up close... Johnny and Oz in the background.

Johnny and Oz

AJ with fruit rollup stickers all over. Gross.

AJ and Emily

Johnny and Oz

Marine Science Center.
L to R- Oz, Emily, Johnny, Nate, AJ, Savvy.

Dad and his boys.

AJ's Artwork

AJ drew this on the driveway when Oz was in Arkansas. He says it's a pic of him and Austin loving each other. Notice the heart. The big one is Austin.

STOP IT, DADDY!!!

The boys were playing hide and seek tonight. Dave and Nate were 'it'. Nate did NOT want help counting.

Little Rock- the medical pix

Our destination:

Testing his breathing before starting the challenge.

Skin test results. Overall, negatives. The only slightly responsive dose was his current 2000mg dose. Weird, huh?

Getting ready for the IV. UGH. Took FOUR nurses to hold him down for this.

IV in and Food Challenge in progress. Austin's very hungry and tired. He's not allowed to eat until an hour after his last dose- so he gets nothing but 2 cups of ice cream until 3pm that day.

Much of the day is sitting and waiting. Here he's just tired and bored and sick of being poked at.

This is is final dose of the day... and this was the last of the 5000mg of active peanut. We're expecting SOMETHING from the kid, but it all amounts to nothing. YAY!

Austin's so happy here. He's uncomfortable with the IV and the board to keep his arm straight. Here he's finally getting it off.

Austin's showing you his IV site.

Our Little Rock trip

We saw Jeff Gordon's car at Charlotte airport!

We got to LR early on Sunday. With a whole day to waste, we went to the Science Center. It sucked, but Austin kinda liked it anyways.



Austin liked the bug exhibit. Ask him about the tarantulas.

Sunday Evening. Austin's showing off the Lego Indy pack he earned by showing up in LR. He bought AJ the exact same set.

Sunday. Swimming at the hotel.


Monday morning. Notice the somber look. Austin knows the shots and skin tests are just minutes away. He got very irritable once we headed out of the hotel that morning.

This is Ozzy, ready to go home. We were at this customer service counter for an hour and a half.. but that's a story for another time.

Before and After

The first picture was taken in September 2006, when Austin started the study. The second picture was taken yesterday.

Austin Passed His Food Challenge

Austin ingested 5000 mg of peanuts today - with no reaction! He didn't take the shots as well as he let on this morning - they had to hold him down to draw blood. More to come...

Food Challenge

Today is the day. Austin's regular dose is 2000mg and he will be attempting a 5000mg food challenge.

I am: anxious, scared, hopeful, doubtful...
Austin is: cool, calm and collected.

Yesterday Ozzy said, "I'm not afraid of shots anymore... well, still a little afraid"

Fingers crossed and update coming probably this afternoon.

Little Rock

Austin and I head out to Little Rock tomorrow (Sunday) bright and early. Austin has his food challenge on Monday and a follow-up visit on Tuesday morning. We'll be back home in Tampa very late on Tuesday night.

Since we'll have a ton of extra time, we're planning on going to the science museum & Toys R Us on Sunday and maybe going to the Clinton Library or the zoo on Tuesday.

Fingers crossed that Ozzy passes the food challenge! I'll try to post from the hotel on Monday evening after the FC.

First Gold Belt Class

Easter Bunny

We went to McDonalds today. AJ asked for his food in the car. After opening his lunch, he starts saying to me, "HEY! We got an Easter Bunny toy!" I'm confused, but I say ok. When I get home, I see this toy:

So I say, "OHHH, you mean and Easter ISLAND toy! hahaha"
and AJ asks, "Are there a lot of hidden eggs on Easter Island?"

Nate gets hold of my camera again

This looks like him laying in the toddler bed?


I would guess he's taking pix of his finger directly on the camera lens again.

Oz and AJ get a haircut

Zoo on Sunday

It was very busy and we didn't get there right at opening time, so we skipped on feeding the beloved lorikeets. Instead we went to the Birds of Prey show and visited the stingrays.


You can actually touch the stingrays. Nathan LOVED this and laughed out loud every time his hand brushed against one.

Gold Belts

Oz and AJ earned their gold belts in Jiu Jitsu on Saturday. We're very proud!

This is before class. They're holding their attendance cards that have around 90 days of attendance logged.


This was right after class. Nathan ran up and gave each of them a big hug.

AJ was so excited when his name got called to the front that he actually jumped up in the air and twirled.