Our first flood...

Staci's version...take one.

5:30 am - wake up to what I think is a wind storm. step outside to the loo and the air is still. oh....the river is just REALLY loud. go back to a sweet slumber knowing that no trees are going to fall on my house.

6:10am - "honey, i think you need to get up. i don't want you to panic but i got to get to work." sure. sure. but, spencer isn't even awake. why do i need to get up? i open the front door to see water flowing underneath my house (because there is no foundation you know) and it is already up to the front steps of the porch. my knees start knocking. paul says he is going out the back door. water is up to the porch. did i mention it is pitch black outside.

6:15am - my knees are still knocking. paul tries moving the van. can't get it out, so he parks it on the highest ground....next to st. francis, by the way. i am thinking bye-bye van, hello new car.

6:30am - my knees are still knocking and i start packing. video camera, computer, pictures, movies that need to go back to the library, ipod, two changes of clothes, our cameras, external hard drive, and the latest bills. hearing the commotion, spencer wakes up, "hi, mama....hi, papa". sweet. i grab spencer's dog and the wave machine because i honestly think that everything else is going to be underwater within the next hour. in the meantime, paul is thigh deep in water trying to save the bbq, stroller, and everything else from the front yard from going downstream. oh yeah, could you grab the truck too?

6:45am - spencer is standing at the front door in his pj's looking at the river...."huge, mama...huge, mama". yeah baby, i know.

7:00am - paul has now made many trips across the flowing lake in our front yard to shuttle stuff to the truck and tells me he can't feel his feet anymore. he grabs the canoe, we load aly and tashi in it, i strap spencer on my back and we wade across in thigh high water, which is cold as all get out, to the road.

8:30am - paul goes back to take some pics and already the water levels have dropped considerably.

10:00am - we walk back to our house, build a fire, notice some things missing and thank our lucky stars and in awe of Tumalo Creek.

it was crazy. i still feel a little crazy and can't believe how fast it all happened. the creek, usually so clear, raged throughout the day with a dirty brown tint. mike schindler came on bike to check on us as well as some other neighbors. the latest i heard is that the creek was flowing at 80 cubic feet per second at midnight and by 6 am it was at 600 cubic feet per second and our neighbors have said they have never seen anything like it. i am glad paul woke me up.