Hurricane Sandy - the calm after the storm

Writing this post on Thursday, the power in the downtown & Eastern areas of Manhattan is still out for the most part. After the power went out on Monday night, we decided to move hotels again. We got to a Hilton that had power & checked in for 2 days.

What a relief to stay somewhere for more than 1 night! We got to check out some of the restaurants around the hotel. On Tuesday morning, we also went back to our apartment to drop off dirty clothes, pick up fresh clothes, and check out the situation there. On the way, we saw some of the effects of the storm.

There were quite a few people still living at our apartment complex without power or water. Some were leaving as it was becoming clear that the situation would take a few days to resolve. Others, like our neighbor, were planning to stick it out.

To avoid the high Manhattan weekend hotel rates, we asked Jermaine's brothers to help us. Tony said he would pick us up and take us to Kenroy's until the power came back on.

Hurricane Sandy - the storm hits

On Monday morning, the news reports said that anyone who had to do anything should do it now. I realized that we had forgotten some things at the apartment, so I took the kids back to the apartment (Mila in the stroller & Shay on foot). It was about 5 long blocks & 10 shorter blocks in wind and rain. Shay was a trooper, but I decided to switch to the double stroller for the walk back. We picked up more supplies & food on the way back to the hotel. We learned that the NYU medical building closest to the Easr River was already being evacuated. Shay's school is also in evacuation zone A & was closed.

Back at the Ramada, I was doing my best to keep the kids entertained, and the staff kept asking if I was checking out. We had paid for 2 nights, as far as I knew. Well, turns out that Jermaine had only paid for one night, and the hotel was booked. I had to pack up the double stroller, suitcase, food, and kids, then check out & quickly book another hotel through Expedia. We got to the next hotel, where which turned out to be not stroller-accessible. Unloading everything & then getting our stuff up to the fourth floor in an tiny, vintage cage elevator was no easy task. The room was small & dark with a view of a wall; yes, a wall. Suffice to say, it was not a fun day & I didn't take further pictures. Later that night, Jermaine got back & the power went out soon after.

Hurricane Sandy - in the evacuation zone

At the Halloween party, we started getting robo-calls from our apartment management office, indicating that we were in the mandatory evacuation zone. At first, I wanted to try to ride out the storm at home, but then the reality of trying to get down 15 flights of stairs by myself with the kids prompted us to pack our bags. We decided to try the evacuation center first, then try to get to Jermaine's brother's in the Bronx if needed. I was definitely anxious, not really knowing what to expect or what we would need.

We got to Baruch College around 7pm, filled out some paperwork, and waited to be called. After 30 minutes or so, they led us down to the gym. There were food packs complete with heating packets that warmed them up. Jermaine said it was similar to what they have in the military (meal ready-to-eat/MRE) - don't ask me how he knows this. The negative was that they had run out of cots, and we soon learned that they would not be dimming the bright gym lights. We opted for a hotel rather than sleeping on the floor under fluorescent lights with a million kids running around.

We checked into a Ramada. The skies were still clear, so it was hard to anticipate what was to come.

Halloween festivities - part 2

Before we knew we had to evacuate, we went to a Halloween party sponsored by a local moms group that I joined. I had helped with the planning, and it looked like everyone had fun!

Shay was dressed as Bruce the shark from Finding Nemo & Mila was sharkbait. Shay got his face painted as Spider-Man for the second day in a row. Jermaine said that his costume was then "the shark that ate Spider-Man".

Halloween festivities - part 1

Blogging exclusively from my phone for now; we are at Jermaine's brother's house in the Bronx for the next couple days until the power comes back on in our building. So I'll write some updates & attach pictures, but formatting wont be as cute!

Before the hurricane hit, we were able to do a few Halloween activities. We took the bus to the South Street Seaport, where we saw Curious George, read Halloween stories, and got some awesome face painting done!