WET ariZONE-a

So, last weekend we had some pretty crazy storms come through our area. Lots of lightning and thunder and TONS of rain! We took some pictures and video of the wonderful wetness and even played in it some! (When the crazy lightning wasn't happening). Our area in particular got a lot of water. The wash that is behind our house was running to the brim, and the huge park that we play in...completely under water! It was a LAKE. It was really a sight to see! Wanna see it too? Okay, just scroll down! (sorry for the poor quality pictures - it was dark and we only had our cell phones).

Along with rain, there came thumb nail size hail.

Then the heavy rain!

James was at home taking the above shots. I unfortunately had to drive home from work in this storm. It was so loud on the car! I was hoping that I wouldn't drive through the hail and get chips and dents on the car. I think I did, but I came away unscathed. This is what I came to when driving into the neighborhood:

If it's hard to see, look on the left side of the picture at the street - it's under about 4 inches or so of water running towards me. Not running...flowing. And flowing fast! Here's the video I took (yes, while driving. I know I'm bad. I slapped my wrists okay?)

Then, I had to get a shot of the park completely submerged.

I came home after shooting this video and immediately got James and Boomer into the car to take them to see it. We had a good time watching it and then we got out and played in it :) It was FREEZING! The temperature dropped to low 70s. Well, after having a day that was almost triple digits, a drop of 30+ degrees is COLD. :)

 

We had so much fun though, that I left my headlights on while the car was off. Good thing we were playing in the part of the park that was next to our home teacher's house. He and his wife came over and helped give me a jump. He gave James a hard time for letting his wife drive around in a car that dies all the time. (It doesn't really die on me all the time. Just when I'm careless and leave lights on. It was pretty funny though.)

 We came home just in time as another storm cell came through. While we still had power, because I didn't know if we were going to lose it or not, I filled up some spare water jugs, got out the tea light candles and put our two flashlights from down stairs all on the counter. It felt good to be a little prepared.

 

 

Luckily we didn't lose power. I knew some people though that did. One of my co-workers who lived up in town actually lost her power for 12 hours! We were very lucky. I love it when it rains here in AZ. It happens so rarely that I feel refreshed when it happens. And the desert smells so good afterward - a good, "wet dirt" smell. I love it. It rained again today and I left my sliding door open to enjoy the sounds, smell and cool temperature that the rain brought. I'm looking forward to the nights of sleeping with an open window and snuggling under warm covers! I love fall!