The Evacuees

After Hurricane Ike passed through Houston, my brother and his wife Adam & Jen, and my sister Megan decided they would rather brave the traffic up to Dallas than sit and wait days for the power and water to return in Houston. So on Sunday they drove up to Dallas and we did our best to accomodate our "evacuees". Even though they were pretty stressed about what was happening in Houston and dealing with the unknown, we managed to have some good times!

We were happy that they were safe and didn't run out of gas coming up to Dallas.

After everybody arrived we decided to go find some food that had nothing to do with dry cereal, Ramen, beef jerky, or pb&j sandwiches--because that's what they had been eating for the past couple of days.

Adam and Megan

Zoe mooching off of Jen

In deep thought...

Yummy

Adam and Zoe

After lunch we picked Mike up from work and headed to the Dallas Arboratum. It was a gorgeous day and a dramatic opposite of the mess Adam, Jen, and Megan left behind in Houston.

Megan and her favorite tree. However, I did hear her say 'this is my favorite...' a few times after we saw this one. We all had about 5 favorite spots.

Mike and Zoe

Zoe loved the spitting frogs.

Video of Mike, Zoe, and the spitting frog.

I love this picture of Megan. You can barely see her through the shadows....she's dancing.

Beautiful and so peaceful.

This tree has a wart.

Fake dear...but it was still cool.

Zoe liked all the animals strategically placed throughout the gardens.

Jen and Adam in front of White Rock Lake

Zoe and me checking out the catfish pond.

Zoe riding the armadillo.

Cute little cottage...

Perfect size for Zoe!

We spent yesterday morning helping Adam, Jen and Megan find gas cans and stock up on more food and supplies.

Zoe trying to convince Adam and Jen that she can drive them home.

Adam, Jen, and Megan packed up supplies including gas, food, and water (you can see the gas cans in the backseat of the truck above) and headed back to Houston to wait for the power to return. They seemed anxious to get back to their homes, but at the same time were reluctant to leave air conditioning in Dallas.

While we wish it could have been under better circumstances, it was great to see family.