Surviving Isaac...

It would only be considered typical that the Olis family would book the one and only beach trip of the year during the week that a major hurricane was plowing its way towards the gulf coast.

When we left on Saturday, we had no idea if we would be evacuated, would be without power, gas, water etc... the only bright spot was that we were about the only fools heading South, so we had zero traffic to contend with.

We stayed in Port St. Joe, a sleepy beach town approximately 150 miles east  from Panama City. To make matters more complicated, the house we rented was out on Cape San Blas - a narrow strip of land whose only road in and out could be easily was away in any sort of storm surge.

For the first two days we were glued to the weather channel grasping our flashlights in one hand and suitcases in the other (only kidding- kind of)  waiting on those two dreaded little words: Mandatory Evacuation.

It never came, and by Tuesday we were breathing a sigh of relief when it became apparent that the storm was headed west. We got lucky, and although the beach was out of question after the first day of our trip, we managed to take full advantage of the private pool in our backyard, the ice cream stand around the corner and a couple of local shops. I did realize somewhere towards the beginning of our week that while I remembered batteries, rain boots and bottled water- I somehow forgot our camera :(. I did get a few pictures on my i-phone that basically sum up our time away- I had some issues rotating a few of them- my apologies!

All in all, it was a very restful and relaxing trip- minus the two-year-old and four-year-old who wreaked havoc when kept inside- but that was pretty much expected.

Today its back to the daily grind. Our prayers are with our neighbors along the Gulf Coast as they begin the tedious and heartbreaking task of clean up...