Lights out!

As we were hanging out in the driveway tonight, our typical Friday night routine, it started to get dark and these clouds started rolling in.  YIKES!   This particular one almost looked like a puff of smoke the way that it was growing and bellowing.
About 6:30 we were sitting at the table eating and the wind really started to pick up.  Brian looked outside and could see the trees bending.  We decided it would be best to remove the umbrella from the patio furniture.  Just as Brian started lifting the umbrella we saw a bright flash of light and heard a loud POP!
Then it went black.
I quickly grabbed some candles and we finished our dinner by candlelight.
Hannah was starting to get a little nervous and asking tons of questions about why the wind was so strong, what was happening, why did the lights turn off, etc.

After about 20 minutes the rain and wind stopped and we got to go outside to survey the damage (and see since it was dark in the house).  Our side of the street was out of power but since the power lines are buried in the ground starting across the street, they still had their lights.

We sat outside talking to Steve and Chris for a while and then they decided to leave to get their generator, just in case it would be awhile before the power came back on.

It took us about 10 minutes before we piled into the car and left too.  Off to Home Depot to shop for a generator!  You never do know how long it could be before the power would be back on.  At least this way we would have it if we needed it, plus- we can always return it.

Thankfully the power came back on around 9:30 pm.  Most of the neighbors, on our side of the street, were outside and as soon as our lights and TVs started up there was a cheer!  Thanks City of Champlin/Anoka!

We lost a huge branch off the tree in the backyard.

Thankfully that was the worst of it at our house.