It's Raining Mud! Halleluia, It's Raining Mud!

This would only happen in Texas.

Yesterday, a cloud of dust and ash blew up into West Texas from Mexico. This is not an unusual occurrence, as dust clouds are blown from Mexico during the springtime into various parts of the Southwest. You often hear about Arizona and New Mexico getting dust storms from our neighbors to the South.

But it just so happened that while this little system of ash was spinning Northward toward El Paso, a area of low pressure was barreling Eastward across the country. The two independent trajectories met up somewhere between West and Central Texas and shook it up in the upper atmosphere. Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico joined the party and whadda ya know? You've got a mud storm.

Yes, that's right. A dust storm met with a rain storm and created a mud storm. It rained mud here in San Antonio on Tuesday, March 18, 2008.

Don't believe me? Check out the story on MySanAntonio.com and the incredible pictures that came with it. The storm was so disgusting that it actually created traffic jams around car washes today and caused the new, much-anticipated Grand Hyatt San Antonio Hotel to delay its grand opening for an entire week so they can get the hotel's thousands of windows cleaned.

Unfortunately, we missed this extraordinary (and messy) event. Devin, Faith, Grace and I left early on Monday morning and drove to Houston to see my parents.

My dad wasn't feeling well, so we didn't do much when we got there. A quick walk to the park and some good conversation with my stepmom. It may not have been exciting to the kids, but it was relaxing bliss to me!

Dad was feeling much better on Tuesday, but the four news stations in Houston swore up and down that tornadoes, hail and all kinds of end-of-the-world-style weather were heading into the city and that anyone who could stay put, should.

So we did. We made plans to stay close to home, instead of going to visit the rodeo, the Children's Museum or the Museum of Natural Science.

First we were going to go to Pump It Up, but they weren't offering open play that day. So then we tried Kids in Action, but they were only offering Spring Break camps and were not allowing open play either.

Not wanting to venture any further from home since a flood of Biblical proportions was coming, we decided to take Devin to the viewing area where the airplanes come into Houston's Bush International Airport. This is a really cool place where you can sit just next to the runway, while planes land so close to you that you can nearly see the faces of the passengers inside.

We got poor D all revved up for the experience, but wouldn't you know it? 95% of the time, the planes land coming in from the East, heading West on the runways. But 5% of the time, when the weather is bad and the winds are coming in from a non-typical direction, the planes are routed in a North-South pattern.

We never saw a single plane.

Okay, onto Plan G -- Lunch at Fuddruckers. That was a hit with Dev, as any place that features hamburgers, French fries and video games will cause my kid's head to spin with happiness. Add in Devin's three-year-old cousin, Luke, and you've got a fabulous experience. Finally! Something went right!

By this time, the wind was strong and the sky was dark, so we headed to Dad's house to wait out the storm. We all took naps and woke up to...nothing. It never rained. All of the hype, all of the talk of the end of the world and nothing happened. I could have strangled every meteorologist in the city.

We did have an enjoyable evening with two of my stepsisters and the three kids they have between them, as well as various other friends and family members.

The kids and I left this morning to head back here, but took a minor detour to Yoakum to drop Devin off for a few days with Todd's parents. It's the ultimate spring break for a four-year-old -- a week with the grandparents. Woo hoo!

So now I am home, exhausted after nearly seven hours in the car today, but only a mommy to two kids until Saturday. I miss my little boy already!

And Finally...

This is my 198th post, which means my 200th Post Blog Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza is soon to end. If you don't know what it is or haven't provided your answers yet, you can do so here. Remember, you could win your choice of a $15 Starbucks gift certificate, a $15 iTunes gift certificate or a $15 McDonald's gift certificate.

You don't even have to get the answers right, for heaven's sake! You just have to enter! :)

Thanks for indulging me...