"I'M STAYING WARM!"

We woke up this morning to temperatures at or below zero (South Bend, just north of us, reported -3 at 7:30, while Argos, just south of us, reported 0!). We braved the Artic chill and dressed for church. Here, Becca is sporting one of her new red dresses Biz picked up for her while shopping in California on break.

Our gas stove continues to keep the front part of our house warm during these frigid temperatures.

SINCE THE FLOOD . . .

Sorry I haven't kept you up to date, but as they say, "No news is good news." Well, the good news is, the Yellow River crested early Friday morning at a max peak of 14.9 feet, some 8 feet or so over flood level. The river is back down, you can see all of the gazebo in Magnetic Park, and the town is almost back to normal.

The park, on the other hand, is still waterlogged with massive sized ponds still waiting to drain. As the river went down, so did the temperatures, and now we're having to contend with frozen ground that won't drain. We're sure the waters will go away when the temps come up again . . . just so long as the water is gone when the mosquitos come out to play. Ugh!

Also, over the weekend, Becca got her hair cut and is enjoying sporting the short hair cut look. Bizzy says she almost looks like a real kindergartener, and is as big as one, too! As you can see, we did get a little bit of snow earlier this week, but it's not sticking around long. Right now, we're waiting for the arctic blast to hit us, driving the temp down to single digits by the weekend (at the time the picture was taken it was 31).

Update . . . FLOOD OF 2008

January 10, 2008

THURSDAY - The Yellow River continued to rise, at least another two feet and washed over several roads in Plymouth. This major artery, East Jefferson Street, serves Plymouth east of the Yellow River.

The Boys and Girls Club has been closed since Tuesday, and the river bends to the left behind. Much of the neighborhood behind this is flooded.

From where we live, we're at least 25-30 feet higher than this part of town, as Michigan street, which runs north-south through town, just beyond that orange sign in the distance, is high ground above the river.

If you click on "The South Bend Tribune" link, you can see the news stories about the flood. If you go to Friday's edition, you can see Biz's students bagging sand. As the sun went down tonight, it started raining, again, and is supposed to turn to snow.

We're once again on a two-hour delay, and if they call school, it will most likely be tomorrow (Friday), as most of the access points in town that buses have to get through are becoming waterlogged. The river is supposed to crest Friday afternoon, depending on weather.

NEW WALKBRIDGE TO MAGNETIC PARK

Last Spring, the city finished this walkbridge over the Yellow River, one of three such bridges, and gives you an idea how wide the Yellow River is. That's Magnetic Park in the background and Becca's Jungle Gym is to the left of the trees. What you don't see is the park, which now looks like a lake.

This does show you how high the river is running . . . and running . . . and running . . .

THE SIGN SAYS IT ALL . . .

The entrance to the Magnetic Park clubhouse is under water. It's actually a walkway and motor vehicles aren't allowed. You park on the street and walk down the asphalt walkway. This is also an entry point for Plymouth's new Greenway Trails Project which runs along the river.

IS MY JUNGLE GYM SAFE?

I took Becca by the Jungle Gym at Magnetic Park this morning to check out the flood waters and we discovered that the river had risen another two feet or so, to the edge of the upper part of the park. Here she wonders if the waters are going to flood her jungle gym.

In the extreme background, where the green grass meets the water, is where Becca sleds on her snow disc. At that point, the park descends 10 feet or so to the lower part, so the water is pretty deep in the background.

It almost looks like a lake . . .

MAGNETIC P ARK GAZEBO - THURSDAY

If you look at the picture from Tuesday afternoon (the previous post) you can see that the water has risen another two feet or so. We're expected to crest tomorrow, but more areas of town are under water.

The white thing at the bottom of the picture was a berm of sand placed to prevent water from reaching the clubhouse at Magnetic Park. The water went right over it and flooded to the edge of the clubhouse.

FLOOD UPDATE - WEDNESDAY

The Yellow River has risen another two feet. I didn't take any pictures, but if you look at this gazebo, the water would be up midway from where its at to the roof line (it's already halfway under water!). The actual river bed is beyond the gazebo in the tree line some 100 yards beyond.

Roads in Plymouth are starting to flood and several neighborhoods that border the river are under water. Evacuations have begun in some parts of Plymouth and sand bags are now being put out.

We are on high ground and the only thing we have to worry about is the inch of water standing in our basement (knock on wood!). I'll take some more pictures tomorrow; we are under another two-hour delay, but so far we have not had school cancelled. However, with the new rise - the river is not supposed to crest now until Friday at Noon - Charles' school is cut off on three sides with road closures and river walk bridges unsafe to tread, who knows? We might end up with a flood closure day.

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE! AND MORE THAT WE CAN SPARE!

We arrived home to rising temperatures, melting snow, falling rain and flooding rivers.

On the first school day (today), our local Yellow River flooded over its banks and filled Magnetic Park, which is only five houses down the street from us. Here, Becca is picking up sticks to build a dam to hold back the flood waters.

Don't worry; she's actually at the bottom of her favorite sledding hill (refer to January 2007 "First Disc Run Down the Hill" post) Becca is standing at the halfway point of the disc run. If there was snow on the ground, her disc would carry her more than 30 feet further out, now covered by flood water.

As I post this, the rain has begun again, and most local school districts will be on a two-hour delay, possibly facing cancellation if the waters continue to rise. Forecasts has the Yellow cresting on Friday, at 1 a.m. We are under Flood Warning until January 15.

Somebody call Georgia and ask if they need any water.

HAVE A WONDERFUL 2008!

If you are reading this post first, scroll down to Becca's Christmas pictures that were posted in December and read the blog from the bottom up. Thank you for visiting our blog.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a very Happy New Year.

Our fondest wishes,

The Ratliffs, Sanders, Mays and Colton Hill

IS THAT FLIPPER?

For an hour, the dolphins (see post below) flitted about the boat and gave us a wonderful show. They truly made the voyage worth taking. Yes, many pictures were taken, but this says it all.

WHALES? I DON'T SEE ANY WHALES!

We capped our Carlsbad Adventure with a trip out of Oceanside Harbor to go see the migrating whales heading south for the winter (I thought birds did that!).

Here, Mom is enjoying the ride on the calm sea, with no hint of seasickness on the horizon.

We did manage to see a couple whales, but they only snorkeled - meaning they came to the surface to get air, but not to blow. One did, however, a few times, but both did not stick their tails in the air in their signature dive manuever.

After an hour of cruising on calm seas, we motored out 8 miles and ran into a school of 40 or more common dolphins (they act like flipper, but look like miniature versions of Orca). We steamed right through the school, and the dolphins played about the boat, jumping and somersaulting all around.

I'M A HYDRONAUT! (THAT MEANS WATER)

Colton tagged along with us to Legoland, California, and enjoyed himself almost as much as Becca. Although many of the rides were meant for little kids, at 13, Colton found rides more to his liking.

He went on the Hydronaut, which spins you around in a circle while friends on shore spend money and make underwater mortars send water bombs at you. This is one ride that gets you soaked compared to "Splash Battle", where you ride in pirate ships and shoot people with water guns.

Then there's the faster roller coasters that Becca didn't ride on, but Colton did - dragging Charles on the Dragon Coaster and Bizzy to the High Tech coaster.

LOOK AT ME! IT'S THE MIDDLE OF WINTER AND I'M ALL WET!

As the temps soared and reached 67, we decided to let Becca cool off in between rides at Legoland, California. We let her take her shoes off and run through the water fountains.

Don't worry . . . Mommy brought spare clothes along; which makes me wonder - did she know that Becca would get wet? Or, did she think . . .? Naw, that couldn't be it.

Anyways, Becca sure loves the water.

MY LEGOMAN IS TALLER THAN YOURS!

After New Year's, Bizzy, Charles, Becca, and Colton spent a day at Legoland, California, which, interestingly enough, is located in Carlsbad, California.

We spent the day touring the theme park; Becca went on her first roller coaster ride, her first Pirates Splash Battle water ride, and her first Hydronaut water ride. The temperatures approached 67, and we got lots of sun!

At the end of the day, Becca had her face painted and looked like a nice pink kitty!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA

After spending several days in windy Bullhead City, we headed out to Carlsbad, California, for New Year's on the beach.

Here, Becca adorns herself with New Year's Eve paraphernalia (yep! The same kind of stuff she used when she got into a war with Claude Eric last New Year's). We rang in the New Year's and spent the week sight-seeing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

After Grandpa Claude picked us up in Wikiup, Arizona, he delivered us to Grandma Jan's in Bullhead City, Arizona, so that we might spend Christmas with the Sanders Family.

Here, Claude Eric doth protest a bit when Bizzy snapped his picture (well, maybe just a smirk:). After a few tense moments when we thought Becca was going to shy away, she finally latched onto her uncle and pestered him non-stop through Arizona and California. She hadn't seen her Uncle Claude since last New Year's when the two battled it out with New Year's Eve paraphernalia and we thought the sticking of tongues out would continue, but the pestering prevailed and the love shined through!

The family spent Christmas Eve together. On Christmas Day, we toodled over to Laughlin, Nevada, and had dinner at Chris and Leslie's house. We spent a few days in Bullhead, taking a side trip to historic Oatman, Arizona, to let Becca feed the burros. Then, it was off to California!

THE RATLIFF's: THE NEXT GENERATION

The Ratliff kids got a chance to spend some time together and Becca experienced life (if only for a couple of days) around older cousins. Although she spends her summers with Colton when he visits Bass Lake, Becca spent the weekend before Christmas with (from left) Ailey (Larry and Kristy), Evan (Russ and Kira), Ashley (Lee and Monta) and Caius (Larry and Kristy), her Arizona cousins. She's invited the kids to Indiana when next the opportunity arises and looks forward to dunking Evan in the lake!

The rambunctious five took five so that we might snap this keepsake. Here, they are standing in front of Russ and Kira's fireplace in the family room of their new house. Russ and Kira now live quite near where we boys grew up in North Phoenix.

Having come from freezing weather, we experienced temperatures in the 50s and 60s in Arizona and California and loved every minute of it!

THE FOUR RATLIFF BROTHERS TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS!

We began our Christmas 2007 vacation with a quick trip to Phoenix to see the boys, whom we hadn't seen in almost two years. We finished the year on Dec. 21 and flew into Phoenix on Saturday, Dec. 22. Biz, Becca and I stayed at Russ and Kira's new house in North Phoenix for two days.

Then, on Christmas Eve, Russ, Kira and Evan drove us to Wikiup, Arizona, and passed us off to Grampa Sanders, who drove down from Bullhead City to take us the rest of the way to Grandma's House for the Holidays.

There were many people we desired to see, and didn't, but know that we love you all and will catch you on the next swing through.

All our love and Happy New Year!