You can feel the excitement as you read through the news feed on facebook…

“It’s absolutely dumping outside!!! #itsrainingsideways”

“OMG!!! That’s the loudest thunder I’ve EVER heard…it rocked the entire building, but Kiara is still sound asleep!!! #BOOM”

“Grab two of every animal and some lumber, L.A.. Apparently Noah’s flood was just a practice run. #torrentialdownpour #holymoly”

It’s a rare treat when we have a day of rain in Los Angeles.  It doesn’t happen very often.  As a matter of fact, it rains so infrequently that I can promise my kids hot chocolate with marshmallows on rainy days and not worry about them having it too often.  And today there was even thunder and lightning.  All activity stopped inside to marvel at the wonder of the pouring rain, thunder, and lightning.  We were hunkered down inside with a major storm going on outside, according to our LA minds at least.

We had expected this rain.  We’re doing construction outside so we are aware of the lack of gutters and openings to the inside.  Often though, I am caught off guard by the rain.  The weather doesn’t vary much here in Southern California so I don’t look at the weather forecast too often.  I didn’t even have rain boots or a rain jacket until recently.

Today’s downpour produced a minor flood on our street.  Doobie, the 5 year old, got great excitement watching the cars drive through the flood and spray water so high he couldn’t even see the car.  When the rain let up a little, we headed outside with a shovel to do our neighborhood a service and try to clear the drains.  He was thrilled to don his spider rain boots and rain jacket for the job.

After surveying the damage, he eagerly got to work trying to remove the debris in the drains that was blocking the water.

It was hard work digging through to the drain but so much fun to watch the water gush down afterwards.

Slowly, but surely, he made progress.  It was fun to watch the whirlpools form as he was able to clear away some debris.  It was tough work. The debris was heavy in that water but he wanted no help from me.  After clearing drain #1, he worked on drain #2 on the other side of the street.

Piling the debris up on the sidewalk so another flood won't happen again if it rains more

Once the debris was piled up on the sidewalk, he was ready to get back inside for a nice, long, hot bath. And then he got back into his pjs which he’d been wearing all day long before that.  He was also quick to remind me of the hot chocolate, but I didn’t have any more mix so I promised him some, with extra marshmallows (which is a real rare treat), at breakfast tomorrow.  Grumpily, he accepted that.