Looking back on 2011

What a year it was!  It started off slow.  We moved into Goderich in November of 2010 so this time last year we were just settling in.  January, February and March were spent redecorating and organizing the house and just loving living in town.  It was great not to have to worry about what the weather was going to be like.  Living in town means that even if there were roads closed in the country we could still walk to the library or go visit friends.
Spring brought the construction of Rob's workshop in the backyard. 

Before

During

Almost done, needs a few finishing touches.

The start of the summer meant lots of:

swimming

beautiful sunsets

and fun times camping (I guess from Nick's face even dishes are fun when you are camping).

In August the boys went to spend a week at Nana & Papa's in Guelph while Rob and I went on a vacation by ourselves.  Rob and I were off to Mackinac Island, Michigan.  We spent Sunday August 21st getting to our destination.  In total we were on the road 12 hours (including our horrible ferry ride to the island).  We checked into our hotel, I had a brief nap (because I was so sea sick from the ferry ride) and we decided that we would go for supper.  Before we left I thought I had better email Dad and let everyone know that we made it to our destination safely.  I opened up the computer and on the front page of Yahoo it said "SW Ontario Town Destoyed by Storm," I clicked on it and it was Goderich that was destroyed. 

A tornado had ripped through Goderich around 4:00pm.  It had come off of Lake Huron, went right through the centre of town and out the other side.  One person died.  After numerous attempts to contact people in Goderich we finally found out our house was okay but many friends had lost their homes.

We wanted to turn around and head straight home again but the last ferry for the day had already left.  On Monday morning we found out that the police weren't letting people into town even if you lived there so there was no sense going home then.  We stayed and tried to see some of the island. 

No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island.  You travel by foot, bike or horse.

Mackinac Bridge - from shore line to shore line it is 8 km (5 miles) long.

We headed home on Tuesday morning.  We stopped in Flint Michigan for lunch and felt an earthquake while we were there!  We spent the rest of our holiday helping friends and neighbours clean up.  It was hot, tiring and overwhelming but we couldn't continue on our holiday while there was so much going on at home. 

Later that week we got great news though...Daco and Jen had a beautiful baby boy!

Nana & Jack Carlo Zoethout

September came and the boys went back to school, Jake in Grade 5 French and Nick in Grade 2 French.  Rob spent a lot of weekends helping friends repair their houses and yards from the tornado damage.  The Courthouse was damaged in the tornado so my office was relocated to the Auburn Patrol Yard.  (Yes, I know, ironic.)  We stayed there until mid December, luckily the weather held out and it was a nice drive all but one day.

The tornado has left a lasting effect on all of us.  Everyone is on edge when the winds get high, tornados have worked their way into the kids play and it will be years until the downtown will be normal again.  A lot of businesses have relocated but not all and we are missing them.  Some days it is really depressing to drive around and see all of the buildings that are just shells waiting to come down.  Other days you drive around and see all of the new construction going on and everything feels good.  How you view the town just depends on the day I guess.



All in all it was a relatively good year for our family and we look forward to a great 2012!