The Bug and The Drama Queen

Holy Earthquake Brad-man!!

Yup.....we woke yesterday morning to the building shaking and stuff falling off the walls and out of my closet.

Talk about freaky!

I grabbed McKayla and ran out to the living room where Brad and Sammy were (Sammy is an early bird and it was Brad's turn to get up with him! :) ).

I said "did you feel that?? did you feel it this time??) "

Of course he was jumping up with sammy and his eyes were wide as saucers.
..duhhhhh....of course he felt it.

But what else do you do?!? My adreniline went from "0" (sleeping) to 150 in 1.2 seconds!

Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha Coffee?!

Who needs that!

Just have an earthquake! *rolls her eyes*

Anyway, it registered a 6.6 and the aftershock of 6.3. We actually had about 19 aftershocks...but the biggest was 6.3.

And I couldn't believe how long it lasted.

We shook for a good 6 seconds (try counting to 6 in your head going 1 one thousand...2.one thousand...etc...) It felt like forever. Sammy was excited....he couldn't believe it.

And then when the power went out about 2 minutes later....he was beyond excitment.

I ran out into the hall to see if my parents were o.k.........open the door....

PITCH BLACK.

The emergency lights in our building did NOT work. The emergency stairwells were also completely dark. It was crazy!! It also didn't help that we were under flash flood warnings AND it was raining like crazy so we had this huge dark cloud over the island!!

I ran and grabbed a flashlight......

no batteries.

*insert slight panick mode here*

Light a candle, and go to try and find batteries.

In walks sammy with his little tykes flashlight.

my hero

"i'll help you mommy"





We go to his room and grab his other little tykes workbench light. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE little tykes!

haha....no, really...in the end....thank goodness we had them...i had no batteries! *bad, unprepared mom* (well, to be fair, I DID have them, but we used them in one of McKayla's toys a while back)

O.K so here we are it's only 7:30 in the morning.....no power (which means no t.v *gasp...which means no football..*double gasp)...no water.....we hadnt eaten breakfast yet.....

O.k Now do you REALIZE just how much we rely on electricity???? I couldnt open the fridge or freezer to get waffles, or milk, or anything for that matter. I couldn't COOK anything as a microwave, toaster oven, and oven ALL require.......electricity.

So, we were left with canned goods and some boxed stuff. Canned good consisted of veggies, tuna, spaghetti sauce, etc...NOTHING you could really eat as a meal...let alone serve to a 4 year old! (I can see it now....Hey sammy guess what?? you are so lucky...you get to have sardines for breakfast!! WHAT?? You dont want any?? why not?) The boxed stuff was gummies and sides for meals...stuffing, noodles etc... No bread....*sigh* So for breakfast he had dry cereal.

We (Brad and I) had nothing.

2 hours later he is understandably hungry again! (now there is NO worse feeling in the world then having your child say they are hungry and having NO idea what you can feed them) We finally resorted to boiling water over an oil lantern! I have a picture to prove it! (coming later today after I can get to downloading them)

Hey, desperate times call for despereate measures. We had plenty of bottled water so I put it in a pot, and Brad held it over the flame until it got hot enough for oatmeal (dinosaurs as Sammy calls it). It took about 25 min....but at least Sammy got to eat.....and we got a good laugh. (ignore the beer belly :) tee hee)




Brad and I still hadn't eaten anything, though we check the cupboards and pantry every 15 minutes to see if anything magically appeared that wasnt there the first 100 times we checked.

Sammy is bored.....McKayla doesnt notice anything other than she gets her brothers attention more.....Brad is bored...and I am .....well, bored.

And frankly....

I'll take that ANYDAY!

So the day wears on....still no power....no water....no music.....

just us.

Brad and I are STARVING. We debate weather to walk to the store (they actually open them here with no power... if you have cash...you form a line and they take you in individually with an employee and a flashlight and you "shop") But you are limited to what and how much they let you buy.

I needed bread or SOMETHING to eat and feed the kids (thank goodness McKayla is still nursing and I had baby food) But then we hear on the radio...no one is allowed out. You can be arrested. so, that was out of the question.......NOT......my kids are hungry!!...Brad got in the truck and went anyway....

only to come back and tell me there are about 200 people in line.

So, we wait

and wait

and wait.

Brad builds a fort for the kids to play in. Boy do they have a BLAST!!! It must have entertained them for a good hour....Sammy wanted to keep his room that way....yeah right!

Meanwhile I fret at what to feed them. *getting kinda touchy at this point with no food* Its about 3 pm now.

Well, to make a long story short...the power came back on around 7:30....*gets down on knees and Thanks God*.....Sammy was SO excited i WISH I could have had video of him....he was like "we did it mommy...we did it...the power is back!!" And he ran in circles whoopin and hollerin...it was SOOOOOOOOOO cute!

We also went on the lanai and Sammy and I yelled "thank you" to the power people who left their families to come into work and help us. YOU GUYS ARE SUCH A BLESSING! They waved back....I hope we made them smile....they brought more out (more electricians) so we could yell thank you to them. :) *to explain we live next to hawaiian electric....so we saw them sending people out to help (trucks and such)* After they got our lights on they went outside to call their families on their cell phones and were standing around......so we decided to let them know we appreciated it. And BOY DID WE! I think they appreciated the appreciation! tee hee.

So I whipped up a quick dinner of corn dogs, grapes, chips and mac-n-cheese. It tasted like steak and potatoes we were so hungry! :)

After that....we were exhausted....so Kayla went down, and then Sammy soon followed.

Brad and I stayed up to watch Amazing Race...and then I hit the sack as well.

What day....emotionally....

Guys.....things happen....

things we have NO CONTROL over....

it is SO important that you realize that your life can change AT ANY MOMENT!

And live like it!

Thank the people around you.....
help someone with their groceries....
don't go to bed angry...
or if someone stops to smile at your child....STOP...have a conversation with them....you may make their day.
Hug your child tighter...
have more patience....
call your mom.

Whatever it is that you may take for granted or don't do often enough...do me a favor....when you are done reading this....do something nice for someone else~

You would make my day!