Just another day in paradise...

Well, we are back from Hawaii and are pretty much back in the groove of things here. We had a really good trip, I think the biggest highlight was that Courtney and Daniel met us there. It was fun to see them, and we are scheming our way to get the whole family out there together some time when we are all filthy rich :) I won't bore you with a day by day recap... but there was one story worth writing down.

Our first night there, we were woken up at 4 o'clock with a crying baby... and then gave up on trying to go back to sleep when at about 4:30, a rooster in the backyard started cock-a-doodle- do'ing. We rented a very small one bedroom apartment that was part of a house on the beach. We all joked about killing the rooster so we could get some decent sleep the next night.

So when at 3 am Saturday morning we heard someone banging on the door of the house next door, and heard a lady yelling, "hey- get up! Answer the door!" Me and Charles looked at each other, livid. Who was this lady, and does she realize what time it is. We caught a few pieces of their rushed conversation and a moment later had a knock on our own door.

We were informed of the earthquake in Chile, and told to pack our bags and get some food and water ready, because there was a tsunami coming. We had a few hours before the sirens would sound and the official evacuation would begin. After our informant left, we all huddled up, and immediately got on our knees and prayed for safety.

After another hour or two, we were all packed up, and spent about $80 at 7-11, the only place open, so we had some water... beef jerky and granola bars. (lucky for us, we didn't have to live off of jerky and granola bars for a week)

We headed up to an LDS church up in the hills, and parked our car, and started our 10 hour wait for this Tsunami to hit. We were just minutes from the shore, and had a great view of whatever was going to happen. After about 5 hours, Charles' Aunt and Uncle called and said they were coming to get us, and take us to their house, just up the road. We went to their house (not knowing that it was even lower, and closer to the water). When we saw where it was, we decided we would say hi, and then leave a good 30 minutes before the tsunami was supposed to hit the big island.

Well, when we got there, we started watching the news, and getting a better idea of what was going on. It had already hit in Tahiti, and was only 6 feet there, and would die down even more before it hit us. So we decided to wait and see what happened on the big island, and then if it was a big one, we could walk the 5 minutes back to the church parking lot in time to be safe. Besides... they were grilling chicken and corn, who can pass up a good lunch?

Before long, the estimated time came and went, and nothing happened. We saw a little bit of a tide change a few times, but nothing big. After about another hour, they had called off the warning and we could head back to the beach. I think the official tsunami was 3 feet or something like that.

It was a big scare... but luckily for us, that is all it was. It was quite an experience, and one we will not soon forget. It was a good reminder of why we should be prepared for emergencies that may happen wherever we live.

I'll spare you from the hundreds of pictures from our trip. If you really want to see, I put them on facebook here and here. They should be public links, so you don't have to have facebook to see them (I don't think).