I survived Hawaii tsunami 2010.

0600-Sleeping through the sirens.This is what those who fail to hearken look like.0700-Awake...no, that's not the tsunami. It's her hair.

Just after the sirens sounded at 6am, I walked down to the Point to see how the water looked. Things looked calm. All of the weekend fishermen (all of the cars parked on the Point) were gone about 30 minutes later. There was also a plane flying around announcing what was happening and advising citizens get to higher ground.

09:15-Though no official evacuation statement had been made, our bishop and stake president sent out a mass email early this morning for all members to evacuate to Temple Hill. As I was walking back from the Point, our elderly Patriarch neighbor was out knocking on doors to warn our other neighbors...he's awesome. We also received a phone call from our home teacher to warn us to get to Temple Hill. The Church is TRUE. Here are some of the cars parked outside the temple from the mass exodus to higher ground.09:30 (11:35 tsunami estimated time of arrival). People just waiting around to see what happened next. It was kind of like Fourth of July...hiking to the highest spot in town, people singing, lounging on the lawn, listening to music, chewing on freeze-dried goods from their 72-hour kits (I guess that part's not too much like the Fourth). Like fireworks shows, we waited in anticipation...knowing generally when things were to begin, but not exactly when or how grand.A view of the ocean from Temple Hill.

The rest is boring, fortunately. We returned home, and made some tsumani BLT's. I can only imagine what tomorrow's Church lessons will be about.

LA'IE FALLS

We woke up Saturday and decided the beach needed a break, so we headed 5 minutes (literally) inland for some hiking. The preface to the hike (see sign below) was a little daunting as were the pictures posted along the trail of a hiker gone missing (see what Boe is looking at). We had already packed our homemade burritos and celery sticks and Kenz was sure we were going to see some princesses in the forest, so we pressed forward. This area was 30 min into the hike. The dead, white needles that hung on the trees and lay on the ground blurred the surroundings, creating the illusion that your eyes were out of focus. In addition to the surreal lighting, I felt like I was on a fake movie set.
This is looking back somewhere between the Scrambling Hills and Pine Forest portion of the hike. If you zoom in, just right of the mid line is Laie Point.

Approaching the Pine Forest.

The Cook Pines. Indigenous to New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines in the South Pacific.

The mountain on either side of the path is so steep the trees have a hard time resisting gravity. That's why this picture looks crooked.

I was afraid K's little brain was getting all jumbled as we treaded over the increasingly treacherous terrain, so we ditched the wagon-cart and Boe carried her the rest of the way. Kenz and I digging into the food rations.

Finally...the Falls. After two hours of hiking, I was expecting something a little more spectacular, more along the lines of Niagara.

The anticlimactic hike back home.

The Bird Man

Went to the International Marketplace in Waikiki this weekend. If you make eye contact with any of the vendors they begin pitching sales in all sorts of languages, so be wary. Located within the ever so overwhelming marketplace is The Bird Man, who places one or more of his tropical birds on suspecting or unsuspecting persons for a small price. Kenzie was half terrified (keeping her eyes clenched shut), half so excited she could hardly stand it (smiling and giggling uncontrollably) with the bird on her shoulder. Of course as soon as the bird was off of her shoulder she wanted it back on.

Do you remember how good Mac N Cheese is? K would eat it for every meal if she could. Pickles are a close second.