Heart of Gold

Scene: Driving in the BayZhayVay (Big Green Van) to Cole's 1st birthday party At Bellows. "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young playing on the CD player

Lily: "Dad, is this Neil?"

Me: "Yep. This is Neil Young."

Jake: "Heart of Gold....what's a heart of gold?"

M: "Well, I think he's not really looking for a heart made of gold, but probably somebody to love."

J: "Or a heart of gold?"

M (aside): "Yeah or that"

L: "Dad...Is Neil still alive?"

M (pondering whether or not to explain that recently NY underwent emergency surgery to correct a malformed blood vessel in his brain that might have ruptured at any moment leading to a fatal aneurism): "Yep, he's still alive."

L: "Dad, what does Neil's hair look like...?"

M: "Well, I think he keeps it kinda like mine...not too long and not too short. I don't think it's black....probably dark brown."

L: "Dad, does Neil have any kids?"

J: "Heart of *unintelligible* (laughter)"

M (pondering whether or not to explain that against nearly astronomically high odds, both of NY sons were born with cerebral palsy) : "Yep, two sons I think" (*NOTE: on further examiniation, 2 sons and one daughter.)

L (dejectedly): "Oh"

M: "Um..."

L: "Is he married?"

M: "Yeah."

L (more dejectedly): "Oh"

M: "Why?"

L: "I think I wanted to marry Neil Young."

J: "Heart of...doodoo (laughter)"

The Quake

Everybodys fine.

Now that I have that out of the way DAMN THAT WAS SCARY.

Seriously. If that was 6.6 and each decimal point is 10 times bigger....one more decimal point and I was gonna be running out of the house in my underwear scared bigtime. With the kids of course...I grabbed the nearest one to me and started out of the bedroom. And the only thing that kept me inside the house at all was Kim and Lily already in the door jamb of my bedroom, blocking Jake and my egress.

That was a looooong 15 seconds, followed about 10 minutes later by a very noticable aftershock.

We had power for about 10 more minutes then, BOOM - 18 hours of no mo juice.

Kim was great - she had Lily in art therapy before lunchtime (see above) - that's us, and Sally Sparkle hiding in the door jamb. While I think my kid is a great artist, her rendering lacks a certain, shall we say, terror, that was surely on the growups faces.

Got a call from Al (born and bred Bay Area) who called it "Moderate". Translated for the non-Californians = BIG.

The rest of the day was a grim post-apocalyptic struggle of survival against gangs of motorcycle riding, mowhawked, crossbow-armed psycopaths.

Wait. That's Road Warrior.

Actually, we sat at home trying on Hollween costumes, picking flowers in the garden, painting, playing games, talking tectonics, and learning about why electricity is just about the greatest thing EVER.

No lights on Alewa

In case you can't remember
this is what a normal night looks like from last year.

Waiing for the lights

Getting ready for Halloween

Having fun

Not exactly scary

Fun with the mask

Lily and her little brother monstor

2lbs 10 oz. of fun

Fun with flashlights

More flashlight fun

Cruising at Ala Moana

Fun with water colors

Pikake picking

Handsome

Hipster goofus

Apres shave ice

Fiona (l), Lily (c), and Jake (r) riding

Passport photo: China in December - stay tuned

Bumper crop of pikake (jasmine)

Scarfing up mom's homemade haupia sweet potato pie

Somewhat retouched sunset

Halloween pratice

Go!

Last Friday, Kim had a meeting on Maui to attend - helping navigate the planning of a solar telescope on Haleakalā - and Lily didn't have school that day...so Jake and I ditched school and work and we all took a trip to another island on Go! Airlines. Kim persevered and snagged the $19 each way fares for all of us so it wound up almost as cheap as a trip to the waterpark !

Added a new plane to my lifelist (do people have these? if not they should) - CRJ 200 . Brand spanking new I might add.

While Kim was listening to testimonies, the three of us plus Dano, Ekela, Kuanoni, Kalei and Tutu went to the 84th annual Maui County Fair....along with the entire county of Maui - MAN that place was packed! Rode rides, ate junk food, walked around - never got to see the ginormous pumpkin though :( - otherwise a classic county fair experience.

NOTE: Go! is owned by Mesa Airlines....I know this guy who used to fly for Mesa, but then he moved to Memphis when he got a job with FedEx - hooooo weee!

Still psyched to fly

Already a jaded traveller

Uncle Dano's trampoline !

Pigtail fun with Tutu

Lily closeup

Indoor track meet

Riding with Uncle Dano and Lily

Carousel fun

Jake, Kuanoni, Kalei and some random dude who gets in other people's pictures

Chopper pilot Jake with co-pilot Uncle Dano

Even excited while waiting in line

Cousin in a chokehold