Weather Warnings

I woke up last Friday to a text asking if we were going to be okay, with the wall of water heading our way. I was confused a little. I didn't see anything about a big storm heading our way. Then I checked the news on my phone and saw the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Then I turned on the television to hear about the tsunami warnings in our area.

I wasn't worried about us. There is a line of mountains directly between us and the ocean. There is a bay near us but it would still be hard for the water to get through to the bay and then to here. We're down in the lower bay area.

While I wasn't worried about us, I was still glued to the news throughout the day. Some lower regions along the coast were evacuated and the highways clogged. Some people went out to see what was going on and get pictures. One of those guys was actually knocked over and pulled out to sea. Some of the harbors were destroyed. There was a clip of a distraught woman on the news that sticks with me. She clearly was wealthy and upset about the boats getting destroyed but since some of those boats were homes I can see how is was upsetting.

That of course pales in comparison to the destruction in Japan. I saw a clip last night of people wandering through the wreckage while it was snowing and I just can't imagine what it must be like. There are lots of videos out there, but I thought the six minute clip (that now I can't find) really showed the tsunami best. I figured it would be a huge wave that came in (thanks, Hollywood) but these six minutes show the destruction totally differently.

Today, as we are getting ready for lunch, Full House was interrupted with a tornado warning. This one threw me for a loop for two reasons. First, they have tornadoes here? What? Second, where do we go in this shrinky dink house? I texted Chris and informed him of the warning and that we would be in the coat closet.

I thought that when we moved here our biggest concern would be an earthquake. The Big One is coming and California will float away from the rest of the continental US. Tsunamis should be expected, I just didn't know that. Tornadoes though?

Side note: I really should get an earthquake kit together.

I Lost Chris's Heart

For the Valentine's Day during the time I was pregnant with Xander (2007, for those of you not keeping score), Chris decided he wanted to buy me a special ring. He doesn't buy me jewelry very often and I don't feel the need to have a large collection of expensive baubles. The thought of Chris wanting to get me something nice before the our firstborn arrived appealed to me.

Chris was able to design a ring on a website. He chose a sapphire for the center (my birthstone) and emeralds shaped as hearts on either side (his birthstone). A ring to symbolize how I'm the center of his heart. Squish!

I wasn't able to wear it through the end of the pregnancy. I was scared to wear it while Xander was newborn for fear of scratching him. I was able to wear it when he was a little bigger. Then I was pregnant with Josie and the same order of events occurred.

I've been wearing this ring for a couple months now when tragedy struck Friday morning. I realized one of the green hearts was missing. I have no idea when it fell out and there is no sign of it anywhere in the house (which doesn't mean much).


I'm sad that it is gone. But not as freaked out as when I thought I'd lost my diamond wedding earrings when we moved. Chris said he'll buy me a new ring and at the time I replied "Why, I'll just lose it too" but I wasn't serious. Hint, hint.

Date Night!

Lori and Dave, my friends from Ohio, decided to vacation in California last week and were kind enough to visit us for a couple days. I feel a little bad that we didn't do anything exciting together but they did say they were tired from days of sight seeing. We treated them to sitting in our living room and going to the playground a couple times.

They were kind enough to repay us with babysitting! Whee! Freedom for an entire evening! Date time! And we were specifically told to stay out as late as we wanted.

Chris and I headed for dinner first and, despite Chris subtly asking for a burger and beer, we ended up at a nice Chinese restaurant called Chef Chu's. The kids don't do well with rice or noodles so I figured we should take advantage of it while we could. There are all sorts of celebrity pictures along the wall of the waiting section. Turns out the son of the owner is a movie director. I was especially entralled by the large Justin Bieber (oh, I had to look up how to spell that!) Never Say Never poster.

We debated going to see a movie but settled instead on bowling! It has been forever since I've been bowling. When I was little my family would go a few times a year. At various stages my grandparents and parents have been involved in leagues. I was a gutter ball queen in those early years but too stubborn to allow bumpers to be put in.

Imagine my surprise as I managed to get a couple strikes, several spares and even scored 101 in my second game. If only I had found a better ball, I could have gotten a turkey! (That's three strikes in a row for those who don't remember their grade school bowling lesson.) (What, you didn't have bowling in gym class? Heathen.)

At one point during the evening the little girl a couple lanes over from us was playing with her bowling ball and dropped it. Of course it rolled right over into our lane and down into the gutter. It proceeded to roll most of the way down, stop, start to roll back towards us, then stop completely. We had to ask an employee to get it. He kidded me about not throwing it hard enough when he went to hand the ball back to me at which point I told him it was the little girl's ball. Her mom made her apologize and I yelled at her for ruining my concentration. Just kidding, I wanted to see if you were still paying attention.

After bowling, Chris and I picked up a couple desserts and headed home. It wasn't a late night out, because the kids will still be up at 6 am, but it was so nice just to be out together and not feel rushed, harried or pestered.

Any of you planning on visiting us better be prepared for some serious children time.