if you get annual passes to a water park for Christmas and go on December 29!  We went down to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park in Kapolei, HI.  It was 81degrees F (27.2 C) with blue skies out today.  We applied sunblock, brought our towels and an old POS, oops Point and Shoot camera along for the ride.

Jordan, do you want to go and slide?

Jalen on his favorite “green” slide:

Jordan and dad riding the cool blue slide;

want to hear something funny about the camera I used today?  I opened up the memory stick to see how big it is … it’s 512 MB.  I ask Troy, do we have any larger Memory Sticks? he says check the little case… inside the case: a 32 MB, 64MB, 128MB. ha! so the 512 is the largest one we have for this camera.  funny how technology grows in leaps and bounds.  I have an 8 gig memory card in my cell phone!

We had a great Christmas, we were so glad that Troy was able to come home early from duty on Christmas eve, just in time to help tuck in the littles and say bedtime prayers.  Jalen was excited to see that Santa ate all the cookies, and took the carrots we left for the Reindeer.  Both boys got remote control toys, books and games.  Jalen even got his own real camera.  He’s been flashing away at everything.  I woke up early one morning wondering if there was lighting only to find out it was my paparazzo son.  I need to impress the benefits of natural light photography with that boy!  Mostly we just enjoyed each other’s company lazing around.  On the day after Christmas, we went to my mom’s house for spaghetti and meatballs and to exchange gifts with my family.  It was a nice time eating dinner and then as we were almost done opening presents there was a lightning/thunder storm off in the distance.  and all of a sudden around 6:30 pm the power went out.  looking out the picture window, we could see all of Kaneohe was dark.  We waited to see if the power would come back on, but it didn’t .  I got on my cell phone and opened up twitter.  I started reading aloud all the tweets. power out in aiea. mililani out too.  looks like the whole island is out. again (like the earthquake in 06) we waited and waited and eventually decided to make the journey home.  luckily we had very few traffic lights to deal with, most of the drive is on the freeway.  We pulled out Jalen’s new speaker i bought for his ipod and plugged it up to a mini am/fm radio and listened to talk radio most of the night.  **here’s a note to the stupid people of the world, don’t call into the radio station to confirm your stupidity! no one else wants to hear it!** people were actually calling in to ask if they should go to work.  like the radio dj’s were a better authority than common sense, or their bosses?!  Troy and I dragged Jordan’s full sized mattress into our bedroom so the boys could sleep in the same room with us.  we played go fish by candle light and all went to sleep by the sound of the radio.

the power flickered on twice before finally staying on the third time around 16 hours after going out.  I was glad to have my cell phone to keep up with news on twitter and #hipower.  I was also glad that Troy boiled water on the grill so I could make some french press coffee. :)  I was really glad that the boys had brand new toys with fresh batteries to play with and keep them happy too :) I was really really glad when it came back on.

Items to have on hand for a power outtage: food that does not need to be cooked. flashlights, battery powered radios, water. entertainment- books, toys, games.  Things I’d like to get before the next outtage:  power for recharging cell phone.  better battery powered lights/lanterns.  a camp stove to cook on the driveway. a tea kettle to boil water for cup o noodles and coffee! a generator to power the fridge/freezer would be nice too.

Here is a shot of Jalen reading by candle light on 12/26:

I hope you’re all doing well out in the world.  I am currently thinking about my word for 2009…. although I think diligent could still apply, i may choose another word. are you thinking about it?  Have a great day!

Love Love,

Joscie, rhymes with bossy!