End of January

January treated us well. We are having a drought in Hawaii, which means cooler, dry weather. This is nice, but because we live where it usually rains buckets there are tens of thousands of people who live with catchment systems. This means we catch the roof run-off in huge tanks and use it for household use. Because we live close to an active volcano we have acid rain, so it isn't exactly the purest stuff on earth. And because we live in the tropics there are all sorts of strange bacteria and virus' that do super nasty stuff. We don't drink our catchment water, due to the very remote possibility that an African snail could come in contact with a rat and then crawl over our roof. Somehow the combination of the two can result in a disease that no one on earth wants to endure. Seriously, one must consider these things when living in the balmy world of no winter.

The sum of this is: when it doesn't rain, we have to pay attention to how much water we have in our huge tank. We never even got very low, but there are water tankers working over-time in the area. For a couple hundred bucks a person can call up Ace's Water Hauling (or any of the other companies) for a water delivery. In a drought, when everyone starts ordering water, delivery can take a week or two. That's a long time to be without flushing toilets or showers, and so any time we have a drought, Puna goes into a low-key panic.

The irony is, the last time we had a drought in our area (which lasted about six weeks) a storm hit. The drought ended in a three week deluge, with about thirty inches of rain falling. You really gotta roll with it around here.

Last weekend my brother, Chris, came for a visit. It was a nice weekend, some surfing, sailing, family dinner, and a BBQ. We went out on my Dad's sailboat to see if we could find some whales. There were literally dozens of whales, but they were shy. They would come cruising by and then disappear. I took some pictures, but the whales look somewhat like little black smudges against the expanse of blue ocean. Chris and I both dove off the boat, but that was a little weird. Being in blue-water is something of an odd feeling. The water gets very clear, and very blue. It's a strange feeling being that far from shore and surrounded by so much ocean. Neither of us spent much time in the water. I think that a person would have to get used to that sort of thing.

We're having a mellow Sunday. Last night we all went to dinner at our friends' house and ended up staying out late. Emi was a bit accusatory. She said, "What? It's ten? Why did you let us stay out so late?" I said it was because they seemed like they could handle it, but she still was peeved, so I changed my story and said that we were really trying to just make her miserable. I think she preferred to believe the later reason.

The real reason we stayed out was this: Irma, our friend, makes the best salsa. And when she cooks, she makes a feast. So it takes about five hours just to be able to really enjoy all the diverse food she makes. I came home a few pounds heavier, and wanting to start the evening all over again in order to fit in more of her food. Last night she made something called Sope, which is common in Mexico City where she is from.

Back in School

School started up, after a long vacation. Emi wasn't too thrilled but she was happy to see her teacher and friends. Both this week and last were pretty mellow for Charlie and I. We played games and read books, took a library trip, went into town for a TB test. In Hawaii, TB testing is an annual event for most employment. School kids only need to get it every few years. Charlie was relieved that it was me getting a shot and not him and I didn't have the heart to inform him that he'll be getting his own TB test before he starts kindergarten. He's already dealing with plenty of other information: you can't take all your clothes off when you go to the bathroom. You can't pee in the bushes outside at school. You have to wipe yourself if the situation demands wiping. You have to wear underwear. He's okay with all of it, even the underwear stuff. He's a practical kid, but he is also very resistant to change. Hence the fact that he is getting kindergarten information a good seven months before he needs to apply said information.

I also started my classes, which promise to be interesting. One is based on computer and technology use in education and by the end of the class I should be able to blog, among other things. I'm happy that I'm at least a little ahead of the curve.

This picture is of Emi her first day back at school. She dressed up and wore her watch and a pretty new necklace. She's been like that lately: more aware of looking a certain way, even if that certain way means she wears her new striped leggings (blue and black) with a red and gold polka dot dress. She drew a picture today of herself as a teenager, complete with henna type tattoo design along the side of her face (thanks, Mermadia Barbie.....) and purple and gold hair. She said, "Will it drive you crazy when I have hair like this?" My response? "Honey, you drive us crazy even when you don't have gold and purple hair." She takes great pleasure in that fact. It's part of her Emi-ness: being able to make her parents crazy. She just wouldn't be who she is if she wasn't a technicolor girl.

Happy New Years!

Ahh, Christmas. It came in with a flurry. It was like trying to brake a run-away truck once Emi and Charlie woke up and realized what was happening, which took all of thirty seconds or so. It was a fun day, with Christmas morning at home, then Aaron went to play basketball with my Dad and John and Peter. Emi did art and craft projects, Charlie played with action figures and goo. He got this one action figure that shoots goo out of his hand once you load its back with the stuff. Then we had dinner at our house with Mom and family, and Dad and his girlfriend, Jeannie. It was a nice evening.

The next day we headed over to Hapuna to wear ourselves out, which we succeeded in doing. The surf was up, the waves were pounding the beach, and I came home with my arms actually sore from holding on to a boogie board and trying to not let the waves rip it away from me. Aaron dug a huge hole in the sand and the kids played until sunset.

New Years Eve, in Hawaii, means fireworks. We ended up having a spontaneous block party at dusk last night, with neighbors strolling by and stopping to watch the show. Amazing how a few bucks worth of pyrotechnics can make a party! We celebrate on East Coast time, which means the fireworks started at dusk (around 6:15 or so) and they were all over by 8. This includes the time spent with sparklers (Emi's favorite) and smoke bombs (Charlie's favorite). This morning Emi got an invite to go to a movie with a friend, which almost made her Friday chores worthwhile....

Last week Charlie also lost his first tooth. He had a crooked tooth ever since he was a year old and knocked one of his front teeth sideways. The dentist said that the root was probably damaged and he actually expected it to fall out a lot earlier. Now Charlie will most likely have one front tooth missing for the next year or two! It never was a loose tooth, either, it just sort of fell on out.

Charlie and Aaron are off to the park, I'm going to think about starting dinner. Happy New Year to everyone!