Lightening Crashes

Friday night we were out having dinner with some friends at Lucy's Restaurant in Kailua when all of a sudden the whole place went dark. Our table immediately erupted in song... Happy Birthday for our friend we were celebrating... and the whole restaurant joined it. FUN!

But then we realized that this wasn't just a little power out on the block... heard it was the whole island... and immediately wondered if we were being attacked by terrorists who were out to get our President Elect who was staying right down the road from the restaurant... Stop saying that! I actually felt better knowing that it was a bolt of lightening that struck one of Hawaiian Electric's transformers that caused all the electric on the island to go out.

Regardless, I had to drive my precious daughter home on the streets with no lights... all traffic lights were supposed to be 4 way stops but since people apparently forget all rules and cease to have any dignity when the lights are out, it was a stressful drive for me. Moana clearly picked up on my nervousness because she screamed bloody murder the whole way home (that didn't help).

Good thing my husband is so prepared for a power outage. Last time this happened (2006) and I was alone I'm not even sure I had a candle to light. But thanks to him, we had emergency lights, an emergency radio, and a camping stove to heat up our water for coffee on Saturday morning. Yes, the power was out until after noon on Saturday...

It can actually be fun to camp in your own house with your new little family. Good thing Santa brought that cool new tent for Moana!

So that's what Moana got for her 2 month birthday... her first power outage! She survived no problem. So did the cats, who seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal.

Today, Mike and I were riding back from the north shore* when we saw 3 police cars, followed by a long black limo, followed by 2 more police cars, followed by a small passeger bus, followed by 3 more police cars. I was ready to turn around and follow Obama back to the north shore, but considering we had 45 miles already in the legs and no more food/money, I'm sure I would have bonked before getting to shake his hand. Note to self: Put a $20 bill in your flat kit.

*Before anyone on the mainland and currently dealing with snowstorms gets all jealous of the fact that I can ride 56 miles outside in a sleeveless jersey in December, keep in mind that for the first half of the ride I was being pelted so hard by huge raindrops that it felt like I was being beaten by hail. Talk about hardening up...