Our First California Earthquake

We felt our first California earthquake today! Ok, so we have felt little tremors a few times already, but living in California on the 1st floor of a house is different than living on the 14th floor of an apartment building in Tokyo. In Tokyo, we felt a little shaking about once a week. Here, not so much.

I wasn't even going to blog about it until I received a concerned call from a friend. So, here I am posting saying that we are ok.

What happened? I guess there was a 5-point-something earthquake about 40 miles from here. Things started wiggling, there was earthquake noise, things kept wiggling, so I recalled my PBS "Preparing for a Quake" instructions and went under our table since I didn't know how long it would last. Things wiggled for a little longer, then stopped.

Dan was at work on the 3rd floor. I guess things were a little more exciting up there.
Will and Alex are at school. I'm sure Will thought it was funny. I'll ask him later.

Merry-Go-Round Videos

Plywood Test

Yes, Will gets to be the 1 boy in the tap dance class.

Rotation Test

A new, unapproved use for the Bumbo chair

Spinning Wheel of Doom

As the parent of 2 boys, I probably don't have to go out of my way to find a new activity they can injure themselves with. And now, with the addition of the Spinning Wheel of Doom to our backyard, I don't have to look far at all...Yup, that's right, we now have a merry-go-round in our backyard. How many other people can say that? Why do we have a merry-go-round? Well, one day, my dad thought, "Why don't I build a merry-go-round?" So he had some metal worker friends create this awesome merry-go-round shaft with super strong bearings that are similar to those found in cars.

Merry-go-round?

Of course, Will wasn't quite sure what the merry-go-round shaft was. However, his Grandpa involved him in the entire creation process.

Receiving wood supplies

Yup, we continue to insist on using our car for tasks that it was not designed for. We will get something else eventually, don't worry.

Measuring

Power Saw Use

Inspecting Base

Rotation Test

Dan Gets Involved Too

Just Needs Paint (Robin?)

Don't worry, videos are coming soon.