Tsunami

Around 11:30 PM on March 10, we awoke to a loudspeaker announcement in our hotel room. I didn't even know there was a loudspeaker in the room! They didn't give us much info, but asked us to stay in our rooms. Once they announced that we would have a vertical evacuation, we thought we would have to leave, but they meant that everyone on the fourth floor and higher could stay put. Since we were on the fourth floor, we were supposed to be okay. The wave was anticipated to hit around 3 AM. Before that, they made numerous announcements about staying in your room and filling up the bathtub in case our water got shut off. The kids slept through all of the LOUD announcements.

By 4 AM, we realized that, luckily, Oahu had dodged a bullet. So we went to sleep. Of course, the kids, who had a full night's sleep, were raring to go in the morning. We were still restricted to our rooms, so we dug out all of our leftovers and snacks to have a picnic. I was so thankful that I had ordered fruit the night before. By 9 AM, we were allowed to leave our rooms.

We were happy that Hawaii wasn't affected (much) by the tsunami, but kept a close watch on what was happening in Japan. Adam was very troubled especially. He wanted to watch the TV coverage of the earthquake and tsunami constantly. He is his father's worried child. We continue to pray for our friends that are still in Japan, as well as all the people of Japan for their safety and recovery. We look forward to our next visit to Japan, which was such a fun and hospitable place to call home for two years.