natural disasters

our first four months here in la have been great. we've really gotten settled into our house. i've met several other moms who get together with and without the kids. i know my neighborhood pretty well. i mean, there's still lots more to learn but we love it here so far.

i must admit that i didn't expect to get indoctrinated into socal natural disasters so soon. two weeks after we moved here we experienced a 4.5 earthquake and now there are wild fires everywhere! (ok - not anymore but I drafted this post and have finally gotten back to it) well by everywhere, i mean in the forests. i now totally get the smoky the bear commercials from growing up. i thought fire fighters in nj/ny we're great but the firefighters here are amazing. i mean really, right now, there is a huge - huge - like 20,000 acre fire burning in the angeles national forest, about 14 miles north of us, and it's about 100 degrees here at our house! i've become obsessed with this fire. here are some pictures taken from our deck to prove it. btw - all is fine now but it sure was crazy for a while!