The Great Fish Massacre of 2008

Well, We finally made it to California. Eighteen hours - straight through. We are safe and relatively sane. Getting ready to go was a real test of patience though. While this in no way compares with the "Skunk Attack of 2005", the "Great Fish Massacre of 2008" does deserve it's own page in the Maki family history book.

Our original plans were to leave around midnight on Wednesday night after Chris got off work. Once he got home we realized we were just to beat to start driving and that a good nights sleep was needed. Flash forward to Thursday 10:30, we are packed and just about ready to leave, when Chris starts yelling at me from upstairs "Suzanne, get the pump, unplug the pump, it's going to explode!". To which I responded with, "What the heck are you screaming about? What pump?". Chris yells back "The pond!! Get the pump!!". I'm thinking "oh yeahhhh, that pump". So the kids and I run out to find that our beautiful pond has spontaneously emptied its self. We have a rock formation waterfall that the water cycles through with the help of a tube and somehow the top rocks had fallen into the pond, the tube had come loose and with the help of the pump drained all of the water out of the pond and under our deck. Not good! I unplugged the pump and then proceeded to view the damage. Ever year we purchase goldfish for the pond and wait to see who survives the raccoons, hawks and even a blue heron. We had three large fish left that have been with us about 4 years now. Last week Lauren and I purchased 40 new fish. As I'm peering into the pond, I see one big goldfish who is half out of water and no one else. I start looking for the other 42 fish and find next to the pump a pile of what looks like chopped salad. Yup, you guessed it, my missing fish. The pump had sucked up the fish, chopped them up and spit them back out. Really gross and sad. With the help of the kids I filled the pond back up and started working on the waterfall. Chris came down and we hoisted the rocks back up (these are not little rocks) and got the tube secured and the water flowing. Just when we thought we were done, Chris touched the top rock and it all went down again, sending the tube flying into the air and spraying us with a mixture of pond water and yes, chopped up fish! We finally got everything put back together with no more mishaps, got cleaned up, everyone in the van and pulled out of the driveway at 3:45. Only 15 hours after our original departure time. We arrived in Tustin at 9:30 Friday morning, ready to start a new chapter in this adaventure we call "life".