BREAKING NEWS: EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN

AFB Special International Correspondent Brent is providing EXCLUSIVE coverage of a 5.0 earthquake in Japan.

Here's his report, dateline 9/30/11, Okinawa, Japan:

5.0 at 3:30am. Woke me up. Thought I was in LA for a second. It was one sharp jolt then a mild rolling.

(We’re in the city of Naha on Okinawa which just happens to be on the map.)

Stay safe, Brent! We'll be standing by for any further developments. Thanks for the report!

Maren is Student of the Week!

I'm a week late with this update. Sorry!

Maren was Student of the Week again last week! Here's her latest poster creation.



Note she describes herself as "a girl who loves to follow rules. (Most of the time.)"

Congratulations Maren!

BREAKING NEWS: DEREK AND STEVE PURCHASE STAR WARS BLU-RAYS

THIS JUST IN: Steve and Derek were first in line at the Burbank Target this morning to purchase the Star Wars Complete Saga blu-rays.

They also received a free Star Wars lithograph set for their efforts.

Here they are in Super AFB Mega-Zoom Vision 2000:

Raiders of the Lost Ark 30th Anniversary Screening!

September 12, 2011. One man awaits the adventure of a lifetime...

Joining his friends in line for a 30 year-old movie!

Always the scholar, Geek-by-Association Tim brushes up for his close encounter with Steven Spielberg.

Of course we all had to try on Steve's hat.

Ready to meet the media.

But the organizers of this screening did the unthinkable: they graciously checked us in early, reserved our seats and let us go get something to eat, rather than standing in line in the hot sun all afternoon!

So we went off in search of steak at Lowry's Carvery. Here's one of Derek's famous timer pics.

I don't know why Derek took this pic or why I put it on the blog, but here's Steve's broccoli.

A non-geek joining us for the festivities: Suanne!

Inside the theatre!

Somehow Tim got seated a few seats away from us, but perhaps it served him well to have some separation from the truly geek-noxious behavior of the Alffs and Kwants.

After the movie... Steven Spielberg enters to a standing ovation!

Raiders stories.

Telling the oft-told tale of the famous non-fight between Indy and the Swordsman...

But then we heard someone growl, "That's not what happened."

Hey, look who it was - Indy himself!

Surprise guest Harrison Ford. Terri realizes at some point she is jumping up and down and tries to compose herself.

Big thanks to Derek for taking a bunch of great pics.

Our old still camera takes 15-second movies - here's one. Hopefully it'll play correctly.

See you at Indy V!!

After all the excitement - Steve and Derek in front of the poster.

Making our way to the car. I don't know what Derek's talking about...

But Suanne kindly gives an encouraging response!

The scene from across the street.

And being the geek-tastic event that it was, Derek actually went back at some point and MOVED THE CAR so it would be parked in this space, in section AA23. Star Wars fans will know the significance of that. Apologies to all the normal, healthy people who don't.

So it was a great evening! Thanks as always to SUSIE AND MOLLY for not only babysitting the Alff-lets, but for taking them to art class and helping them with lots of homework as well!

Life's so full of blessings and surprises. But when it comes down to it, we don't know - we're just making this up as we go!

A full non-AFB recap can be found here: Raiders Screening

It's not the years...

It's the mileage.

But it IS the years - 30 years, in fact! 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the movie that made a lot of us stop and think about something besides Star Wars for a few minutes:

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK!

We'll be attending a very exciting event on Monday evening:

Raiders of the Lost Ark screening and Q&A with Steven Spielberg

Check back this coming Tuesday for a full report!

And may the, uh, snakes be with you.

BREAKING NEWS: ALFFS CATCH FISH

Derek and the kids went to Balboa Lake this morning to go fishing! (It's a Free Fishing Day in California, no license required.)

Deacon, with the first catch of the day!

Daddy...

And the third and BIGGEST fish was caught by Maren!

Perhaps we'll fry them up tonight in honor of our 17th wedding anniversary, which is today.

EARTHQUAKE EXCLUSIVE: HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

AFB FIELD CORRESPONDENT BRENT REPORTS TSUNAMI TEST SIRENS IN MAUI AFTER CALIFORNIA QUAKE; AFB DECLARES "NOT COINCIDENCE"

EARTHQUAKE

4.2, Newhall. 1:48pm.

Felt by Terri at AFB HQ.

Not felt by Derek, who was nearby at a very crowded Ralph's Grocery Store. He described his experience via text message as follows: "Midday at Ralph's is a seismic event already."

First Day of School!

Just a couple of pics from the kids' first day of school, which was Monday (the 29th).

I can't believe they're in 4th and 2nd grades! How time flies.

We somehow neglected to get 400 pictures of this event, unlike years past; so if you desperately need to see more first day of school coverage, here's some from the archives!

2007

2008

2009

2010

Star Wars Day at the LA Zoo!

It's currently 103 degrees outside, definitely the perfect day for a trip to the zoo!

Normally we would not have gone to the zoo in heat like this. But it was Star Wars Day today, so we truly didn't have a choice.

If those guys in costume could stand it, so could we!

Star Wars Day!

A perfect day to wear your metal bikini.

Boba Fett...

A good Imperial officer never shows his discomfort!

Seriously, can you imagine being in these costumes in this heat???

It was Star Wars Day, so naturally there were huge crowds. And long lines to take pictures with the characters... so Derek took pics of people we don't know.

These guys didn't mind the heat at all!

Deacon and one of his favorite Star Wars creatures. I can't remember what it's called, though, so I'll ask him later and post it in Comments!

Non-Star Wars creatures!

At first Derek thought this said "Tarkin". Hey, it was Star Wars Day.

MONKEYS!

RISE of the Planet of... soaring temperatures.

Heat rises, so I wonder if these guys' heads were hotter than their feet??

At lunch. Zoo food always tastes great, because your feet are SO tired. We recently showed the kids the "Cheeseburger cheeseburger cheeseburger - CHIPS" sketch from Saturday Night Live, so they were excited when Daddy ordered a cheeseburger and chips. Deacon took this pic.

Predators emerging from their cave.

This guy never looked at the camera, but he was really cute anyway!

Keepin' cool in the shade.

Unlike these guys. Anakin looked about as happy about the heat as he did in Revenge of the Sith.

No, Maren, we're not buying you that large giraffe today. At least the gift shop was air conditioned.

A last pic... shorter lines = Alff kids/stormtrooper photo op! Always a pleasure to meet a member of the elite 501st.

So that's it! Didn't stay for the big Star Wars blu-ray presentation due to the heat, so you'll have to get all the breaking news on that front elsewhere. But it was fun, and now the AC blasting in our house feels gooood.