Alabama Tracks

I managed to get some pretty cute shots of the kids today.  I was surprised at just how well they did together and ate the attention up.

If you can tell, Ruthie’s arms and legs are covered in red splotches.  It is a case of hives.  They do not itch, she has no fever, and for the most part, they look worse than they are.  We are treating them with some Children’s Claritan for now.

Ruthie is 21 months as of Saturday and Samuel is 6 months as of Wednesday.  Samuel has two teeth and is working on the top two.  This first picture shows the first two.  He is also sitting up on his own pretty well and rolling all over the place.  It won’t be long before he is really moving.

In no apparent order…

This is a local park that Bonnie showed me one day.  Joel and I went back towards the end of the week to give Ruthie a little play time.  There is a water splash park and a mud / dirt center there as well.  We weren’t prepared for those that day so I allow Ruthie to play in them.  I do have pictures of her in the water splash park from the previous day but I don’t think I’m going to post them.  Let me know if want to see them.

Feeding the koi was a daily event.  Going over the new repaired bridge was part of it.

And apparently I don’t give my child enough fiber.  She resorts to eating dirt.

Joel and I took his coworker, Justin, to San Francisco on Thursday to see the Golden Gate bridge.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  The fog never rolled in.

Bonnie and I took the kids to Capitola on Wednesday for part of the day.  It was beautiful and slightly chilly.  We had lunch on the beach and chased birds throughout our entire meal.  Ruthie had never felt sand in her toes and she loved it.

Yesterday I started giving ‘Brother’ some apples for the first time.  You can see what he thought of them.

I don’t have much time but I did want to get something posted about our recent trip to California.  Joel had a work conference to attend and since his company was picking up his flight and the rental car, we only had to pay for my flight.  The kids both flew for free on our laps and we stayed with his Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Greg.  We had a blast.  Here are a few snippits.  I’ll try to get pictures up in a bit.

*  Thanks to a great Delta manager, we made our flight to CA after much ado.  We were a minute late to check our bags.

*  Our bags were delayed by 24 hours.

*  Neither child had a problem flying.  Very minimal fussing during the flights.

*  All cars are not the same.  Neither are carseats.  Never assume that when the rental car says they have put the car seats in the car, that they are actually installed.  They aren’t.  Thankfully we checked before we left the lot.  Only after setting the car alarm off.

*  Having your daughter pull your hair back for you watching you throw up is not fun.

*  The food selections on the planes now days are peanuts, peanut butter crackers, and cookies.  Everything else must be paid for upon ordering.

*  The two baby carriers we had were invaluable.  As well as the child tether.

*  Edamame is a new favorite of Ruthie’s.

*  Target has two floors out in CA and a really cool buggy escalator.

*  Honking your horn in CA traffic is illegal.  It is noise pollution.

*  When your suitcase doesn’t close properly on the return flight home it is probably because the Lord has ordained it as such.  Remove some stuff and repack.  The suitcase will come in right at 50 pounds.  The cuff off before being charged for a second bag.

*  Ruthie cut a tooth while we were on vacation.

*  Samuel is a pro at rolling over now and is no longer being swaddled for bed time.

*  As a result of his oggling of our food, Samuel tried apples for the first time last night.

*  Our house is still on the market.  2 people viewed the house while we were gone.  Still no bites but we believe we were obedient to the Lord and thus, we continue to wait.

I’ll try to edit pictures tonight.  I’ve got to get busy folding more wash while the kids nap.

I’ve not been posting politics because I’ve been busy and because, well, John McCain has been about as exciting as watching paint dry. His commercial after Obama’s acceptance speech looked like “Hey, I’m also running!” After having been bashed so badly by Obama, it looked like bad news. I mean, Obama was on a roll. How on earth would McCain compete.

I underestimated him. Badly.

I’ve heard Palin’s name banded about in the “short list” but most people had written her off. She certainly didn’t seem like veep material and she didn’t seem like McCain’s cup of tea. And yet… she’s a brilliant pick. Maybe not the best (would have prefered Michael Steele, all things considered) but certainly not what anyone was expecting. I mean, it was so shocking that the mainstream media had to stop swooning over Obama and get to Alaska, of all places, to find out just who the heck this Palin woman is. But she came pre-vetted. Aside from some guarded optimism here and there, I have yet to hear conservatives say all that much bad about her. McCain managed to pull off

1. Stopped the Obama train cold. His commercial took on a new light as “Enjoy the limelight because I will own it tomorrow”
2. Rallied the conservatives. People who could have cared less about McCain on Thursday were suddenly enthusiastic on Friday. The RNC was just as energetic now as the DNC was.
3. Put the first woman on a Republican ticket
4. Put the first major pro-life candidate on a national ticket
5. Wooed moderates upset that Hillary was left with nothing for all her campaigning (Obama may regret not putting her and her 18 million primary votes on the ticket)

Not a bad way to pull an upset. Unsurprisingly, the Left pulled out its smear machine and the national media regained its composure and has been attacking her as best as they can. The worst, thus far, was the nasty smear that Trig was not Palin’s son but her grandson. The news that Bristol is 5 months pregnant put something of a damper on that but, because it’s not impossible that she gave birth to Trig and then got pregnant some 6 weeks later, they refuse to believe that it’s untrue. The smears have largely backfired. Obama refused to touch the Bristol story with a 10′ pole. The base, having been informed about Bristol now, have largely accepted it.

Palin is not without other problems. She’s still a newcomer and may very well fold like a lawn chair under the national spotlight. She has some baggage (although nothing anywhere near what Obama has) and she may not be articulate. We’ll find out more on that tonight.

What really got me going, though, was this post which seems to typify the Obama side of this election. I’m truly starting to think that some people out there worship Obama as a god or something. Can he ever do any wrong? But there’s some things I cannot leave left unsaid because they are so wrong or ignorant of Obama or Palin that they deserve a response.

I didn’t like the way I felt when I saw McCain’s choice. I felt manipulated. I felt like this choice on his part was objectifying women….it feels like she was chosen for her appearance and gender because I doubt a man of comparable credentials would be chosen for the position. I don’t like the way she got here because she was plucked by an old politician instead of having time to get to know her. I don’t like what I hear…like her elected offices are mayoral and very short-term gubernatorial (18 months? Is that right?) in an area where “small town” issues preside, or like how she has an infant with special needs that must be getting precious little attention from her right now. I feel insulted that it’s suggested women should vote for her for the “soccer mom” parallels. I feel uncertain in her ability should Old-Man McCain die.  I feel unconvinced that the position of vice-president would really be very influential in matters of war and policy. I remember being impressed with the Cheney-Lieberman debates and thinking we had great VP candidates but feel now that it’s just a distraction in the race. I feel hesitant to engage in political conversation again because this choice polarizes somehow. I feel like she’s sheep’s clothing for a wolf. If she participated in continuing a war that could extend long enough to take my children, I’d feel her betrayal as a fellow mother.

Let’s boil this down to its core parts.

1. John McCain is manipulating the system to his advantage. Such is the story of Washington, though. The veep choice is a pretty big one because the veep job is, well, not all that big. Unless we wind up with a 50-50 split in the Senate this year (unlikely) the veep doesn’t have a whole lot to do. So you pick someone who complements you. Am I supposed to vote Obama because he picked an old white guy as his veep?

2. Palin was picked because she has a hoo-ha uterus. First, there’s the hypocrisy here. The Democratic primary was melanin vs estrogen. All the while people who can count to 21 naked were eliminated and that left two “underprivileged” groups to duke it out. Second, yes she’s a woman. Are we suddenly judging that John McCain is a sexist and picked her ONLY for that reason? Another major candidate for veep was Gov Jindal of LA who, realizing his state really needed him more than McCain, withdrew his name.There’s a warning against that kind of thinking. Unless someone can read hearts and minds, let’s knock off the speculation, OK?

3. Sarah Palin is inexperienced. Well, can’t argue with that one. She’s got less than 2 years of running the Alaskan gov. But she’s had a heck of a time in doing it. Alaska has major corruption problems and she’s been a major fighter. The problem is if you argue this, you have to take note of Obama’s record as well. Obama was an IL state senator before (more on this in later) and became a freshman senator in 2004. He started campaigning for president in 2005. Keep in mind that Palin is in an executive role. She runs the gov (signs law, runs agencies, etc). Obama is in a legislative role which means he writes, sponsors and votes on bills. So it’s not a wash, it tilts slightly in favor of Palin on this one. And Obama is running for the top slot…

4. Sarah Palin has a Downs baby. Hands down the reason conservatives love her. She chose life. You don’t get any more pro-life than this. He’s got some very loving older sisters and a father who help care for him so he’s not starved for attention.

5. John McCain is an old man who could die. And so is Joe Biden. There’s no guarantee Obama will see tomorrow either (or me or you for that matter). McCain will be the oldest if elected but he’s released reams of medical records. Obama has released one page.

6. John McCain won’t stop the Iraq war. Ah, there’s the rub. I’ve wondered what this mysterious “change” was and now it comes out. This issue continues to be rhetorically challenged on the left as if we were still in 2005 with soldiers dying daily. We lost 13 soldiers in August. Friday we handed Anbar province, once the deadliest in Iraq, back to the Iraqis. It’s important to admit a few things here

• The war was prosecuted poorly
• Bush was naive on some points
• Rumsfeld should have been allowed to resign much earlier
• The surge was needed much earlier than it was

That having been said, the Iraq war has gone much better now that the surge has come and gone. What’s important is that the long term role does not look nearly as brutal. Furthermore, don’t forget Afghanistan (which Obama has pledged to expand) and the fact that soldiers die there too. Finally, there’s the fact that we’re still fronting an all-volunteer miltary so unless your children sign up, they’re not likely to be sent into harm’s way. Yanking troops out precipitously? That’s a hazard that would doom Iraq just like South Vietnam found out.

I feel hesitant to engage in political conversation again because this choice polarizes somehow.

Why? I’m not posting this to mark a kill on the side of my keyboard. I’m posting this because I don’t see any reason to vote for Obama. Is the war really so important to some people that they would vote for him despite the fact that he

• supports infanticide (I only wish that were an exaggeration, you need to read the transcript)
• Wants to raise your (yes you) taxes After last year, I am now quite intimate with capital gains taxes (and I doubt anyone would define me as rich) Remember, capital gains also affect your 401k, retirement benefits and many other organizations that normal Americans deal with
• is naive about Iran. Iran is taking stances like 1930s Germany and we are responding like Eurpoe did. If Iran carries out its threats and we go to war, it will be World War III. An ounce of prevention…
• has been well supported by William Ayers, a terrorist who escaped through legal problems with his case. If we were talking about them simply being on the same board I’d say it had no legs but it goes far beyond that Obama’s camp clearly fears it being explored further because they sent out an email alert to supporters who abused WGN Radios’ phone lines.

As to the whole divisive part… I find this absurd. If you want to believe Obama will change America for the better then believe. Don’t fear me or anyone else. But I’m tired of the the way this is playing out: hold it close to the vest, don’t discuss it and just go do it without really vetting it. I don’t ever want to discourage anyone from putting forth ideas and it’s disappointing that anyone would think that I and other people are only hinderances to how they want to think. Put ideas out there and if they’re good they’ll stand up under scrutiny. If they’re bad they’ll die and go away. When ideas are locked away it gives the bad ideas a place to grow. People need to look with their own eyes and investigate with their own minds and hearts. Don’t take my word for it. But don’t just take theirs either.