Oh my gosh, I've been so flippin busy lately. You would hardly believe it. Between home school and errands; rallies and the great candy bar election; Mom visiting and Halloween; I am stretched very thin. Also, please excuse the mess that is my house. I know you can see it in all the pictures, don't pretend you don't. But between mom and all her stuff being here, the Candy Bar Election taking over my kitchen, and all the pumpkins and Halloween Costumes, the house is a complete disaster. I'm fully aware and will tackle it next week when all that stuff is gone/over/done.
Lets start back last Thursday. Peyton and I are heavily studying the election, and what goes into it. After all, what good is home schooling during an election year if you don't take the opportunity to teach all about it. So, for those of you who have not been following, We are holding our very own election of the best candy bar. It's down to Laffy Taffy and Reeses. But, we've made it pretty accurate complete with campaign ads, debates, and primaries (even a national convention!) Anyway, I've spent so much time on it; he's gotten totally interested and when he discovered we could go to the rally for Obama and Romney in a three day time span, he was thrilled. In an attempt to be unbias (I can't take the posts some people makes cramming their views down your throat on facebook), I'm just going to state facts, not who I am voting for.
So, Thursday morning we got up at 4:50 in the morning, to be in line in Ybor City by 6:00 am to wait for the doors to open at 7:00. The rally was held in a park there. When we got there the line was at least 5 blocks long. It got way longer after that. People in line talked to us about the monkey who had finally been caught in Saint Pete (after two years on the run!), about home schooling, and good places to eat after the rally. There was a calm protester from Peta in front of us, who stood their with his sign about helping elephants, and joined in on our conversation occasionally. He left just before the gates opened, telling us all to have a good day. It took us about 45 minutes to get in once the gate opens, as everyone had to go through airport type screening from the secret service. Then, we stood about a dozen people back from the podium and waited. The people around us were friendly, telling Peyton how impressive it was that he was there, and how important voting is and always will be toward his future. Not once did I hear the word 'Republican' used. Not once, from the crowd around me, did I hear a word about Romney. The crowd was very diverse. Most people were in jeans and t-shirts, very relaxed and comfortable. Tennis shoes and flip flops were common.
They had some other speakers before the President. Charlie Christ came out, and got a huge round of applause. He spoke of the importance of voting, getting our friends to vote, and early voting. He spoke of the good things the President has done for the area. He started a chant of 4 more years. When the President came out, the crowd went crazy. He was there promptly at 9, when the tickets said he would be speaking. He talked a little bit about Romney on two separate occasional that I can recall. It was the only mention of Romney at the entire rally. He mostly presented his plan for the next four years and told us all how we could go online and look at it. He even had a copy of it in his hands. He spoke about how he knew there was a lot more he could get done, how he needed our votes to get them there. He spoke about still trying to reach across the aisle. He spoke about moving forward. His voice was horse, and he seemed tired. At the end of the rally he shook hands with everyone in the front of the crowd.
Fast forward to Saturday. The Romney Rally was held at Land O Lakes high school at the football field, right here in our town. Gates opened at 5:30, and we got there about an hour early. We had not yet crossed the street, when multiple people at the light were discussing democrats and how they were 'not allowed at the rally'. The line was probably very comparable to the Obama line when we got there. A man in front of us was hanging out business cards about some fair tax thing, and besides that nobody in line spoke to us. Security moved faster, but we noticed it was TSA employees with a few secret service sprinkled in moving the lines through. The crowd was composed of mostly white people, appearing to be upper middle class or better. They wore jackets, and button down shirts. Women were wearing lots of make up and high healed shoes.
We were lucky enough to get seats in the stands. We pulled out our kindles, and sat there waiting, while the crowd around us (two ladies behind us in particular) talked about how awful Obama's policies were, and went on and on about Obama for nearly the entire time we sat there waiting. The rally was supposed to being at 7. The field and the stands were eventually filled. Probably a larger turn out on Saturday night for Romney in Land O Lakes than Obama on Thursday in Ybor City.
A little before 7, the introductory speakers began to talk. Every single one of them mentioned Obama, and how they needed to get him out of office. Those up for re-election also said how it was important to get republicans in office to help Romney. A positive video of Romney and his family played on the big screen in the end zone. He talked about being on the campaign trail. After the video and the introductory speakers, there was about 45 minutes of just music playing, before Romney arrived at nearly 8 o'clock. I can tell you most of what he talked about was getting Obama out of office, and that the Obama policies are not working. At least 75 percent of his speech was about Obama. He said at one point 'At Obama rallies they chant 4 more years, I think we should chant 10 more days' then joking 'but we will have to change that chant tomorrow. He did lay out a 5 point plan to turn things around. He listed those 5 points but did not elaborate on them or tell you where online you could find this plan. He also told a story about his son's boy scout troupe having a flag on the shuttle Challenger when it exploded. When the rally was over, he stayed and shook hands with many people in the front row.
Those were are experiences. I have my preference on who I am voting for, and I think anyone who knows me would know. But, I tried to see both rallies as unbias as I could. It was an awesome learning experience for Peyton, and I was so proud of him for being so well behaved and patient (all that waiting- and standing- and he never complained!) It isn't every day you get to take your 10 year old to see the President of the United States and the person he is running against. So, all in all pretty awesome.
Mom got here Wednesday, so we've also been visiting with her. Luckily she was here so she got Calib and Hayden off to school Thursday while Peyton and I went to the rally. Since Peyton and I took Asa to work though, we had to stay around Tampa until it was time for him to come home, so we went to lunch (and got some much needed mountain dew), out to the park, and to the beach. We collected some new rocks and sticks for the terrarium, and enjoyed the nice weather. I was so exhausted Thursday but I had to stay up to see the Bucs play on Thursday night football--- and they actually won!! After Sunday's heartbreaking loss, I was thrilled.
Friday Mom took us out to lunch (and I discovered Moe's is getting rid of the Fat Sam, so sad), and then later took me out shopping at Kohls. I haven't been clothes shopping in forever, so I got a few new things. I even found a pair of cute capri pants for $4! Score. I guess while that was happening, there was shenanigans going on with the last of the cake Tracy had left. I wasn't to know about it, but the pictures surfaced on facebook.
Saturday we went out to run some errands, getting a new screen to finally fix the screen door Gracie walked through when we first moved in. We also stopped at the pet store since the boys each got some money from grandma for Halloween. We ended up with two more fire bellied toads, and a long tailed lizard. The terrarium is really starting to fill up! I missed the Florida Georgia game for the rally, but I guess Florida stunk it up so that was ok. When we got back, Kevin, Katie and Angela were here. We hung out for awhile, had some ice cream sundays and stayed up ridiculously late. All in all, good times.
Sunday was a total crafting day. I decided I was over paying lots of money for store bought costumes, so I made Hayden into Walle with a cardboard box, some thick posterboard and some tissue paper. I made Peyton a block from Mario, which he used with his Mario costume from last year, and calib was happy to re-use too and be a ninja in all black.
After that, Hayden and I worked on his pumpkin for his book report. He used 'Dogs Colorful Day' in which a white dog gets all kinds of colored spots. He also used that for his book character parade costume.
We also finished our political signs for the Candy Bar Election, and took them out to get some funny pictures. Plus, we taped an awesome newscast. Seriously, you should go check out our videos on my you tube account if you haven't seen them. They are sort of awesome.
Over the weekend, Peyton and I had discovered that Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama were going to speak together at the University of Central Florida. It's a two hour trip from here, but he really liked the idea of seeing another president. So again, I got up at 4:50 in the morning to take him. Only this time it didn't work out. Obama cancelled because of the massive storm in the north east. We couldn't find parking, and by the time we did they had opened the gates (an hour early), the park was already full and the line was still at least 10 blocks long. Realizing he wouldn't actually be able to SEE Bill Clinton, coupled with the 45 degree temperatures, Peyton decided to go and not stay for the rally (still 4 hours away).
We tried to make the best of our trip though, so we headed over to Epcot. We spent a lot of time in innoventions, learning about atoms, and weather, and saving money. It's a seriously good stop if you're ever in Epcot. Totally educational, so I didn't even feel that bad about having that be a school day.
By the time lunch time hit, we took advantage of the food and wine festival on a Monday morning with low crowds, and ate around the world. We got some of our old favorites, and some new.
After a stop by the coke place, and a spin on the land to check out the greenhouse, it was 1:00 and we decided to head home. We got home just as Asa was getting off of work, so it made for good timing.
Monday was also report card day for Calib and Hayden. Calib got all A's, and a B in advanced Math. I thought that was totally awesome, but he was super bummed about the B (it was an 89 percent--- only 1 point away from all A's). I told him not to be all 'Uncle Clint about it'. Hayden got all S's (successful) so Mom ended up taking us out to Red Lobster to celebrate. Yummy biscuits!!
Tuesday, after doing lots of home school catch up (with all the rallies and the Epcot trip-- though educational-- we were still a bit behind), I still had lesson plans to work on. We finished all that just in time for Calib to get home and have the Electoral College Selection show. Each state has a person representing it for our Candy Bar Election (except the big states, three votes decide California, Florida, Texas, and New York) so we made a video randomly drawing names and states. It's again, super awesome. Then we made our 'war room' with our boards of who has what, and our voting booth for those who don't have to vote absentee and can vote in person.
Today Mom and I took Hayden to school for the book character parade. He wore his dog's colorful day costume proudly around the car loop with all the other kids.
Peyton and I had a fun home school day planned in which everything was Halloween related. He even estimated and then measured pumpkin stats (height, circumference) and answered questions like, would it float? (It totally did). The only thing not Halloween related was our Electoral College Map and counter, and our ballots.
Peyton was pretty excited about the opening of voting today. He was the first to vote, made a newscast about it, and then began canvassing for Laffy Taffy and calling to round up votes. He had a script and everything. He sounded so professional, we got a good laugh when grandma practically hung up on him thinking he was a real political call and not the candy bar election call. Funny stuff. When Calib got home, he helped out. They'd check the board for the most electoral votes and try and swing some people their way. In all honesty, I'm just hoping it's a close election.
We had lots of voters today, so we'll have lots to record tomorrow! Angela, Kevin, Katie, and Justin were all over today.
When Hayden got home, we worked on carving and painting our pumpkins. Peyton hates the goop and let Angela carve his while he just colored his small one. They all turned out pretty cute.
I made a low county boil for everyone-- got pretty frustrated when it took forever for the water to boil in my new giant pot. (Seriously, I could cook Hayden in this thing it's so big) But it worked out ok.
Then, we all went trick or treating while mom handed out the candy here, and Justin played a bunch of video games. Way to hold down the fort, Justin. Except, Porkchop got shut in our room and tore up the carpet, so now we have a new replacement project.
Also, funny story, Hayden when picking out candy with his one hand, could not get his arms around his Walle box to put it in the bucket in his other hand. It was pretty hilarious. It was also hard to bend over, at one point someone had left candy on the doorstep, and Hayden said "forget it. I'm not even going to try it." Of course after we laughed WITH him we helped him out.
The kids got lots of candy, but I didn't let them have much since it was 8 o'clock on a school night by the time we got back. Plus, it'll give me a chance to raid their buckets tomorrow. I'm on the look out for Kit-Kats.
I know there was some other funny stuff this week, but my favorite quote came from Hayden when he had to wear long pants for the first time in his memory (it doesn't seem to date back that far) and asked why his shorts were so long.
Oh, that and he said grandma couldn't hear him, because she didn't have her 'hearing maids in'.
Also, Flat Peyton is having an awesome time at the Gatchel household in Michigan. They were awesome enough to make Flat Peyton his very own halloween costume! I love how into this project everyone is getting!
Whoo! Now I'm just tired looking at my week! I need a vacation!
Next Up: Double Date Night, and the fountain of youth!
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