***Happy Election Day!** Since we are leaving for a quick Orlando trip this afternoon, and since I wanted to get this blog out before election night, I've been writing this along the way for the last few days**
We are finally nearing the end of this election season. Who's excited? I am! But, it's also full of lots of good lessons, and since things have been a little crazy here with the unknowns with the house, I've been happy to have the real election and the Candy Bar Election to focus on and count for our school work. Plus, we've always got people stopping by Tampa. This week, we got the sitting Vice President!
Asa and I heard Joe Biden was going to be in Tampa. The boys were semi interested, even though they were pretty 'rallied' out. But, when they heard we were leaving the house at 7:30 AM for an 11:00 rally, they were out. But, it was Joe Biden, the sitting Vice President! I still wanted to go. So, I convinced Asa it would totally be worth it to go, even without the boys. The night before, we watched 'The Circus' (A totally awesome documentary that airs weekly about the Election) on Showtime, and the whole episode was dedicated to Joe Biden. The excitement was real.
We wanted to be one of the first people in line, with hopes of getting a handshake, and maybe a picture. We totally nailed the timing. There was maybe just about a dozen of people in line in front of us. And Asa even got interviewed for the newspaper and ABC Action News. (Me and my social anxiety ducked right out of that one.)
We were really close to the front of the line, but we weren't given the special blue wristbands they were randomly handing out, meaning we couldn't be up front in the 'blue wristbands only' area. They seemed to be giving them to families at first. The boys so could have gotten them. Even though we couldn't get in the front row, we didn't have a bad spot, we were just a couple people deep instead of against the fence, and we were right in the middle, so that was good.
It took awhile for the crowd to grow, and it was a much smaller crowd than any of the rallies we've been to. It was a weekday late morning/early afternoon, but it also wasn't announced very far ahead of time. I think I found out exactly when and where it was at like 9 the night before.
We had the usual cast of speakers, with Tampa's mayor Bob Buckhorn, and Congresswoman Kathy Castor.
And everyone cheered when they added the 'Vice President' emblem to the front of the podium.
Some of you might remember, Vice President Biden visited the boy's school, way back when they were in public school. But, I didn't get to see him then, so this was the very first time I saw any Vice President in person.
Joe Biden has charisma. He connects with an audience. He's funny. He was probably my favorite speaker I've ever been to see. He knows his facts, but he also doesn't talk like a polished politician. Sure, sometimes it seems like your grandpa is yelling at you, but that's part of his charm.
And I got to see him up close!
He talked for about half an hour I think, but I didn't get bored, which can happen at rallies sometimes. He was interesting, and funny, and warm. It made me wish he was running for president.
At one point the sun came back out from behind the clouds, and everyone cheered when he put his sunglasses back on. He said he loved his Ray Bans and maybe they'll let him be a spokesman for them, since he'll be out of a job soon.
After he was done speaking, he came down to shake hands and take pictures with the crowd. Had we been in the front row, he could have taken a selfie with us, he was posing for pictures, giving out hugs, and shaking everyone's hands.
He did reach back to give out handshakes to the people like us, who were behind the second fence, so we were rewarded for our efforts, each with a Vice Presidential handshake. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.
By the time the rally was over, we were starving, so we left and decided to stop for a quick lunch. The streets were being cleared just behind us, so we even got to see the Vice Presidential motorcade go right by us! Such a cool experience. It's too bad the boys didn't come along, they totally missed it.
After lunch, we had to run some errands in Tampa, so we stopped by the Alessi Bakery.
They're known for their guava turnovers, but this election season, they've also had both Trump and Clinton cookies. They're even keeping track of the presidential cookie race.
We brought home our signs and the cookies for the boys.
The cookies weren't bad either!
Thursday night, the Bucs were playing at home. Calib had wanted to go to this game all season, because who doesn't love a night game? But, tickets were expensive, and the Bucs kind of stink yet again this year. (Raise your hand if you're shocked.) But, on Monday I got an email for the Bucs Squad, a free kids club for the Buccaneers that Peyton and Hayden are a part of (it's for 14 & under), that they were giving out free tickets to members if you bought a parking pass. I mean, I was going to have to pay for parking anyway. And, they aren't picky if you use the tickets for the Bucs Squad kids, anyone can use them. So, we paid the $20 for parking and got two free tickets. We were about three rows from the top, but it was free, so we'll take it!
And the Sunday night guys were there, because apparently NBC is also hosting the Thursday night games too! That's Bob Costas, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison WAY down there.
Later, the Thursday night guys showed up. It was funny to see the two sets reporting so close to each other.
And we got the paratroopers dropping into the stadium too. No fly over though.
The Bucs wore their ugly color rush uniforms, but it made for easy viewing way up high.
John Lynch, from the Super Bowl winning defense, was got inducted into the Ring of Honor at halftime, meaning his name was going up on the stadium.
The Bucs stayed in it in the first half, but quickly fell out of it. We left somewhere in the 3rd quarter, when we were down by 3 scores. But, somehow, when you don't pay thousands of dollars, it doesn't seem like such a big deal.
Back to Election news, we've been holding our very own Candy Bar Election here. We've been through the primaries, we've spent months making videos and sharing what the boys have learned, we have over 150 voters registered. It's kind of a big deal. And voting finally opened on Halloween. Every night since we've recorded an update, and sat down to record the official votes. Calib gets down the official voting sheets, Hayden marks them accordingly, Peyton colors in the map appropriately, and Calib changes the electoral count.
Tuesday's results...
Wednesday's results...
We skipped Thursday because of the game. But, Friday we had an in person voter at our voting booth.
And we got back to our recording, even though we didn't have a ton of votes come in that day.
But, voter turn-out improved on Saturday...
And by Sunday, we were locked in a close race.
As of Sunday morning, we only had 8 states till left to vote. I went on Facebook to bug everyone who still needed to vote, and by the end of the night, every state has at least one vote cast. I couldn't have imagined that would be the case. I'm super grateful for everyone who took part.
I guess, I shouldn't say EVERY state was in on Sunday night. We didn't cast our votes, or count the final votes from Sunday until Monday. Calib did try and interfere with Hayden's vote, and campaign a little too close to the ballot box.
So, here we have us voting for the last time in that booth I kept for four years. (I have seen thrown it out, aren't you proud of me?)
Our state, Georgia, is worth 16 electoral votes. Sour Patch Kids won, in a vote of 3-2.
Then, all that was left was to tally our last eight states. Texas and Michigan went to Reese's, but the little states went to Sour Patch Kids. It all came down to whoever won Colorado though. Those nine electoral votes decided the whole election.
I present to you, your candy president for the next four years, taking over for President Laffy Taffy:
President Sour Patch Kids!
The final tally was very, very close. Sour Patch Kids came in with 271 electoral votes, leaving Reese's just 4 electoral votes short, for the second election in a row. (In case you're wondering the popular vote was 81 for Sour Patch Kids, and 70 for Reese's.)
We filmed one final update, and held a victory rally.
Peyton worked very hard to get Sour Patch Kids elected. He made campaign phone calls and everything.
And don't feel too bad for Calib, at least, in the end, since his candy lost, he got to eat the candydate.
A huge thank you to everyone who took part in our project. We had 151 votes cast in our candy election! Every single state reported at least one voter, which was amazing. We couldn't have done it without you.
Today, we got up and rode our bikes over to vote. It's a little far for a walk, but we weren't sure how much parking would be available. Calib was still asleep, but Peyton and Hayden tagged along.
Asa took Hayden in to vote, and I took Peyton with me. I talked him through my ballot, since the next time we elect a president, he gets to vote. Calib can even vote at midterms! Bananas!
Election Day is my FAVORITE. It's better than my other favorite day, Leap Day. Which is better than my birthday, or Christmas, because those only happen once every four years. I really like politics, and anything presidential, so this day is like everything. Whoever you're voting for, make sure you go vote today. Or, don't complain for the next four years.
And, whoever wins, we'll be there in January to see them get inaugurated.
Next Up: We are headed out to Universal Studios for a decompression vacation. You know, ahead of our week in Denver.
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