VOTE in Leon County!!

Just for the locals.
Here is a link to multiple local radio debates in MP3 format

Mayor (Not on Primary):
John Marks (I don't agree with a lot of his politics but he is better than the other two.)

Kim O'Connor (two words Coo Coo)

Larry Hendricks (Redneck, is articulate and intelligent I just disagree with most of his positions)


County Commissioner (Dist. 4 Leon county) (These are all good candidates)
Bo Bludworth (I like him, he has never been a politician before, and done some cool stuff)

Bryan Desloge (by far the richest candidate, good candidate but not as good as Bo)

Will Messer (Seems like a good conservative candidate)


County Commissioner at Large, Group 2 (listen to their debate)
John Griffin (against 1cent leon sales tax, for police/sheriff consolidation, first time in politics)

Cliff Thaell (for 1cent leon sales tax, against police/sheriff consolidation)


County Judge Group 3 (hard to choose)
Ron Flury (former prosecuter)

John Newton (lifetime member of NAACP.....need I say more....)

Lisa Raleigh (former prosecuter)


MORE TO COME

VOTE in Florida!!!

It is that time of year again... Where we cringe at the ridiculous number of radio and TV election ads and random people flash their signs and wave at you like you knew them. All the candidates seem to be pro-family, pro-schools, pro-business, pro-environment, pro-sunshine, pro-oxygen and pro-baby chicks. I'm still waiting for the candidate that is against all these things.
Check your SAMPLE BALLOT
Here is my own candidate ratings.

Governor (Primary): (A change of heart...After more detailed research I'm switching my pick to Charlie....barely, see hyper links)
Charlie Christ (weird guy, agree with some of his positions, seems more honest than Gallagher, I'm reluctantly voting for him)

Tom Gallagher (a little too slimy, I agree with most of his current spoken politics, "used to be" pro-abortion)


US Senator (Primary):
LeRoy Collins Jr. (I don't know and can't find much on this guy)
Katherine Harris (former pick for the primary although not much chance of winning the overall election)

William "Will" McBride (I didn't realize that I knew him until BP pointed it out, I like him, my new pick)

Peter Monroe


Chief financial Officer for Florida (This is a new state position to vote for, hard to choose)
Milt Bauguess (is Competent, not a lawyer, not a career politician)

Randy Johnson (is Qualified, Reducing Home owner's insurance is his central platform)

Tom Lee (former State Senator for several years, is being backed by Jeb Bush, my pick)



MORE TO COME

Backpack-backpack

Ellie started school last week. She's attending a wonderful school, Community Christian, and enjoying it immensely. Her favorite aspects appear to be:

• a bean bag game (every day, this is the first report I receive---the status of the game and who won)
• Spanish class (she was able to name 4 colors and count to 5)
• her backpack (an admittedly vastly oversized one---considering it only transports her snack, juice and 1 envelope - one day, she lost her snack in the maze of all the pockets. Its main redeeming quality is that it's purple just like Dora the Explorer's)

I, however, had a more difficult first week. I came home the first day, and as I was putting Clark down for his morning nap, I glanced in her room. It was dark, neat and empty....so, of course, the tears came. Yesterday she mentioned being a little sad because someone didn't want to play with her for some activity. I almost cried again. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through 12 years of this. Luckily, I shouldn't have post-partum hormones for most of those years :-)

We had a fun weekend in Tampa 2 weekends ago. We got see my brother and his family (who we're shamelessly trying to convince to move to Tallahassee), my step-brothers, Chuck's sister Pat who flew in for the occasion (Chuck's 60th birthday). It was a man-cooking fest on the patio. There was a smoker(pork butt), a grill (sausages) and giant steamer (crabs) and a big pot on the burner of the grill (clams). At any given time, there were at least 2-3 men out there sweating in 100 degree heat with furrowed brows discussing times & temperatures with various electronic devices beeping to keep them updated with time and temperature statuses. The women watched from the air-conditioned living room and congratulated ourselves on being smart enough to be the gender that cooks INSIDE.

Mondaynight's Full Quiver

Darcy took these pics this past monday night at our house....man oh man...and this isn't even all of them.....



Like little dominoes..... Ranen Bennage, Nena Walworth, Cash Alley and Clark (Looks like Clark is the instigator & Ranen is smart enough to get out of the way)





How cute are the mondaynight kids. L to R: Adah Bennage, Jackson Alley, Madeleine Walworth, Ellie, Lindsey Lehman and Libby Alley. Uncle Michael appears to be the King of this cold land where prince and princesses must wear snow hats.

All I can say is....Nena and Jackson have their own little harems going on :-)

Pee Chalky Jew & Bad Guys

"Life moves pretty fast....if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
-Ferris Bueller

I love vacations. It's the chance to stop our cooking/cleaning/scheduled life/fixing things around the house (Spencer) and just enjoy each other and perhaps some fun surroundings. We recently got to enjoy the Ron Jon Surf Resort at Cocoa Beach with Jay (Spencer's bro) Joanna and their ever-growing brood---Dakoda, Skyler, Thatcher and Riley. Here are some highlights:

• Floating on an innertube in the lazy river trying to avoid the random water features that dump/pour/spray water on me (and Spencer,using Clark like a shield, trying to push me into them)
• The beach at dusk as a storm was beginning to roll in.
• Ellie & Skyler---these two just LOVE each other....they have some mystical connection that the rest of the family is not in on.
• The pure joy of 4 cousins riotously laughing with each other covered in sticky watermelon juice

• Trying to suppress laughter at all the various "things" dropped over the balcony while the adults were distracted (watermelon rinds, Skyler's pee)
• Playing Dance Dance Revolution with Jo in the arcade after the kids went to bed (BTW, our mad skills were heightened by a few glasses of wine--and we dominated the 'tweens hanging out there)
• Trying to figure out what Thatcher (2) was saying. His most frequent utterance was "pee chalky jew". Before you berate Jay & Jo on their antisemitic teaching, this was Thatcherese for "Please may I have some chocolate juice (chocolate milk)" That kid is just plain funny. I tried to help him by breaking off pieces of his biscuit...he looked at me with a mad face and said "Ah Ca, ba ga" (translated by Jo: Aunt Carey, bad guy) We almost peed our pants from laughig so hard. Is that kid from Spencer's gene pool or what.
• Watching Riley (9mo) eat her breakfast, which consisted of crawling around on the floor under the table eating the feast of Cheerios that the other kids dropped.
• Comforting Ellie as she cried when she realized she was leaving her cousins. This is a highlight only because I realized what a blessing it is to have such a close family relationship. I pray these cousins will always be close to each other.