It's no secret who I like in this presidential election - moreso who I DON'T like - so if you don't want to hear the man's name mentioned and good things said, then politely move on.  This is my blog and I'll say it how I want to say it.  pppttthhhhh!!!! 

Yesterday, Reese, Erik and I made the 90 min. trip to Apopka, FL (maybe it was quicker than that) to join in at a Mitt Romney event.  After seeing what has happened to our beloved country over the past 4 years, Reese (who gets to graduate the DAY AFTER he turns 18!!) and I are quite involved politically this year, trying to get our Marxist president out of office.  So we happily traveled to central FL to see his opponent.

Apparently, not a fan of Mitt Romney rallies!  LOL

From the beginning, we could see that the venue was poooooorly organized.  There was no provision made for disabled guests and no one seemed to have any idea what to do with a disabled guest.  Reese's leg is not fitting right so walking was really painful for him and he couldn't stand long or walk far - he needed assistance.  We finally made it to the amphitheater (which was quite nice but not nearly big enough for all of the people who showed up - it was packed!) to find that there was no "handicapped section" at all.  There were so many people standing that we couldn't see a thing, and Reese needed to sit on the grass.  Yeah, right.  Erik's nerves by now were shot (it was quite a story how we even GOT to the venue, but I'll save that story for another day), and he needed a seat, too.  No one was allowed to bring folding chairs, either, so everyone who wanted to sit, had to sit on the ground, cause ALL the seats were taken.  Sorry, but that was not good enough for this mama.  I asked this person, and that person, and that person over there, if there were ANY seats available for the disabled, as my son simply couldn't stand on the grass all the time to watch the event.  No one had any idea.  So, I kept asking.  Finally, I asked a couple of policemen.  They got a look at Reese's legs and you could see in their eyes that they wanted to help.  They asked us to wait while they checked on something (good thing we arrived 2 hours early!!).  When they came back, they led us down to the VIP area, and after they talked with this person with plugs in their ears, and that person with fancy looking badges and credentials, they led us to the FRONT ROW.  The "orange wristband" section!  We could NOT believe it.  We were warned, however, that they may have to move us, if more "real" VIP's showed up, so we didn't get too comfortable until the Mayor of Apopka (I figured out from eavesdropping) sat down next to me (and Erik, who was on my lap) and I figured we were safe.  We saw Sandy Adams, our area's House of Representatives person (we met her this summer in D.C. you may remember), on the same row as us, about 10 seats down, and I have no idea who else was surrounding us.  Reese and I kept sneaking looks at each other like, "I can't believe this!!". 

The stage, from our vantage point.

A coooool picture of the sky.  You can see the press box at the bottom.  There is square light that you can see.  You can see a man looking down at the bottom right of the light - that's Carl Cameron (or "Campaign Carl") from Fox News.

Erik was on my lap, which was fine, except that being soooooo close to the stage, we were also sooooooo close to these ENORMOUS speakers and if you know Erik, you know how much he hates loud noises!  Uh, oh!!  I had a moment of panic before I realized that he was perfectly content as long as I covered his ears with my hands, which I gratefully did.  WHEW!!  Eventually, he got used to the cheering and screaming, and the sign waving and the clapping, and I was SHOCKED that he never cried, or screamed, or bit himself, although after a while he did kick the mayor...  (he was pretzeled on my lap, trying to rest (it was getting really late) and his leg shot out and kicked the 80-something mayor.  I apologized and he was very good-natured about it and said that his granddaughter has Down Syndrome!  After that, he and I were bosom buddies.  ;o) 
Anyway, finally the speeches began.  Artur Davis was one of the first - I love that guy! - and that was fun. 

Artur Davis

  
He was followed by Andy Somebody (sorry, Mr. Somebody - I can't think of your last name at this time!) who was a Congressman or something (obviously, I'm not too familiar with him).  And he was followed by Connie Mack, running against Bill Nelson for FL senate, and then what everyone was waiting for - the Romneys!  Man, the crowd went nuts and I am still in shock that Erik handled it.  I instantly liked these people.  Ann gave a speech and she was so cute - the podium was too high for her - she couldn't see - so instead of asking for help, she simply stood on her toes the whole time.  No complaints!  Shocking to see such realism from someone who could be so important!!  Oh - did I mention she was in high heels already?? 

Ann, on her tiptoes

After she was done, Mitt came out.  He gave his speech which was terrific, of course, though not a whole lot of new stuff (you really can't give a new speech every time when you are giving a couple of speeches a day!) but it was fun, cause he said stuff that they often don't show in highlight reels - little stuff, ad-libbed stuff, which of course I should mention that he did not use a TELEPROMPTER the entire time - there was not one there!!!  He simply talked to us.  It was GREAT.  He was telling a story about a serviceman and while I didn't see it, Reese said he saw a tear roll down his cheek.  Wow.  Can't fake that too easily.

Mitt (sorry, I didn't crop these photos closer - I just wanted to get them up)

So the thing ended with Erik almost comatose from fatigue and stress, lack of fluids and food, me having had to go to the bathroom for the past 3 hours (the stupid place had no bathrooms nearby), and Reese with his leg killing him, but we were all charged up.  Because we were in the VIP section, we were amongst the few who got the opportunity to shake hands as the candidates came by the semi-circle below the stage.  Mitt came first.  Reese wanted to get Mitt to sign his President shirt that he got in D.C. this summer, but the Secret Service told him to put the pen away.  That was a distraction, and Reese unfortunately missed his opportunity to shake Mitt's hand.  :o(  I was able to get Mitt's attention...

Let me tell you something first: I have a VERY strong woman's intuition.  I have been right on MANY occasions about people upon first meeting them, including the person who sabotaged our homestudy a few years back.  I didn't feel quite right about her then, or after, and it turns out I was right.  This has happened to me for years - often I feel nothing special about people, but sometimes I DO feel it and when I DO feel it, I'm RIGHT.  Never have I misjudged someone when I had a "feeling" about them.

From the first time I saw our current president on TV, long before this last election, he made me uncomfortable.  I saw something in his eyes that made me squirm.  The smile was too dazzling, the eyes, ...wrong, somehow.  I know that there will be people reading this that like him and I'm sorry if you are offended, but this is my place to tell my stories, and this is how I honestly feel.  I feel evil coming from behind that smile and that charm.  Sorry, it's the truth as I see it, and I'm never wrong when I feel things like this and the feeling I feel about him is strong.  

As Mitt made his way around the stage floor and he reached me, I stuck my hand out to shake his, among the dozens of others.  He paused to shake my hand and when he did so, he looked me *right in the eye*.  I had the opportunity to look, seemingly, into his soul.  As he told me "thank you" with such a humble and grateful expression, time seemed to stand still.  It was like I could peer deep down into his eyes and see this man for who he truly is.  It was like God showed me something.  I hope this doesn't sound corny, but I could see light.  I could see goodness.  I could see openness, or something.  I could see purity.  It's really hard to articulate, but I was struck by it.  I pulled my hand away after saying who-knows-what back to him, probably "uhhhhhhh" and he was gone, but I stood there for a second, drinking in my impression.  I felt it so strongly...

After Mitt came by, Ann came by and I got to shake her hand too, but she didn't lock eyes with me like Mitt did, and her handshake wasn't as natural as his was - she was being bombarded by the people who pushed in front of me so I can't blame her at all for this.  Reese did get her attention though, and got a good handshake. 

Here's Ann with one of the pushy people in front of us (they came down from one of the higher seats).  I couldn't get a shot of her with Reese, so I settled on her with this girl!  LOL

Connie Mack followed, and got a picture with Reese (I told him that Reese would be a future Congressman, and he lit up and said "HEY!!" and slapped Reese on the shoulder good-naturedly, then we got the pictre.).

Connie Mack with Reese

And it was over.  We walked the mile or so back to the car, renewed with so much energy we didn't notice the distance and had a fun car ride home as Erik slopped forward in his booster seat, asleep before we left the parking lot, and we talked about all of the amazing events that took place.

Reese carried Erik almost the whole way back to the car.

 If you are at all undecided about who to vote for, or if you think you might not vote at all, may I please urge you to go to the polls and vote for the man who's eyes I actually looked into, and saw...  Light.

(shaky legs; giving Mary a rest)Okay, so we got down to the bottom and crossed over.  As we were starting the climb on the return, I started getting tired.  Uh, oh...  Half way up the bridge, my legs just decided they were done.  I had to stop.  My legs were shaky, wobbly, quivering, you fill in the blank.  I was tired.  Meanwhile, I had to carry Mary for awhile cause she was just so tired, poor baby!  Good thing she only weighs 11 pounds.  Somehow, probably sheer will, I made it to the top of the bridge and staggered down the other side to the car.  Wanna know how I felt??


Yeah, I was tired.  But you know what?  It was a GOOD walk.  A very good walk.  Everything about it was perfect (other than the cars zooming by, I suppose).  Even Mary heeled BEAUTIFULLY - she was perfectly well-behaved!!!  We both guzzled down some water in the car and headed home.  Get ready, Mary!!  We're doing it again on Monday!!  Your Bark Therapy has just begun...

Happy birthday, Erik!  Eight years ago, you entered this world unwanted and unloved.  For 5 very long years, you waited for someone to love you and treasure you for the miracle you are.  Your dad, brothers and I were so blessed when we finally found you and brought you into our home!  You have blessed us SO much for the past 3 years - our family would have been so boring and stale without you!  You bring fun, happiness, unadulterated JOY, silliness and innocence into our lives and we can't imagine life without you now.  Your birthmother and father blessed the world the day they brought you into it and now you will bless the world right back!  WE LOVE YOU, ERIK!!  Happy birthday, son!!!

Well, we're home...  Friday we decided to drive straight home and skip Mt. Vernon and the Yorktown/Williamsburg/Jamestown "triangle".  :o(  Mama's not happy about that, but Reese was happy to be going home.  His July has been incredibly busy and he just wanted to get home for a week of rest before school started again.  Can't blame him... 

So we drove almost 14 hours (got up there in 12...) and were glad to be greeted at home by Mark, Erik and my mom.  :o) 

Tomorrow's Monday and I head back to work, Mom goes back to Seattle today and Reese ...I guess Reese will hang out at home with Erik or with his friends.  And life goes on...

Thank you for keeping up with my blog this week!!  Our Family Bouquet has been horribly neglected and it was kinda fun to revive it again for a week.  Hope you enjoyed it!  :o)

On to Day Four, and our last day in Washington...


Yesterday, we stopped here, but the line was really long and we were standing in the hot afternoon sun for so long that we decided to skip it and try it today.  To my surprise, we actually followed a plan that we'd previously laid out and we arrived at 9:30am!  And that was AFTER finding a parking place!!  (Ohhh, don't get me started on the parking situation around here...!!!!) 

Here is the actual theater.  Most of my 5 readers will know that the box office in the center of this photo is where Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln were when Mr. Lincoln was shot.  This theater still has plays on a regular basis and is very much a working theater.  Pretty cool, huh?


What's he reading, Reese?  Maybe "The Hunger Games"??

This is the pillow that he laid his head on as he lay dying.  So sad...

And the gun that killed him by the hand of John Wilkes Booth.  Grrrr...

After that sobering exhibit, we moved on to something lighter: the International Spy Museum!!  We didn't want to pay the ridiculous $20 fee they wanted, so we just went on to the store and actually had a really fun time there! 

I could make one of many comments here, but I'll just let you formulate your own.  ;op


Ah, one of my very favorite photos of the whole trip.  :o)  I told him someday when he's sitting in his Congressman's office, he'll have this photo framed on his desk as a "Remember When", he was still dreaming...


Just another shot of the Capital Building.  It's so magnificent it's hard NOT to take pictures of it!

And another...

In case you were wondering where we were walking (walking?  Did I say "walking" again?!?) we were headed back to the Cannon Building (one of the three office buildings where House members keep their offices) to visit our new friends.  This was actually one of the highlights of the whole trip for Reese:

This is Representative Sandy Adams, our district's Representative.  It was her intern that showed us around the Capital building the other day and who were all so nice to us in her office.  We finally tracked down a time when we could meet her and thank her for the tour and she was so very nice to us.  She knew just where Mims was of course (bless her heart) because of course, Brevard county is one of the four counties who she serves.  Yay.  She's a good one, I do believe.  One of her staff even brings his dog to work and he hangs around the office all day, which I thought was neat.  She seemed genuinely interested in us and asked all about what we'd done during our visit and we told her but then we also told her about the concerns we'd had about the monument to the 56 Signers of the Constitution and she was upset to hear it.  I don't know if she can do anything about it or not, but at least we said something.



Then, we scooted back over to Ron Paul's office to meet HIM.  Now, say what you might about Dr. Paul (I agree with about 75% of what he says, wholeheartedly, but the other 25% of what he says... well, not so much.), but he was a VERY nice man (if he wasn't a distinguished congressman, I'd say he was cute old guy!) and really seemed pleased to have us stop by.  He and Reese are seen above discussing politics (small government and getting out of wars and other countries' business), and that was fun to listen to.  :o) 

Here he is, signing the book he wrote.  No, Reese is not going to sneeze...  He also gave us each a copy (in booklet form) of the Constitution that he signed.

The three of us in front of the Texas flag.  (Again with the extra 25 pounds the camera adds to women...!)  Not sure what we were laughing about, but we were pretty happy at this point...


Just walking past again so I got a picture.  On Monday(?) Reese and I ate lunch under this building with the employees.  It's a perk for having influential friends...  (Like interns who show you how to access the tunnels!)


After seeing our friends Sandy and Ron, we headed across the way to the Senate office buildings and made our way to Marco Rubio's office (I've been a fan of his for some time).  We didn't expect he'd be there (he was in a "meeting") but we thought we could always try!!  It was a MUCH MORE FORMAL building than the Cannon Building (obviously - look at it!!) and we were the ONLY people in the entire place with street clothes on (unlike the Cannon).  Reese was in his glory.  He SOOOOO wants to work in a place like this!!  He was practically drooling the entire time we walked about.  We walked through a cafeteria area and there were Senators all over the place (we knew that Congressmen wear a certain lapel pin so we always looked for it) eating lunch.  WOW.  Pretty neat. 


One more shot of the Capital building as we walked (did I say "walk" AGAIN?!?) to our car.  We were crossing the street and I was able to take this as I walked, and I didn't even get hit by a car.  I'm so talented.

Tomorrow we leave Washington and head to Jamestown/Yorktown/Williamsburg and see what we'll see there and then head home.  It's been an exhausting (did I say "walk"???) but very good vacation that meant a lot to the both of us.  :o)  I will try and blog again tomorrow but the Washington stuff is overwith now. 

Okay, this is Day Four, but last night I was so dead tired I couldn't even log on to Facebook to say, "I'm too tired to blog!" so I had Reese do it! So I'm going to try to remember things as they happened yesterday, then I'll do today's.


Here is Reese in front of the National Museum of American History.  This is my favorite of the Smithsonian museums.  :o)  He liked it too, but he liked all the "war" exhibits and I liked all the "pop culture" exhibits.  Ha!


See?  My first exhibit photo is of my good friend, Mr. Kermit the Frog!


And here are Dorothy's Ruby Slippers...

And POOP!  I just realized I didn't pull up one that I took of Archie Bunker's chair, Fonzie's leather jacket, and one other thing... (What was it???)  Well, it takes way too long to pull up ONE photo, and I'm not going back to the beginning to find that one, so you'll just have to use your imagination.  Sorry!


Okay, here's a good "war" one: George Washington's uniform!  :o)  I love George Washington.



Okay, after we did the museum, we walked (of course we walked!) to the National Archives, where the Constitution, the Declaration of  Independence and the Bill of Rights are all housed.  No photos from in there, sorry.  NOT ALLOWED.  :o( 


Just another pretty shot of the Washington Monument.  :o)



From there, we DROVE to the Jefferson Memorial.  Funny, we still had to walk about 1/2 mile from the parking lot to the monument...  I like this monument a lot.  I like Thomas Jefferson, sure, but I like the monument cause it kind of sits off by itself, is on the water and isn't as popular as Lincoln's Monument.  It's quieter and a little bit more ...humble??

While we were there, several "United States of America" blue helicopters flew overhead, very close.  It made us wonder who was in there...??

Back to Jefferson.  I included a few photos here so you could not only see his statue, but also read the inscriptions on the walls of some of his famous quotes.  Some of the things said are so austere (is that the word??) that people today really need to read them!!!  He says some things that we just truly have fallen away from... 


Geez, I hope it's the camera that's making me look so fat...  don't they say photos make you gain 25 pounds??


Walking around AGAIN, I guess I took this picture of something.  Not sure what it is...  Neither of us can remember.  If you know what it is, be sure and pipe up in the comments section!  (If I'd've gotten my rear end out of bed last night and blogged before it went cold in my brain I'm sure I would have remembered...  *said through gritted teeth*)

Oh, my goodness...  I'm not 17 anymore...!!

Today was another terrific day in D.C.  :o)  We had plans to do the Smithsonian museums today, but we veered WAY off schedule, but that's okay, cause we're just having fun!

We drove all the way into D.C. because I just REALLY hate the Metro.  (Did I forget to tell the story about how yesterday riding the Metro in to D.C. I almost passed out?  Well, I did.  But that's not why I hate it.) 

We arrived at the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Marines Corps Band was just finishing practicing for a concert to be held tomorrow evening (I think).  That was neat to see.  They quickly left, and we carried on.  Reese wanted to go to the Pentagon, but by the time we got in there, the parking area was so crazy and I was so nervous about driving the wrong way or going in a Restricted area that we left and my nerves were shot.  Sorry, Reese!!  Next time, we'll take the bus in and they'll take us to the right place.

 
My husband's father fought (and survived) the battle at Iwo Jima so I felt really honored to visit here and share it with Reese.

   Reese would really love to be able to serve in the military (and would be GREAT at it!) but he can't, due to his legs and hand...  He's got all the traits that would make him an EXCEPTIONAL Marine, but it's just not meant to be...

 
A close up.  It was VERY hazy today, so I had a hard time getting good photos.  The lighting was just really weird and my camera didn't always handle it well.  As a result, several pictures were not included in this blog post.

   The base of the monument.

  After Iwo Jima, we drove over to Arlington National Cemetery, where we parked our car for the day.  Reese initially didn't really think he'd enjoy this place, but he soon changed his mind.  ;o)

  We walked ALL OVER the cemetery, and our first stop was JFK and Jackie's graves, with the Eternal Flame. 

  We walked, and walked and walked...

There was a little amphitheater that was not being used with grassy "ceilings".  It was really pretty.  Reese got a pretty nice shot of me, too!  (This was before losing the 87 pounds of fat lost after walking the 345 miles that we walked that day.  In the heat.  And the humidity!)

  Reese was really appreciative of the sacrifices of the military.  He is very patriotic and loves his adopted country very much.  I love that about him. 

   
Eventually, we arrived at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers.  Naturally, we stayed for the Changing of the Guard.  I remember seeing this when I was 16 and I never forgot it.  There is something SO amazing about this ceremony (the whole thing, really!) that affects you.  It's almost a spiritual feeling.  To know the extreme importance placed on upon unknown soldiers who died fighting for MY freedom and knowing how eternally their graves are guarded...  well, you have to be there.  I can't fully explain it...

  
Here is the "boss", officiating over the change.  Wow.  These people are SERIOUS about their duty.  I found a really cool website explaining some of the amazing sacrifices that these guards give on this website:  http://sharprightturn.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/facts-about-tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier/  Your jaw will drop when reading some of the stuff that these guys give up for the honor of guarding the Unknowns.

So then, my precious, precious son suggests that we WALK TO THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.  Yes!  We'd just walked up and down these HUGE hills in the heat all over Arlington, and he thinks nothing of suggesting that we simply walk the mile + distance loaded down with the backpack and camera bag.  Suuuuuure, son!!  NO PROBLEM!!!  So we walked...



 
 At this point, when the photo was taken, I couldn't feel my legs from the long walk.  Being the good sport I am, I am still smiling.

  
 The medics were tending to me at this point.

We bought a hotdog, drink and shared a large fries for lunch.  I kid you not, it was $18.  More medics.

After I came to, we decided as long as we were there, we might as well walk down the Reflecting Pool to the new WWII Memorial.  WHY NOT?!  The IV the Medics gave me helped quite a bit, so off we set.  The first stop was at the Vietnam Memorial.

  
No, this is not just a grassy yard.  Look beyond it.  You can see the Wall. 

 
 A closer view.  Though it seems very simple, a park ranger explained that there is a LOT of symbolism that went into the design.

We then moved on to a monument that I'm quite sure no one reading this blog (all 5 of you) has ever heard of.  "Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence".  I was happy to know there was a monument made to these men who nearly ALL came to a violent end after signing the document as they were then known as traitors.  Their homes were burned down, their families slaughtered, etc.  Yet, so little is made of them.  So we headed on over there, which wasn't too easy since I couldn't feel my legs, but also there was no sign to lead us and the path we took was VERY rough - it obviously BADLY needed to be repaved and it was surprising.  Also, the path was dirty and the water that the monument was displayed on (as in a small peninsula) was FILTHY.  Could this really be it??  Yes, it was.  The names of the Signers were all carved in blocks with their names, occupations, and home towns, all written in gold leaf and in their handwriting.  But, the gold leaf was peeling, or filled with dirt, and there were cigarette butts and other trash all over the ground.  VERY SAD.  We fully plan on talking to our Representative friend, Sandy Adams, about this, and see if there's something she can do.  We also might mention it to our other friend, Ron Paul.  (We plan to go visit them again tomorrow or Thursday.)

So here are a few pictures.  This memorial could be so beautiful if it was TENDED TO!!!

  It's basically two semi-circles made up of the blocks.  I should have uploaded a photo of one of the blocks.  You can see the water and the Washington Monument in the background.  See how pretty this place could be?  It's so terribly, terribly neglected...

 

Moving on (can't feel my hips), we walked to the new WWII Memorial.  I had a patient tell me that he was flown (with other vets) on a private jet to the dedication of this memorial and he said how much it meant to him.  It's an AMAZING, WONDERFUL memorial!!!  WOW!!  The pictures I took simply do not do it justice.  Finally, finally, a monument to WWII has been erected and it is out of this world.

  
Each state had a column with a wreath.

An overview.

 
Each of these stars represents 100 American soldiers killed in battle. 

  There were two of these "gazebos", one for the Atlantic, one for the Pacific.  All of the states were represented, as well as all of the American territories.

 

  A distant view, with the Lincoln Memorial in the background (the WWII Memorial is practically at the base of the Washington Monument).

 

Since I already couldn't feel anything from my waist, down, and my arms were starting to go numb, too, we figured we might as well keep going.  So, we walked to the White House!










Some day, Reese!  Some day!!

After this, we walked to the Metro Station, 1/4 mile away, downtown.  We saw some fancy schmancy places, I'll tell you!  Pretty neat!  We took the Metro back to the Arlington Cemetery (no, I was NOT going to walk back there!!!!!!!!) and thought someone stole our rental car.  One of the workers at the cemetery helped us find it, on the lowest level of the garage, right where we left it.  ;op  We were tired.

Good night!!  I'M GOING TO BED!!!!  Oh, and by the way, after my long, hot bath, all the feeling came back into my body, and now I'm just sore all over.  LOL