Vacation pictures: Part 2 (because Blogger hates me!)

This is a view of the Chesapeake Bay from atop the Bay Bridge (stuck in traffic). At least it's a nice view...

This is a view of kites flying as you walk down the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD.
This needs no explanation....I just liked the picture.

Vacation photos: Part 1

Sand castles at the Ocean City Beach. There were five or six different Biblically themed masterpieces, so this is just a sample. I have no idea how anyone has the patience to do this...or the ability!

This is a picture of a typical day at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. As you can tell, it was just a tad crowded. (We didn't go out onto the beach that day, just on the boardwalk.)

Back in the Saddle Again...

Well, I’m back from vacation. Okay, actually I was only gone a week and I’ve pretty much squandered the entire month of August on just about everything except blogging. But the call of the blog is once again too strong to ignore. Well, actually that’s not true, but if I spend anymore of Emily’s nap time buying things on Ebay, then my darling sweet husband might just snap. (Ummm…note to darling sweet loving husband…I might have taken Emily to get her pictures taken today…we’ll talk later…I love you!)

So, I guess that means that I’m officially back once again. Of course by now, I am probably typing this solely for my own benefit, as my loyal readers have by now had their loyalty severely tested. I do not blame them. I blame Ebay.

We're Going on a Vacation (Oh the Work!)

Well, tomorrow the family and I will pack most of what we own (or at least it seems that way with a baby in tow) in the minivan and begin the drive to the tiny coastal state of Delaware to visit my family. We will leave sometime in the afternoon, or early evening (since we never ever leave on schedule) and drive as far as Emily can stand before stopping at a hotel for the night.

Now understand that although we have made this trip many times, both my husband and I alone and with Emily, we have never done it in two days with Emily. We always just drove all night while she slept. It worked great except that last time we did that, Andrew and I vowed never again, since neither of us could stay awake.

So this time we will attempt to stay in a hotel. Emily still sleeps in her crib and she does not sleep well anywhere away from home. Since she has learned how to climb out of her play pen and we can't take the crib with us, the hotel sleeping should be quite the adventure...not to mention once we get to "Grammy and Pop-pop's" house. Did I mention they also have a dog? That barks...a lot. And there's only a full-size bed in the "guest room" (my old bedroom). So Emily will be attempting to sleep on her little Tigger fold-out couch. She loves to play on it and has napped there when she was sick, but to sleep all night....let's just say that it would be nothing short of a miracle. Oh and did I forget to mention that my parents' house is currently undergoing remodeling? Big remodeling.

We are planning to provide entertainment for the car ride. We have figured out how to hook up a laptop computer to play DVD's for Emily. What Dvd's are we bringing you might ask? The Wiggles of course (the child is FASCINATED by these 4 Australian guys) who sing songs like "Hot potato, hot potato/Cold spaghetti, cold spaghetti/Mashed banana,mashed banana". Yep, they have a whole song where those are the only words. The play list also includes a Sesame Street video (she has never ever paid any attention to it before...), a Clifford movie (I just bought this one as a surprise...she likes the books) and the crowning jewel, Cinderella. (At least that one's okay.) So pray for our safety, but also our sanity. Seriously.

Of course, so far, I have absolutely nothing packed. Not one single thing. I'm still doing laundry, though one more load should do it....I think. I've been trying to clean up so that my friend from church, who is coming to feed our two cats next week, doesn't think we're total slobs. I also don't want to come home from vacation to a dirty house. (Okay, mostly, I just don't want Marcy to think we live like pigs.)

Add to this that poor Andrew finds himself absolutely hammered with work this week. I don't think he has been home before 10 pm any night. Last night it was midnight and tonight doesn't look much better. Emily hasn't been napping much and the grass absolutely had to be cut before we left. (It was starting to look like a jungle.) So, what's a girl to do?

Well, I cut the grass of course. With a non-self-propelled push mower in record setting heat over the course of two days. Yesterday, I did it while Emily napped (I started at 4:30 when it was 94 degrees with a heat index of over a hundred) First, I had to find the instructions and figure out how to start the dang thing. (Yes, I have cut the grass before, but always on a riding mower.) With that accomplished, I made it about a half hour before I thought that heat exhaustion was likely, and I came in to drink Gatorade and cool down a bit. Then I went back out and did another half hour's work, finishing one side and the front (the front is all up-hill, seriously...) With that done, I had a sufficiently bad headache that I was pretty much useless the rest of the day. So tonight, after I put Emily to bed, I started cutting the grass again, beginning around 8:30 pm. I finished around 9:30. It's done. At least I think it is. It's too dark to see and I'm too hot to care anymore.

All I can say is that single moms and mom's who are military wives have all my respect. They definitely don't get enough credit for doing everything. It's not easy or fun.

But, I digress. So, beginning sometime later tomorrow, my family and I will be headed out East to begin our week-long vacation. I will not be posting during that time, but rest assured. I'll be back, and I'll probably have plenty of things to write about....right after I get the laundry done. This vacation is a lot of work!

ACLU; Black Mayor Should Be More Sensitive Because of His Race

Well, this is a new one for me. The ACLU is now attacking a black man for being racist. Specifically, they are attacking Mayor Frank Melton of Jackson, Mississippi.

According to the article in the Las Vegas Sun, Mayor Melton believes the city of Jackson is in a crime crisis. "'We have 26 people that have been killed in Jackson this year. We have 300,000 people killed across America each year. The majority of them are African-American and it's time to do something different..." Factor in to the equation that Mayor Melton is black and the city of Jackson is "nearly 71 percent black, and 23.5 percent live below the poverty level" and one would think that the Mayor might have some idea what he was talking about. Heck, the people of Jackson overwhelmingly voted for Melton's tough on crime approach. So what is the problem here?

Well, in a word, (or more aptly, a bunch of letters) the ACLU is the problem. King Downing, the ACLU's "national racial profiling coordinator" seems to have a problem with some of the mayor's tactics.

Mayor Melton has been known to ride along on police patrols, enact stricter curfews on teens and homeless people and even declared a state of emergency to address the crime problem. Basically, he seems to be in touch with law enforcement, he seems to understand that youth out late in the evenings with nothing to do and homeless people pose crime risks and he is trying to do something about the situation. In a nutshell, he's profiled the problem areas and is attempting to do something to fix the problem...basically, he's doing his job. He's doing his best to do what he was elected to do...stop the crime wave.

Maybe that fact alone has the ACLU up in arms. After all, the ACLU is not used to seeing politicians actually doing what they say. It is a rather alarming thing to witness if it's your first time.

However, according to the ACLU's Downing, the issue is serious. "For me to leave my office and come into one of the states means that there is a very serious problem," said Downing, who is based in New York. "There are problems here that it's going to take the attention of the nation in order to solve."

Downing is investigating accusations of racial profiling by the mayor. Apparently a few people have alleged that they were pulled over and searched on the basis of their race. (The article does not go into more detail than that.) Downing said the mayor's race should make him "more sensitive to the problems this is creating."

Ahh...so being black should help the mayor understand why the majority of the crimes are being committed by blacks in the city? So, let me get this straight. Since the mayor is black, he should understand that while most of the crime is perpetrated by blacks, it's not nice to profile them, even when he has great reason to believe that they are the most likely suspects?

You just have to love the ACLU....NOT!!

Mayor Melton has no love for them either. In a statement he said, ""I want to know what the ACLU wants to do besides criticize." He also said that he has not violated anyone's civil rights and is not interested in the ACLU's accusations.

Good for him. Now, keep up the good work.