The Kelsey's

Laura took the kids to the pumpkin patch for a day of frivolity and to burn of the last of that summer energy.  Here are a few pictures to help you to get a sense of what happened.

Nathan immediately took to the wheel – he likes to be the captain of his own vessel.  Even if that wheel is bigger than he is.

Hannah helped Nathan to go down the zip line.  With big sister holding on it wasn’t exactly zippy, but that’s the way he liked it.

Just to give you some perspective on how big everyone is getting – they lined up against the measuring rod.  Joshua has just passed 5 feet and Hannah is just past 5 1/2 feet tall.  Caleb is at 4 1/4, but I think he’s getting ready to sprout up himself.

Now a day in the pumpkin patch wouldn’t be complete without a hay ride on the back of a flat bed truck.  Laura and the kids relax with some of their friends as they rumble along through the fields of harvest.

About 5 hours of fun for a fist full of dollars – you can’t hardly beat it these days.  But the end of the day arrived and they all piled in the van and came and picked me up from work.  I had my car in for it’s bi-annual inspection (it passed) so when they got me Nathan and Caleb were zonked out and the older kids looked a little worn as well.

In the evening, Joshua went with me to the evangelistic meetings at church where I interpreted for one of our deaf members and we learned about “Memory Loss and Monkey Business.”  Our friend Brian did a good job presenting.  Now everyone is cleaned up and winding down for bed.  I think I’ll head that way too.  G’night.

A few weeks ago, right after the political conventions were over, we got a call from our FairTax friends asking us to attend the McCain / Palin rally in St. Charles. So Joshua and I agreed. It’s not often you get to go to these things.

We met up with our group and they had T-shirts and hats for us to wear. We also had a big FairTax sign but the security people said we couldn’t bring it in. So we had to take it back to the car. In other words – we waited through this line TWICE!

See the line going back behind the trees?  That was about 1/2 way back to the cars!

The guys behind us were talking politics the whole time (go figure).  The ladies in front of us were teachers and they were glad to see a young person coming to learn about how our leaders are selected.  They took this nice picture for us.

When we finally got in to the baseball park, we found a tent where the local talk radio guys were interviewing our former senator Jim Talent.

We made our way out onto the ball field. We stood out there for a total of three hours. Basically where that camera stand is located in front of us is the pitcher’s mound.

The cameraman is pointed over to where the “Straight Talk Express” pulled right up. Here’s what it looked like from our vantage point.

Mike Huckabee (a big supporter of the FairTax) helped warm up the crowd.

Then Sarah got to speak and the crowd just loved her. This was her first stop after the convention and they weren’t really ready for the 23,000 or so that came out.

We had a great time. It is a very close race. In most states it is now too late to register, but if you are registered – be sure to do your part and vote. We are preparing our minds for the possibility of four years of slouching towards socialism. It’s just that close. But they say that Democrats win polls and Republicans win elections. We’ll see this time.

Post Script: If you are of a different political persuasion and are not fond of Mrs. Palin, we’re entitled to our own viewpoint. I’d love to talk about it some time. I have friends of all political stripes – and we’re still friends. But please be considerate of our kids and hold your nose and vote for McCain. Back to normal family business in the next post.