Through the Eyes of our Daughters

On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, with my daughter, son and husband in tow, I proudly cast my vote for the first female President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. A few weeks ago, I tried to explain the election to Cece. I showed her a picture of President Obama, the First Lady Michelle, their daughters, and the White House. I tried a few things to explain these things, but then resorted to using the words "like a King and Queen" a few times. Because, let's face it, unfortunately our little girls are presented with castles, princes and princesses at her age more than just about anything else. And those are words Cece understands. I let her process all that and then I told her that everyone was getting ready to choose a new leader, a President, and we had an important choice to make. I knew I wasn't going to go deep with her, so I just showed her a picture of the two main candidates. She asked me what their names were. And then, almost immediately, she told me she wanted "the girl" to win. I had to smile.

Obviously, during that first conversation, Cece picked Hillary because she was a woman. This did not surprise me because we talk about women a lot. We talk about Girl Power. We talk about smart girls. We talk about strong girls. We talk about bravery. We talk about hard work. We talk about perseverance. We talk about kindness. After that first conversation with Cece, we talked about how all of these words apply to her. And then I told her about how they also apply to Hillary. I told her about how long she has been working and what she has been working for. I also told her she was working for something no other girl had ever achieved before. I do believe those words left an impression.

And so yesterday, we voted. We carried with us our hopes and dreams to the voting booth - that in Hillary Clinton and her historic run for the Presidency of the United States of America, our daughter would see that the when there are no more ceilings, and the sky is the limit.

And then she lost. It was a crushing experience telling Cece the news this morning. There were tears and scrunched up faces. But not from her. From Cece, there was a low, soft reply, "oh, noooo."  And then, "next time, mommy". Yes, Cece. Next time.

And even though she didn't win, there is so much to learn from Hillary. The glass ceiling hasn't been broken, but someday, hopefully soon, it will be. Cece for President, 2056? =)

"And to all of the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams." - Hillary Rodham Clinton, 11/9/16

Fall Family Photos

 

 

 

  

Halloween 2016

We've had a busy fall. And now, the leaves have mostly fallen, Halloween has come and past and here we are in November. How is that possible? It's hard to keep up.

Last weekend, we enjoyed a few Halloween parties with friends, school costume parades, carved our pumpkins and of course, trick or treating around town on Halloween night.

Cece is almost 4. What that really means is that mom is losing her pull when it comes to Halloween costumes. I don't have as much sway as I used to. So, when Cece decided she wanted to be a mermaid for Halloween back in early September, I didn't have much choice except to embrace the idea and find the best mermaid costume I could for her. She loved it, of course.

Sully was a construction guy. It made sense. He loves tools, toolbelts, diggers, trucks. But the selling point for me was the muscle man look and tattooed arm sleeves.

The kids figured out trick or treating pretty quickly. Once Sully realized what everyone was handing out, he just wanted to sit down and eat candy. A few times he also tried to sneak onto one of the many tractor hayrides that lined the street in the neighborhood we went to (the same one I used to trick or treat in when I was a kid!). We went to several houses and then headed home to teach the kids about the art of trading candy.

And now, almost a week later, the house is still full of Halloween candy, the yard is full of fallen leaves to rake, and we are whizzing on toward the birthday and holiday season. Hold on!

Summer Vacation - Saranac Lake, NY

Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, has come and gone. We spent the last bit of "summer" at a secluded camp on Middle Saranac Lake in Upstate New York. The camp is owned by a friend of my brothers and was rustic and wonderful. The vacation crew included Nana and Gramps, Curt and Mandy's family and all of us plus Summit. It was quite a crew, especially considering the almost 6 hour caravan followed by a 15 minute boat ride required to arrive at camp. But once we landed, there was nothing to do but enjoy fresh mountain air and good company. That's because we were really "off the grid" - no cell phone service, limited electricity (provided by a solar panel), no flushing toilets, no electronics...no problems!

We spent our days fishing, swimming, boating, hiking, napping (yes!) and eating a lot of Nana's cookies. Of course, there were a few melt downs and Sully basically clung to me like a barnacle all weekend, which is his MO on family vacations, but it was really pretty fantastic overall. The weather was great. Cool at night, foggy in the mornings, bright and sunny by 10 AM. And the stars, oh so many stars at night!

 

Here comes a lot of pictures, in no particular order...

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was one incident where Sully fell off the dock 5 minutes before our final departure from camp, but despite being a little wet for the wear and perhaps confused by all the commotion around him as we all jumped in (thankfully not literally) to action to pull him out, he was fine.

What a peaceful place. Hopefully we can visit again!