Nov. 4

Whew. Yesterday was a long day. We were up at 5:30am to get our early votes in, and didn't get to sleep until 1am, as results from Virginia's fifth congressional district were still trickling in. Ali's parents worked like crazy to help Tom Perriello upset the incumbent repugnant Virgil Goode. It was an uphill battle, and in the end it looks like it's still too close to call this morning and a recount will follow. Whoever wins, they can be proud that turnout was so high in that district, and that Tom did so well against a six-termer who usually gets 65 percent of the vote. Go SML Dems!!

Voter turnout nationwide set a 100 year record, and because I'm sure all Tripdub readers voted, we can all be proud of that. But it's still ridiculous that some people have to wait hours to vote, and that some were turned away for registration issues. Can't they just let everyone vote, wherever they show up, and then stamp their hands or something? Maybe set up voting machines at 7-11s? Or Starbucks -- they're everywhere. Is voter fraud really that big of an issue? Seems like worries about "voter fraud" are really worries about "making it too easy for minorities to vote".

I thought McCain gave a great concession speech. For all his talk of "Country First", it sure seemed like the past year he surrounded himself with people who believed in "Campaign First, Last and Only". But his speech last night sounded genuine, and made me think that maybe he really does believe in his slogan after all.

So, the main event happened around midnight when Obama gave his victory speech. Great speech, as usual. I think one thing that helped him win was that when he talks about moving beyond partisan politics, he actually sounds like he means it. A lot of pundits and even Democratic party officials didn't believe in the 50-state strategy of the campaign, but it paid off, and demonstrated a desire to govern on behalf of the whole country, not just the pockets where the "base" lives. In a country as big and diverse as ours, it's tempting to put people in neat categories and then focus on the differences. And that was the low point of the campaign, when all the McCain surrogates talked about a "real" America. I'm happy that strategy and line of thinking was ultimately rejected by voters.

Jake and Sadie were mostly oblivious to the news last night; their attention focused on making (and eating) Obama cookies with blue icing. But by the end of Obama's first term, Jake will be seven, and Sadie five. They will have seen his face on television countless times. They won't have the same assumption that the President is always an old white man. What effect will that have on this next generation of kids-- and especially the kids who look more like Barack Obama? That's pretty neat. I'm a little bit prouder of my country today.

Fired Up and Ready to Go!

We just got back from voting. It took about 15 minutes at our little polling place. They weren't using the electronic ballot boxes that they normally do - they were using old fashioned paper ballots that were scanned into a machine that one voter commented looked a lot like a shredder. It was pretty easy and Jake even got to color in the box for the parks bond referendum.

When we first showed up, both parties were there of course handing out sample ballots and stickers. The couple behind us picked up a sample ballot and then the husband let out a sigh of disgust - "Oh, this is the Democrat ballot" and crumpled it up and threw it away and went back to get a Republican sample ballot. I think this guy was afraid he might catch something from just holding the thing. It was too early in the morning to remind him that the ballots are identical.

Happy Halloween!

Here's Superman, Wonder Woman and Super Shelley the Otter as we were getting ready to go Trick or Treating last night. The weather was great and we had a good turnout in the neighborhood. Best costume of the cul-de-sac went to Hannah who went as a Knight Who Says Ni.

Jake and Poppy make a Jack-O-Lantern! Jake drew the mouth! Yea! (And Poppy carved the pumpkin all by himself!) Yea!

Jake, Sadie, & Shelly

The most recent addition to the family.......Shelly the Sea Otter! It's Jake's week to "babysit" Shelly. Every kid in his K3 class gets to take Shelly home for a week and journal about her visit with the family. We're easing Shelly into life at the Edelstein household with an evening of watching Dora the Explorer. She loves it. I can tell.

Travel Haiku

Away for one week
Missing my three already
Hotels aren't the same

South Mountain Creamery

On Sunday we drove out to visit South Mountain Creamery, the dairy that delivers our milk. It was their fall open house and they had tours and BBQ and ice cream and hayrides a big barn full of toddler ride-on toys. It was great.

We got to see the milking operation and the tiny dairy where the milk is bottled and packed up for delivery later the same day it's milked. They had all kinds of equipment packed into the dairy house where they make yogurt, ice cream, butter and cheeses. I loved hearing about everything, but Sadie and Jake were ready to see the cows. We walked up to the barn where all the calves live - about 20 or 30 of them. Sadie loved every minute of this. She loves animals and these calves were pretty friendly and happy to have visitors.

I just need to set up this video, though. I was taking a little movie because the kids were being so cute with the calves, but when Jake asks us if these are baby cows, both Ali I turned our heads to talk to him and when we looked back Sadie was backpedaling and had a terrified look on her face. At the time we had no idea what happened because she'd been having such a great time with the cows. When we got home and watched the movie, we realized that the cow surprised her with a quick lick to the ear. The quality here isn't great so you might have to watch it twice to see it. We watched it about 35 times.



This is for Stacey and Cara: Cow says, "Don't be scared Sadie, we just like the salt in your ear"

Here are some pictures.