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ny, so now he has a little friend. After the first day of confusion for Izzy, they hit it off after he realized that he is bigger- and the only threat from the baby is her uncontrollable use of claws when they play... but Izzy has become fond of her. Now they curl up together and lick each other.
We had an exciting weekend and election day!!!!! Yeeeaaah, Wooooo Hooooo!!!!!!
We started following the line back block after block after block and ended up near the Q, more people continued the line back around the Q to Progressive field, and evidently there was a second line about as long coming into the central location from the other side too. Yes, there were A LOT of people! We happened to meet a couple of our friends from the Cleveland Freethinkers Group in line, so we had some good conversation and laughs.
And it was great to just feel the excitement and common purpose we all shared waiting there in line, even with total strangers! We were getting closer by 3:45 when Bruce Springsteen was supposed to start the evening with a concert, but the line was slowing down it's progress. I think they delayed starting the event until more people got in. 
Also we saw secret service snipers up close as they arrived and cut through the line right in front of us to go up to the roof of the one building. Well most of the people behind us had split off somewhere else, so we were nearly the end of the line. 
Eventually our patience paid off, and after we made it through security complete with metal detectors like at an airport,
we found that those of us at the end of the line were put closest to the platform where Springsteen and Obama would be. It was 5:15 by the time we got in. Hollie and I were probably 40-50 yards away!!
We couldn't see really well or get a great picture
because flood lights were shining straight at us from the other side of the platform and people were holding up signs and their cameras, like we were, trying to get a picture. Springsteen played about five songs including Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land and then introduced the Obama family. 
Everyone went so crazy at this point that we couldn't see Michelle or the kids or Springsteen greet Barack. Then Barack spoke and we could only catch glimpses of him occasionally over people's heads and in between their hands and signs! His speech consisted of a lot of the same things you've heard throughout his campaign if you've been paying even a little attention. He continued to inspire hope and look to the future! Humorously, when he mentioned
Dick Cheney
it started to rain, not too hard, but it continued lightly for awhile. When he had finished and most people were leaving we tried to get closer to the platform to get a closer look, but we couldn't get quite close enough to see him better or shake his hand. Still it was an afternoon of high energy to remember!
Hollie and I both voted early that morning. Hollie works right across the street from the Election Board early voting location and so knew there were lines there for weeks, so we didn't even try that. That evening after work we went to an 
Election Party hosted by a couple of our church friends. Several friends from church were there and we met some new people who were friends or family of our hosts. To be honest, it wasn't a politically balanced party, it was definitely an Obama party. It was also a demographically mixed group of people. Hollie made signs that said GOBAMA and CLEVELAND BARACKS. The hosts put up a large map over their mantle and had little Obama
and McCain faces to stick on the states as they were called. We all anxiously watched the election coverage as we chatted and snacked and drank. Then our collective anxiety turned to joy and celebration as the results showed a landslide in the electoral votes and a handful of previously red states turned blue!! Finally McCain gave an eloquent concession speech that I hope Republican supporters will take to heart.
Then Barack Obama made his victory speech and it brought tears to the eyes of many people in the room! Obama won the support of “young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."
From McCain's reference to Teddy Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington, let us show that "America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time." We hope that the fear and hatred of people who are different from ourselves can be overcome on more issues than just race too.
and saw the Blue Angels perform. Even though he said it was boring while we were there- he kept telling us later that it was cool, "... like transformers!!" he exclaimed. He's a great kid and we enjoyed having him. Although, we definitely got an experience with discliplining an 8 year old little smarty pants. Now that Kristina's family has moved back to Ohio, we will probably be seeing a lot more of the kids!!! Yay! So, on Monday we invited Byron's parents and Hollie's parents to come up for a picnic at Edgewater Park, along with Kristina & Henry & kids, Grandma & Grandpa Doup, and our friend Kristin & her kids. A good time was had by all! It was really nice to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather and good food.
though? :(
less total actors than last year, but with more writers. This year Byron prepared Fairy Tales, Mother Goose Rhymes, and Aesop's Fables to be randomly drawn by the teams. We asked the writers to adapt the stories as closely or as loosely as they wished. We had quite a few returning facing but also a good number of new participants. The word is spreading! Ben still wrote on a team and helped organize things, but since he and Sonja now have a baby girl, Sonja couldn't devote as much time to the event. So Hollie and I decided not to be participants this year and tried to keep things on schedule while designing programs and making lots of copies.
On the 15th and 16th we spent time at the Mohican Adventures campgrounds and the Mohican State Forest Park. We went hiking and climbing in the forest, then set up our camp site. We got a camping package that included mini-golf, go-carts, and paddling 7 miles down the Mohican river by canoe, raft, kayak, or innertube. We chose a canoe. We enjoyed ourselves and managed not to tip our canoe over! In fact, we're planning to go canoeing again this Labor Day Weekend.
Well, August went by so fast. We started out the month by taking a little road trip to escape for a couple days. It was our 2 year 
anniversary on August 1st, so we wanted to just get away and relax. Byron found a 
drive-thru safari park called The Wilds, near Zanesville. So we enjoyed a day riding around seeing all the beautiful animals and country scenery. The camels came right up to our bus, and the giraffes, cheetahs and zebras were breathtaking. We had a great time taking LOTS of pictures...
Dresden, Ohio. Dresden is the home of the Longaberger basket factory. The town is overflowing with baskets... but that's not why we went there. When we found the B&B online, it was perfect because it was a private cabin by a pond. It was also on a farm filled with exotic
animals- that we took lots more pictures of. For breakfast, we just went to the main house and the hostess served us in her "Breakfast Nook."It was really nice because we were able to catch up on some resting & reading. We sat on the rocking chairs on the porch of the cabin each night to read. It was romantical.
We did venture into Dresden to check out what all the hype is about those expensive baskets. There were shrines to baskets everywhere, including the World's Largest Basket and a Disneyworld-like area(complete with a giant basket of apples) beside the factory where people come from all over to buy... baskets. It wasn't the most exciting trip, but it was definitely relaxing. Plus, we learned about basket weaving!
determine what actors, directors and writers are on which team... then the writers stay all night to write 10 minute plays- actors and directors come in the morning, rehearse all day- then the curtain goes up at 8 that evening. It's so much fun!! We enjoy planning and organizing it, and this year it went really well. We had a lot more actors show up to participate. Byron was one of the directors. Hollie was on a writing team. It turned out that Byron ended up directing the play that Hollie's team wrote. All of the teams did a great job this year in performing and writing. It was close competition, but our play won People's Choice for the best play. Ben's play usually wins, so it was nice to beat him for once. We still love you Ben!!
Byron was a little more creative with his costume and decided to be a Rubik's cube. So, armed with a cardboard box, poster board, and construction paper, he made a hilarious costume. It took him a week to make it. He won a Chia Head at the party for the Most Unique costume.
