Well, Bryan's school election is officially complete.

Thank goodness.

Today the electoral college met and cast their classroom votes for president. By an overwhelming margin (17-7) Obama won.

Jim Mitchell Elementary has officially voted Barrack Obama into office.

Each class had a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 2 electoral votes, based on the population of each class. Bryan's class had 2 votes. One elector from the 5th grade didn't show up. Fortunately, the electoral vote didn't come to a tie.

It was a nice lesson for the kids. They all enjoyed being included in the voting process. They also got to vote on a school mascot and school colors. Those votes haven't been counted yet. They expect to have those finished by Friday.

I'm just so glad it's all over. I was able to get the ballot boxes out of my house on Monday. So my dining room is back to normal too.

I'm so proud of Bryan for thinking of and organizing this election. He did a great job.

McCain in 2008!!

Today was the big day.

I got out and voted!!

Bill said that Obama is going to win. For the last 17 elections, when the Redskins have lost, then the party not currently in power WINS. Since the Redskins lost over the weekend, that surely means that the democrats are winning today. lol

I'm still pulling for McCain though.

Get out and VOTE!!

Enchanted Rock

We went on a great Cub Scout campout two weekends ago to Enchanted Rock.

Enchanted Rock is a gigantic batholith...basically an enormous rock that formed underground that has been exposed over time by erosion. It is of pink granite (very common in this part of Texas).

When I was in the 5th grade, our class trip was to be to Enchanted Rock, but early that year the state bought the land and they made some renovations and the park was closed for the construction so our trip got cancelled.

I have wanted to go over since.

I finally got my chance. It was wonderful. Well, the hike up the rock wasn't so great...it was over half a mile straight up and it was a very difficult climb, especially with 10 little cubscouts.

I was able to get some great pictures of Texas from high up. These pictures were taken at the top of the rock.

After the hike, we all settled down at the base of the rock to camp. It was a great time!

We saw 2 skunks (they walked right up to our campsite), several squirrels that were the size of large cats, at least 3 feral cats, an entire herd of deer, a big snake sunning himself at the top of the rock, and Bethany woke up one time during the night to see little yellow eyes looking at her through the flap in the tent. We did not get out of the tent to see what it was.

I didn't sleep well. Mostly because I am too old to sleep flat on Texas but also because the rock makes noises.

During the day, the sun heats the rock and it expands. At nighttime, as the granite cools and settles, it makes popping and cracking sounds. I knew this before going to bed, I just had no idea how LOUD the cracking and popping would be. It sounded like gunfire. It was awesome once I figured out that some nutbar wasn't running around shooting.

Bill and I are planning on taking the kids back in the spring without the cubscouts so that we can take our time doing everything and really enjoy the experience.

For now, I'll just have to enjoy my pictures.

Halloween 2008

Finally, Halloween is over. It was very stressful for me this year. Bill was sent down to work in Houston and didn't get home until 8:30. So it was just me and the kids.

Bryan was super easy. He was Darth Vader and so had a store bought costume.

Bethany wanted to be a character from a video of one of her favorite groups, My Chemical Romance. The character's name is Helena and she is some kind of dead ballerina. I had to make that costumer. I didn't get it finished until just before we left to go trick or treating.

It turned out quite nice if I do say so myself.

Then trick or treating...me, Bryan and a mob of 12 year old girls. WOW! Next year I may just let them go without me. lol One of the girls talked to me non-stop. I don't even know her. She was the younger sister of a girl in Bethany's choir class.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over. Too much activity for me. I'm getting too old for it. haha

but I got some good pictures of the kids.