It's a funny day, and sometimes politics don't get any weirder. Here we have celebrities dropping by the score, so much (and yet so little) to think about this news bit, but I feel the need to write about this anyway...
Yes, this is political, so please move on if it hurts you to read negative things about Sarah Palin specifically.
I found it highly interesting yesterday to see Sarah Palin is quitting as governor of Alassska 18 months before her term is over. Even Rush Limbaugh had to say it was "risky", which my Democrat-to-Republicanspeak Decoder Ring says is code for "swan dive into political oblivion".
As I hoped would happen post-election, a healthy chunk of people with a brain on the right side of the aisle have come to recognize Palin for what she is: A political opportunist whose public service ethic and feminist ideals extended only as far as it would get her. But she failed to do her homework, and anyone who watches the Katie Couric interview and proceeds to blame the media for that debacle in public relations I would argue needs to get a few screws tightened in their head and watch it again...
Not a lot of people would argue against me that Palin was done shortly after that interview and ones like it. Once the election was lost (or perhaps a few weeks in advance of that), the Party itself had already started to blame her for the loss.
Still, she managed to stay in the news a little longer, especially with the rather schizophrenic combination of "Isn't my family fabulous?/Stop reporting on my family! Pay attention to me because I'm still relevant!/Leave me alone!"
While I can hope this is a swan song of her political career only because I truly LOVE America...I can't help if this is just a ploy so she can go write her book and do her fundraising and "consensus building" among the anti-Choice wingers without having to deal with pesky taxpayers and constituents who want her to do her job.
But secretly, there's a part of me that wonders if everyone has underestimated her, only because it's taken slightly longer than the 15 minutes most of us anticipated for her to become a cocktail party joke.
I'm not sure who she's listening to, but perhaps she understands that governorship of a sparsely populated state isn't power, but the money is...and sitting around approving legislation and plotting one's political future while the media has the audacity to question your money spending and motivations behind every move you make isn't going to get you anywhere either. At least it's a lot harder than making a few million from a book/speaking deal.
Plus, she'd be better off reading a few copies of the The Washington Post, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal for a while -- you know -- to get her bearings on what is actually happening in the world while there's still newspapers to report it.
My main wish for ALL Americans, including any future leaders -- like say Palin -- is that the next time she opens her mouth about Russia that she doesn't sound nearly like the ditzy Wasilla High School cheerleader that she has in the past.
Maybe then she could run for Senator from her state and give someone a plausible run in 2016 after President Barack Obama's eight years are up in The White House. Being a Senator isn't executive experience, but it seems to work for a lot of Presidents...
Plus I think it's going to take longer than four years for her to catch up and do her damage control/wheel reinvention, and a few more of her kids can be out of the house by then and able to make decisions for themselves about whether or not they want to be part of the campaign rather than trundled out for consumption.
But you can count on me to be among those who won't be holding their breath for it, but at least I can say I didn't count her out when even Rush was ready to.
Last night a bunch of the family came over for dinner with Oma and Opa, and we grilled salmon and had a wonderful meal together in the back yard.
We just got home from a few days on the road...Brian has been working in the southern part of the state, and when he said he'd be ON the beach for a couple of nights...Nora and I drove down and spent a couple of nights there, seeing him in the evenings and doing our own thing during the day.
We went to an animal safari thing that was just sort of weird...OLD, and they even let kids get close to some of the cubs...
THEN...we went to the beach. Nora HATES sand and water. The Oregon Coast really is counter-intuitive. I call it an "acquired taste...you know, kinda like beer." 
Anyway, she started out not sure about it, then started to enjoy it, then ran to play in the water...and promptly FELL into the ocean (2 inches of water, but she was soaked)...so I got to walk her ALLLLLL the way back to the car, drive her to the hotel, and get her cleaned up. What an adventure! 
So all the way to the kid's club, and to the fountain for cooling off afterwards, I asked her what she could say. "Can you say "store?" "Stoh", she said.
Nora went to her first birthday party (that wasn't hers) this weekend, and it was Sullivan's 3rd birthday. He's in this picture, somewhere, along with a bunch of other boys...and Nora is pretty easy to pick out because she's wearing a shirt.
Nora had a few surprises for us at the zoo this Friday! 
During our climb out of the zoo, we often go past the turtles and duck pond that is on the lower level of the Northwest Trail hike...
Later, we walked through a water fountain area (it's just a few minutes from the exit), and Nora loves to get soaked there on sunny days. It's kind of funny how many parents stare at us like we're insane to let her get so wet, but we bring a change of clothes and a towel, and she LOVES playing in it...PLUS it was 90* that day.
And she pointed at it and said "A. B."
We went to the Salem Arts Festival today at Bush's Pasture Park. I don't know if you realize how BIG Bush Park is, but it's MANY acres in the middle of Salem that houses the Willamette University stadium in one remote area, and the rest is a series of gardens, tree groves and open fields that used to belong to the Bush family. 
In addition to booths for the local symphony, theatres and a great play area, there were NUMEROUS arts and crafts people and their beautiful displays of the various things they make and sell.
This picture of a glass mosaic artsy mirror was just one of many on display -- I couldn't stop looking at them all and wondered if I could possibly make one myself!
There were also a lot of funny people, including this "Parade of One" of this guy in a big old lady get-up...he was just walking around "Because it's an art fair" 
and Nora just wasn't sure what to make of him, but eventually she thought he was cool...
The clown, who is a nice old man named Frank who says he's a great-grandfather, could NOT, however, win Nora over. His tricks just freaked her out and she thought nothing of hiding behind Daddy first, then Mommy, and was quite happy to get away from him.
At the end of our morning, we had lunch of Greek gyros at the Greek Orthodox Church booth, and headed over to what we discovered was the most fun for Nora -- an entire area just for kids, with the AC Gilbert house having a hat-making booth (all free) for kids to make and decorate hats, face painting, a library story book reading area (Nora enjoyed it for a few minutes before trying to make off with another kid's balloon), and then finally, the Kroc for the new Kroc House (a brand new community center here in North Salem).
Poor kid -- she was up at 3:30 a.m. when her Ibuprofen wore off, and Brian got up with her for a little while and put more in her.
Miriam snapped this one as Nora tried on sunglasses at the zoo gift shop today. We went to the zoo with Miriam and Hannah today and had a blast! (more later)
Nora went to bed Tuesday night with a touch of a fever, and I gave her a little Ibuprofen and off to bed she went.
She HATES the medicine until it's in her mouth...then she realizes it's grape-flavored candy and it's not so bad. I put some of it in a bottle last night just so I wouldn't have a fight over it. She's also decided I can go pound sand if I think I'm going to get her temperature with that in-the-ear thing, and I want to say "Do you have ANY IDEA WHERE MY mom put a MERCURY-FILLED THERMOMETER? HMMMM?"
Nora woke up with a 103.4* fever this morning...I'm not sure why, but she did...
After she hung up, I gave her a bath and eventually Daddy came in the door, and the two were able to hang out and do the things they do together...like get the electric guitar out and play together. 
Thanks to everyone who let me know we were in their thoughts and prayers today. It may seem like a long time ago to most, but for those of us who lost a baby boy, it can feel like yesterday sometimes. I know it's late. I know it's probably past the point of people thinking about it. But we will never forget.
Our boy was stillborn on July 7, 2006. No life followed, and no, I don't think about what he would be like if he had lived. Not for any reason except that his Trisomy 18 diagnosis meant that he just couldn't survive, so thinking about him as a healthy boy would have meant he was someone else -- if that makes sense.
As I talked with Brian on the phone tonight, I started to cry when he asked how it went today and how I was doing, and for the first time ever, Nora came over and gave me a hug in direct response to how I was feeling. It is amazing to see empathy come from YOUR child when it's directed at you. AMAZING.
Of course I also realized I probably shouldn't cry in front of her again. Then I realized that maybe I should just so she doesn't grow up thinking I'm not human or something...Ah, the rotating mind of a parent...
This Fourth of July was a special one -- a return to see old friends (with a new wife!) and enjoy a night of festivities in my adopted hometown of Seattle. 
My friend Teri flew in from Utah and I came with my family -- including Mom, Jill, John and the boys, and Hannah and Miriam too from Oregon! Brian stayed home with Nora since she wouldn't be able to stay up anyway, and we didn't want to travel with her...
This picture of Hannah and Miriam was a favorite of mine from the night. If you click on the pic you can see the Space Needle in the background too. I watched them as they stood on Lakeview Blvd. together overlooking Lake Union with their arms wrapped around each other. Sisters. 
I find it hard to believe in some respects that it has been three years. Sometimes it feels more recent, other times it feels like light years have passed. As you can imagine, Nora's bright and cheery disposition has done so much to heal our hearts that it makes it hard to dwell on the sadness that hit us so hard three years ago. 
