This past weekend, our state held the presidential caucuses. Watching the politics play out in the early states, and super Tuesday, gave us the sense that something was really happening in America. We have some of the best candidates we've seen in a long time.
One of our biggest reservations about having children, was not knowing what kind of world we'd be bringing them into. In a world plauged with reactionary violence, and disrespect towards our planet and fellow humans, we doubted whether we could leave our children a world that was better than the one we'd inherited.
Lately, we've found new hope in one candidate with a positive, hopeful message. It is time to strive to become the best that we can be. And It is time to do what is right, regardless of whether it's the way that we've always done things. We believe that Barack Obama will be the kind of president that inspires us all to achieve greatness, and that we can, once again, leave a better world for our children than the world that we were left with.
So on Friday, we took the ferry over to seattle to try to go see Barack at the Key Arena.
While trying to get to the parking lot, we noticed masses of people migrating towards Key arena... then we saw a line forming near Mercer Arena, but going towards Queen Anne hill. (The line was so phenomenal that I thought it was worth a map to show just how long it was, you may need to click on it to see it well). We parked, and went over to see what the line was all about, and found out it was the line to get in (at that point we could see the line stretching about as far as the question mark on the map). Of course, where we once had seen the end of the line from the car (the # sign), was now wound all the way back up towards Key Arena, looping through the Fun Forest. We finally found the end of the line up by the monorail (at the X), but it was growing faster than we could walk.
Once we finally found the line, we had heard from folks with friends inside, that it was already nearly full. We decided to hang out a bit to see what was happening, then the police directed everyone in our portion of the line a different direction (the orange arrow on the map). Straight in through another entrance to the arena. Considering how far back we were, we were EXTREMELY lucky to get in!!
Here Reed and I are hanging out in line. It's hard to get a feel for how many people were there from this picture. It was really exciting to see how many people had turned out.
Reed and Cammy waiting for Obama to speak.
It was jammed packed, definitely over capacity, but we found a great little spot behind some folding chairs, and one really nice lady gave up her seat for Cammy and Reed. There was a little 'cave' underneath the stairs that Reed enjoyed playing in.
And he made all sorts of friends with the people jammed close to us. He was much more social than usual. Perhaps being in such close proximity with politicians, he felt he should practice his shmoozing skills.
After about two hours of waiting, and some other speakers including Governor Gregoire, Barack took to the stage.
I wish I had more to say about his speech, but it was so loud, that we only caught about 2/3rd of what he was saying. You could definitely feearakl the electricty and energy in the building.
So the next day, all three of us went to caucus. Thankfully, we're democrats, because republicans don't allow kids at their caucuses. Reed had lots of fun toddling around meeting our neighbors, and the overall theme of the caucus was UNITY. Our caucus eventually went 23-5 for Obama, but everyone was happy with both candidates, and there was real hope that real change was coming to our country.
Gerry and I decided that in honor of Father's Day, we'd pack up and head over to his family's cabin on Lake Chelan. It was wonderful to get away from the grey "June-uary" we've been having here. The weather at the lake was perfect (low eighties) and there weren't a lot of other people there which was a nice contrast to big holiday weekends when all you hear is the roar of motor boats. 
Reed especially enjoyed throwing rocks in the lake with Daddy. He liked it so much in fact, that he kept signing for water, which confused Gerry and I because that usually means he's thirsty. He finally started signing for water and jacket (he had to wear his life jacket by the water) to let us understand he wanted to go to the lake! 
Reed's signing came in handy again when we went out for a boat ride. Out of the blue, Reed started signing for shoes. This is usually how he tells us that he wants to put on his shoes to go outside. Reed was already wearing shoes AND outside so we were momentarily stumped, until I actually looked at Reed's feet and noticed one if his shoes was off. We looked around on the floor of the boat, but then I thought, I should look behind us and see if there is a little green shoe floating on the water. Sure enough, somehow his shoe went overboard! Thank goodness for signing and for bright green floating crocs!!
And an exciting moment happened for baby Bun too. I've been feeling her kick lots lately and have been putting my own hand on my belly to see if the kicks are strong enough for other people to feel. Sure enough, I could feel them with my hand. I had this confirmed while I was reading Friday and she kicked so hard I saw my shirt move. So last night, as we were going to bed, Bun started getting active so Gerry put his hand on my belly. Not a minute later, she delivered a good strong kick right where is hand was. Gerry got to feel her for the first time!!
But Reed's sign for daddy looks much more like a scuba diver's above water okay signal.
Here are the boys with a view of Seattle and the Cascades behind them. It looks hazy in the picture, but was really crystal clear. Our new baby backpack was one of Reed's birthday presents (thanks Hama!). It was much easier on the back than our soft backpack which is great for shorter trips.
