HELLO my name is Heather

Isaac & Laura’s younger brother, George, lives in Germany where
he teaches ‘Teaching ESL’ at a university there.  George is absolutely
amazing with language.  He speaks English, German, Danish, and Chinese
— an interesting combination, to say the least.  He could have gone to
the last olympics as a translator.

Anyhow, George sent a letter out to all of us yesterday about the
election.  It puts a new perspective on our access to the polling
places here in the states.  Isaac & are heading out to vote in the
next little while and I strongly urge you to go vote too.  Call a
friend for babysitting if you need it.  Trade babysitting even, but
vote.  And what a monumental election today, whichever way it goes!

Dear Family,
   One of the hardest parts about being in Germany is having to vote by
absentee ballot. And one of the hardest things about voting by absentee
ballot is trusting in a bureaucracy that is not too on the ball with
getting you that ballot. Well, I was personally on the ball in
requesting mine months ago, but unfortunately, I am not going to get to
vote in this year’s election. Honestly, it just breaks my heart because
I have never cared more for my country than now.
     I happen to be
reading John Adams and enjoying it as much as I have enjoyed any other
book. It gives me a glimpse into the life of a man who I believe was
inspired by God to resist evil and help establish a system that would
give voice to its people (NOTE: not the absentee ballot system). I
might add that Abigail Adams has been an inspiration to me, as well.
She was evidently every bit the freedom fighter, every whit the mind. I
believe that we have had few such leaders since, but I hope that the
future will bring us more; we sorely need women and men of such caliber.
   I hope that all of you are taking the opportunity of this precious
freedom to vote, whether you vote for Obama, McCain, or Mickey Mouse
(if you feel somewhat desperate like I have at times during this
election). It is such a precious freedom and no less important for our
small voices. God bless America.

Love,
George, Christina, & Joe

Isaac & Charlotte flew out to St. Louis to visit Laura
& crew.  He put up crown molding in her family room, photographed
some paintings, took some portraits. I don’t know the whole list, but
they did fit in a quick jaunt to the zoo one of those days.  The St. Louis Zoo
has a freaky, bald chimp.  I’ve never heard of such a thing.  Isaac
didn’t get a picture of her though;  the chimp was in the middle of
some extra-gross behavior I hear.  Check her out here instead.  So interesting.  Her name is Cinder.  She looks alarmingly mannish.

I’m sure Charlotte had plenty of fun while the grown-ups worked.  Kids
are resourceful that way.  Here’s a shot to prove my theory.  Bubble
wrap.

Elijah and I stayed put because of school.  However, once the weekend hit, Elijah and I headed out to a local resort (but not till we went out for dinner, had ice cream and made our first trip to the new Lego store).
The entire next day was spent at the resort’s water park:  lazy river,
waterslides, wave pool, lounge chairs, cabana-boys-refilling-sodas,
lots of sunblock, sketchbook, lap-swimming (just a little).  We had our
own fun.

Check out this insane waterslide.  There’s no pool of water at the end, just a long trough of water for you to skid across.  Completely insane.

Great weekend.  Time to do it again.

My mother-in-law is in town.  We drove up near Sedona to pick her up from Quilter’s Quarters where she was teaching a doll class.  Such a calm &
pretty drive.  We went for dinner at a great little restaurant that was
built where the town’s old movie theatre had been for many, many
decades.  Tavern Grille in Cottonwood, AZ.  They serve
humongous portions.   

Cottonwood is just south of Route 66.  I’m not too familiar with the
place, though we did stay there once before.  It’s the town where The
Pillow Incident took place — now family lore. 

Let’s just say that the front deskman at the hotel wanted to keep
our pillow for himself (we had brought a pillow from home in case one
of us wanted to sleep in the car on the drive and we accidentally left
it in our room).  The pillow was clearly marked as ours and we weren’t
leaving without it.  Getting him to return this pillow was straight out
of a Seinfeld episode, including a brief, comical tug of war.  When the
front deskman eventually handed the pillow over the counter to Isaac,
after twenty minutes of denying its existence, he just couldn’t quite
let go of it.  It was hilarious.  Poor Isaac was completely bewildered
— and I had the giggles.

It was a super-nice pillow.

The Pillow Incident — one of my funniest and strangest memories.  I should get Isaac to record the whole affair.  I could have sworn we were on Candid Camera.