We're Here!!!

We have arrived in Singapore! After about 22 flying hours and 30 hours of total travel time, we touched down in Singapore at 11:30 pm local time. We are tickled pink to be here and it was nice to lay horizontal when we finally got to bed. The girls slept for about 5 hours and now we are ready to start the day!! I can't find my gizmo to put pictures on the computer, but when I do I will begin putting up some pictures.

It is 7:25 AM on Friday Morning. :)

Emily's B-Day

Emily is now 28 years old. The girls and I made a cake. Happy B-Day Emily.

My poor Redskins

My Redskins were supposed to be going back to the Playoffs in what was supposed to be an extremely competitive NFC North Division, but alas they are struggling and have just made a quarterback change. At we beat Dallas at home.
Doug Leeper caught me off guard last week--he said the Redskins had gotten a new quarterback; a Chinese guy. I pay fairly close attention to football and could not for the life of me think of a Chinese quarterback. When I asked who it was he said--WinOneSoon. Funny Doug, really funny.

NADCA

The North Airport Drive Civic Association, of which I am a member, is being sued with a slapp (Strategic lawsuit against public participation) lawsuit. In November of last year, the association made a presentation to the board of supervisors arguing why they (the citizens) did not want a high density development project in their neighborhood. The also presented a 100 person signed petition with others who supported their argument. The board, led the the Varina supervisor Jim Donati, denied the rezoning request; however, two months later the developer filed a suit against two of the association members and the association itself for the $1.5 million dollars it supposedly would have made had the rezoning effort been approved.
What I have learned is this lawsuits is intended to chill free speech. The lawsuit asserts the petition presented to the board had been fabricated and the the association is a bunch of liars. It appears the intent is to bog down small civic groups like NADCA with the cost, effort, and emotional drain of a lawsuit in the hopes it will be unable to support the financial burden and collapse--thus ending any organized opposition to their development plans.
Originally we thought the lawsuit would be dismissed; however, to our absolute astonishment, the judge allowed the case to go to trial. What's more is the trial is not until May, thus prolonging the time this heavy burden must weigh on the association.
I am cautiously optimistic the association will survive this and continue to provide an organized voice in Highland Springs.

Election Day!!

Today we voted for a Senator and Congressman. George Allen's lead is shrinking; however, everyone is confident he will retain his seat. The marriage amendment passed by a large margin and I was happy to see that. The Chacon family put in over 10 hours collectively at the polls today. Miriam became a wonderful 'sample ballot distributor' and she chided me when I didn't ask people if they had questions about the proposed amendments. Our district voted heavily the other way, but everyone was nice and we had good time. I enjoyed being a part of the democratic process and enjoyed going to the different rallies. We forgot our camera so it will be a few more days till we get some pictures.

Tonight we went to the 'Victory Party' for the republicans and Emily was interview by two papers and Reuters took several pictures of us mingling with our elected officials.

Everyone Should Vote!!

Everyone should vote. If you don't like the candidates--write yourself in!! Don't forget next Tuesday.

Halloween Video

Our Halloween video is finally here. We did not take many pictures and as a result had to cut some of our music. We had lots of fun on Tuesday--the weather was warm and the candy was chocolaty. We had the Acosta's over for dinner and Marlon and Sarah came just in time for us to go trick or treating. Our neighborhood was a bust, but we did ok overall. The dads did; however, get a little carried away and we stayed out way past our bed time--we didn't get home till about 8:40.

Enjoy!!

Little Laine

My little girl has a broken collar bone!! Yesterday--under my watch no less--Elaine fell off the couch. She was crying a little harder than usual, but looked ok. Emily, the family nurse, was very concerned and checked her out and noticed she had limited mobility in her arms. She thought it as a concussion at first; however, Elaine calmed down and seemed quite content. She slept for a little while--which made her mom nervous--and them seemed quite normal. I gave her a blessing last night and Emily took her to the doctor this morning, the doctor wanted X-rays, and it appears she has a broken collar bone; however, it is of the type that there is not much we can do about it. She probably won't even were any type of cast or protection. Emily treated her to lunch at McDonald's and that seemed to put a smile on her face.

Yes, that is a Redskins hat she is wearing. :)