Just Filling You All In

Hey everyone, sorry for not blogging in like two weeks… it’s truly shameful.

I have been at home almost every day, due to currently being home schooled, so not much has been happening. Besides cleaning and learning.  When we got home we stayed off the grid for a while, which gave my mom the perfect opportunity to get to her very long list of things to do around the house: cleaning organizing more cleaning getting new floors painting Janey’s room and more cleaning and organizing.  All are currently works in progress.

 Today my list of to dos are basically do math, read, mow the lawn, clean the garage (I am really dreading this one) which looks like it should be on an episode of “hoarders”. But if I don’t I will have to face some serious wrath from my dad who is still pissed off that I finished his vitamin water bottle without asking; a huge mistake.

Honestly, I just filled you in on everything, like I said, not much happening.

Adios  =D

HOME

We have been home four three days now, and I’m pretty sure none of us, me, my family, my friends, or my enemies can really believe it. 

We were on the road for three months, almost never in the same place for more than a few days. And now, all of the sudden were sleeping in our own beds again. 

One of the weirdest things of all-having a kitchen. It was always a struggle at night when it came to food, on the trip. Weather all of our bagged lunches for earlier were gone, or we had a late lunch, and it was 8pm and we were starving. There was always something. But now… I can just mosey on into our kitchen-decide I don’t know what to eat, and have mom make me something. I’m already hopping onto old routines!

 But seriously, being home is creepy. I don’t know when I am going to get over sleeping in the same place every morning. 

On a slightly different note, THE MUPPET MOVIE OPENED TODAY.

Sorry, just Had to yell it, I am SO exited. 

Just thought I would fill you all in, 

Adios! (I can say that now and people will understand me again!)

A Good Night's Sleep

As we have bee traveling, my natural habitat has been both our car, and our various hotel rooms. The hotel rooms are usually the same.A normal sized room, with two queens and a couch bed. Very nice for the five (sometimes six) of us. 

Generally, one of my sisters or brother will sleep with my mom, and the other two in the other. Leaving me with the uncomfortable couch bed. But don't get me wrong, I love being on the couch, because I'm alone.

Two nights ago, as I got into bed Janey announced that she didn't want to sleep with sally the next night, as it was Wyatt's turn with my mom, and that she called the couch bed. Deciding that if I HAD to be with someone, I would rather be with Sally, in a normal bed.

Well, the next night Janey did as she said she was going to, and got in the couch bed, leaving me and sally in another bed. WELL, Sally decided she wanted to sleep with both my mom and Wyatt.
I'm not sure if you are all following, but that basically means I had my OWN normal bed!!!!!!

My sleep last night was magical.

Just saying :)

Civil Rights

Over the last four days, we have hit four different states, but there were a couple of cities that stuck out from the rest.  A few days ago we went through Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama. Each of these cities played a major role in Civil Rights Movement.

Montgomery was the city in which Rosa Parks took her famous stand in a city bus. For those of you who do not know about this critical piece of our history, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, boarded a Montgomery bus in 1955, two stops later the bus was full, leaving a white man nowhere to sit. The driver told Parks to get out of her seat, so the white man could sit down. She refused. Minutes later the was being handcuffed, and sent to the city jail. In response, the black citizens of Montgomery, headed by Martin Luther King Jr. organized a boycott of the city buses, and began carpooling, using Church cars, and walking.  They were met with violence, revoked insurances, and little civil progress. A lawsuit was filed, in the hopes that the segregated bus system in Montgomery be found unconstitutional.

In Birmingham we went to the National Civil Rights Institute. As amazing as learning about the men and women who fought for civil rights and basic freedoms was, I could not get my mind away from the stories of violence and hatred I was reading on exhibit plaques. One of the exhibits had a  Ku Klux Klan robe, anonymously donated. as well as a burnt cross, actually recovered from a crime scene.

Shivers were sent down my spine as I saw pictures of black men hung from a tree in their own front yard, a testimonial from a black man, who was castrated for enrolling his children in an all white school. An eleven year old African American boy who was shot in the chest, while riding on his brother's bike handlebars. The shooter served six months in juvenile hall.

Next door to the National Civil Rights Institute was the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the site of a KKK bomb, that killed four girls.

Stories of KKK, skinheads, and other white supremacists scare the crap out of me. And it is almost unbelievable to  me that today, in 2011, these hate groups are still in full operation. The Southern Poverty Law Center is an organization that deals with hate groups and such. Their website has a hate map, that tracks all knows American hate groups. when I saw this map, I just about shit myself. The thought of any white supremacists not only scares me, but pisses me off. I simply cant believe that there are still such racists I could not believe it. sure I knew there were some ignorant people out there, but I find it unfathomable that there is anybody in this great nation that can truly hate someone for there ethnicity, or religion.

Learning about the civil rights movement made me very embarrassed. As great as the movement was, it never should have happened. It is horrible that anyone was EVER oppressed in America. That being said, I am truly proud of our country, that we were able to change from our hateful ways. But it also made me realize how truly far we still have to go. The work of people such as Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa parks, and further back, Fredrick Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln still needs to be finished. It really is up to us.

TOOTHPASTE INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Hi everyone, some exiting news, October 29^th, is now….toothpaste independence day!!! It’s true, I declared it myself. Basically we were making a target run the other day, which just happened to be the 29^th, to get some face wash.

But of course, we didn’t come out with just face wash, no, we came out with a tutu, 4 or 5 different shampoos, a transforming “as seen on TV” hairbrush (mine), and some new toothpaste. My mom was getting some toothpaste for everyone, when all of the sudden time slowed down; I looked around at everyone, my sisters’ sally and Janey, and my brother Wyatt, and realized, I don’t want to share toothpaste with any of these people! They leave the cap open; they twist from the middle, not squeeze from the bottom, and don’t wash it off afterwards!

It was at that moment that I declared toothpaste independence, and bought my own toothpaste! I chose Colgate, “MaxClean SmartFoam  with whitening”. It “Penetrates Hard to Reach Places for a Rush of Clean”. Exciting, right? 

Southern Pride?

The other day my family was in Virginia, at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home. It was great, Jefferson’s life and home was very interesting, but I was slightly distracted by something that happened while we were there.

There was a family there, with two kids, younger than me. They were wearing dog tags with the confederate flag on them. On the back it said “Loyal to C.S.A”. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing with these two young kids. My mom asked what the flag meant to them, to which they replied, “just southern pride”.  Now, I think that is a pretty horrible answer. 

Why would ANYONE have pride for something that horrible that happened 150 years ago! I don’t care if you are from the south, or are a descendent, we live in 21^st century America, we are not southerners, or northerners, we are American.

Also, what possessed these parents to buy there ten year old boy, and eight year old girl (I asked their ages) Confederate dog tags? Even if you are still bitter about the “Northern Aggression”, why instill it in your children? Maybe I’m overreacting, (I’m not), but I’m going to try to look at this a little bit more critically.

I’m a California Yankee, maybe I’m just not used to the thought of people still being loyal confederates. Maybe I’m just unexposed….NOPE. The thought of that still sickens me. “One nation under God”, apparently some people don’t understand that line from the AMERICAN pledge of allegiance, NOT the northern pledge of allegiance.  

Please comment and let me know your thoughts.

Rubber Band Guns and Fuzzy Socks

My family and I (minus my dad, plus my grandma) were taking a short hike today, and I decided to bring my little rubber band gun, which is basically a little plastic piece of crap.

 Anyway, as we were walking I got bored and began playing secret agent with my rubber band gun, and was lost in my own world, until I became aware of my mom and grandma giggling around me. I immediately realized what a dork I was acting like, and stopped. Only for a short time though, as that game was very fun. 

Before I resumed the game though, I engaged in a conversation with my mom and grandma about my little tendencies to do extremely childish or funny things (One obviously being me running around the woods with a rubber band gun playing spy). I also happen to enjoy a lot of things that most 14 year olds won’t admit liking, like toy plastic soldiers, and fuzzy socks. 

So because I like these things, but am embarrassed to be seen with them, I usually pre pay my mom brother or sister, (depending on the occasion), and have them buy it for me. It’s gotten to the point where I can walk up to them, hand them something and say, “you know the drill”.

With all that being said, I need everyone to know that  I do enjoy manly things…I can’t name any…but I can assure everyone that I do.

Team Ryan

One of the greatest parts of this trip has been meeting locals, and hearing their stories, good or bad.  The past few days we were in Cambridge, Maryland, the childhood home of Harriett Tubman. While there we ate lunch at a Gastropub, called High Spot, after paying the check, we struck up a conversation with one of the waiters working there, and they shared a story that really struck a chord:

A boy named Ryan Summers (the son of the owners of the restaurant where we ate) was struck by lightning in July, while attending a family reunion. His heart immediately stopped beating, and his mother gave him CPR, until the ambulance came to his rescue. He was rushed to the hospital, where they managed to save his life. 

 Afterward he traveled from hospital to clinic to hospital to clinic. He was just recently released from his last hospital to begin therapy. The effect of the lightning strike had much of the same effect as a stroke, he lost memory, and the ability to talk, and accomplish everyday feats.

The story is both tragic and full of hope. It provides a feeling of gratitude, for our own health, and safety of our friends and family.

While we were at the restaurant we noticed that all the staff was wearing “Team Ryan” wristbands, and we inquired whether they were for sale.  When the answer was yes, we immediately bought them. After all, the money went to a great cause. 

I bought ten extra wristbands, and want to share them with those who are truly interested in helping Ryan, and his family.

First ten people to comment on this, share it with friends or family, and visit his website, will receive a “Team Ryan” wristband.