Campaigns and Flash Floods

Nick is running for 8th grade class president so this afternoon he and Anders worked on making his poster. He's the kind of kid that has good ideas for slogans and asking to dances (although he obviously isn't asking to dances yet. He has good ideas he's passed along to his siblings).

While he and Anders were making the poster (you can't print anything beside a photo, so Anders was tracing the Geico Gecko and coloring it), I made homemade pesto. We have so much basil in our garden. It was super easy and turned out delicious!


Nick is hoping to break the "Shaeffer curse" of all the kids running for office but not making it. I ran and lost a lot too. Let's see... 6th grade, 7th grade, Jr. High cheerleader and High School cheerleader. I finally made it for class office my Sophomore year (three girls ran and two made it) and Junior year (that felt more like a legit competition.)

Courtney ran a couple of times. Actually, she made 6th grade council. Marty ran more often and didn't win. But he had THE BEST campaign ideas (Old Spice guy). And we did get the story of the baseboard out of his losses. Chris had some back luck each time he tried to run. The teachers wouldn't allow him to run in 6th grade (they pre-selected candidates) and also for SBO when he missed the citizenship by a fraction of a point (that seemed mis-calculated for the cut-off number). I don't usually make excuses for my kids, but he was definitely legit robbed on those two. Also the teachers VOTE in Jr. High which means boys with a lot of personality are at a distinct disadvantage. Not saying Nick is at a disadvantage, because he has the personality they like. But Chris and Marty, well it's complicated...

But I'm glad they try. It's sad to lose, but you get over it. It's good to know that when you lose, you're not sad forever. You move on. It's good to have empathy for other people when they lose. And it's fun to make it sometimes too. (I always suspect that the reason I say "yes" to so many volunteer positions and President of different things is because I liked finally "getting chosen!" However, now I've finally got that out of my system!)

That evening Dan texted to say his plane was circling and wasn't sure if it could land because of the storms. Fortunately it did. But it wasn't raining at all where we were. Then about 30 min. later it started to pour. And we got flash flood warnings on our phones! When we looked at the river a couple of hours later, it was rushing and very high. Our irrigation ditch was at the rim as well. So crazy! I didn't take pictures, sadly. It was so cool!