North Georgia Adventure

Well, as I promised 11 months ago, we haven't been to Disney yet this year. The problem is, we haven't been anywhere else. So this week we're fixing that. We're headed to North Georgia for the week. A week of car-camping, sleeping in a tent, playing in the woods, seeing waterfalls, Oktoberfest in Helen, Georgia, trees that actually change color, fishing, and cooking on backpacking stoves.

It's a full moon this week and isn't supposed to rain while we're there, so the kids will get to see how bright a full moon really is when you're out in the woods. If the bugs cooperate, we might even be sleeping outside of the tent.

Baby Bike Ride

One day this week I almost rear-ended the car in front of me when I glimpsed a woman riding towards me on a bike with her toddler balanced on the handlebars. What kind of idiot would do that? About the time I almost locked up my brakes, I realized it was one of these new "kangaroo" bike child seat things that puts the kid up front. This one's an iBert but there several other manufacturers.

I think this is another one of those products that only get bought for first-born kids.

(Photo courtesy of jinglejammer.)

The Girl in the Window

If you haven't seen the St. Petersburg Times feature, The Girl in the Window, you're missing what could easily be their best story in years. I will warn you that it's a very emotional story about an extremely neglected little girl.

I'm not even sure what to say or feel after reading it. On the one hand, I want to be angry at her birth mother, like so many others are, but I realize how sick the woman must be. I'm probably most angry at neighbors, authorities, and anyone else that could have intervened sooner.

The adoptive family is in for a heck of a ride. I know with all the attention they're getting now, they'll get some financial assistance. I won't be one bit surprised to see them hit Oprah. That's great ... for them.

But what gets lost in all of this is the fact that there are hundreds of other kids right here in Tampa Bay hoping to find their own adoptive family. These are the kids that nobody wants. People want to adopt babies, not pre-teens or older.

But there are these hero families out there, quietly doing their best to fix broken kids. I'm proud to know several of them. I know one that adopted a girl that was not just neglected, but downright abused in ways that make me so much angrier than this story. She's made tremendous progress. Another family has adopted four children from the Heart Gallery.

Classic Looney Tunes

Lately the kids have been watching one of the classic Looney Tunes DVDs every day. I noticed that YouTube has a lot of Looney Tunes shorts so it makes it easy to find ones you remember.

Two of my favorites are a series where the the bulldog inflicts different punishments on the cat. "No! Not Happy Birthday! Not HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" Those shorts are Early to Bet and It's Hummer Time. Those also reminded me of Bully for Bugs, the one where Bugs Bunny battles a raging bull and sets up the Rube Goldberg-esque finale.

The we had to watch Hair Raising Hare and Water, Water Every Hare, two of the big red hairy monster shorts.