Boating and Voting

Went out boating today for many hours. First time this year/season and it was very calm and absolutely wonderful. Rocking away (my eyes still feel like they're rolling on the sea) on the gentle waves. Until a rogue wave comes!!! I have no idea where it came from, but at one point, all 3 adults are simply not aware, but ds suddenly says, Grampa, Wave ahead! and sure enough, coming straight for the boat, is this wave - there were about 3, very quick in succession, and very big (says me who's used to a rowing scull which would flip on the slightest ocean wave) - they were probably 4' waves, which on a 26' boat IS pretty big - not enough to flip the boat, but enough to dump everything out of the cabinets and onto the floor, and to toss the kids around a fair bit. Luckily we had enough time to turn head on and it was still a good ride, for the maybe 5 seconds as it passed. Thank GOODNESS for the acute peripheral vision of my son!!

While we were heading down to the marina, we passed an election sign. ds asked what it was all about and we had a discussion about voting. He wanted to know how would we know what each candidate wanted to change if elected - he said he wanted to know, even though he knew he wasn't old enough to vote. So we talked about the televised debates and then he made up a game where I was the MC/interviewer/broadcaster and he & his sister were the candidates and suddenly we were having this mock tv debate in the car. DD was so funny; she said she'd paint all the houses in Canada purple if elected (her fave colour)! But soon it got serious and we were discussing transportation, housing, health care, education, the economy, energy and resources, the environment, and more... BIG issues for children to consider. DS was so eager to discuss it all, and his solutions were really innovative and creative. It was great fun... and educational. I LOVE homeschooling. ;)