Four people and one vote

I remember being about 7 or 8 and going to vote with my family. We walked to the town hall and my sister went in the voting booth with my mom and I went with my dad or vice versa, I can't remember. I just remember it being very exciting and I felt very important that I went into the booth. On the way home my parents debated and discussed who they voted for and I remember being just SHOCKED that they didn't vote for the same person. Politically they agreed but one voted for the underdog that was more representative of their views and the other voted for the person that was the more mainstream candidate. I was very puzzled by the strategy of the whole thing.
Four years later my parents or maybe my aunt Rita took us to see a vice presidential nominee speak in Green Bay. Again, I had thought it was very exciting and felt so important and grown up and responsible. I'm pretty confident my counsin Eowyn and I wore political buttons and pins to school that year. Probably with our Laura Ingalls Wilder calico dresses and prairie hats my mom made. She was a big influence in those days.
My enthusiasm over politics waned over the years as I got older and into my invincible years. Up until a few years ago, I didn't pay too much attention and had my pet issues for which would swing my vote. That was until Rich and I were in the midst of the family business, I mean trying to get pregnant, that I started to really think how my vote counts, not only for me but for our children and their future.
I want my kids to be excited about the political process. I want them to be enthusiastic about voting. I want them to take a stand (I may regret this one). There is a good chance that they will embrace my political thought, but maybe not. That's okay too. I just want them to make their voice heard and make it count. Pretty much just what every parent wants for their kids.

So the best way to start to brainwash them at an early age was to bring them with me to vote on Tuesday. At first I wasn't sure how it was going to all go down because I had to register, I still have my TX driver's licence and I had heard that I needed a copy of the energy bill in my name which I couldn't find and the morning was filled with meltdowns, me included. Luckily the polling station was an elementary school down the street so I bundled everyone up and packed them in the Choo-Choo Wagon and we walked over.
It was a total cinch. Between registering and voting the whole thing probably took less than 15 minutes. We were there longer of course because of the whole triplet spectacle thing. The volunteers even offered to watch the kids while I registered and voted. I declined because they were wide-eyed staring at the gymnasium silently packing animal crackers into their mouths. Quiet as sweet little mice. I like to think they were taking it all in.
The best part of the whole excursion, besides the "I voted" stickers was the entrance. The handicap accessible entrance was down a driveway and then you had a ring a bell and someone would come to open a garage door. It was very exciting, like sneaking into school. You should have seen the look of surprise to see us when the garage door opened.

Addy loved the sticker. She played with it for 15 minutes until it got stuck on her foot and she couldn't get it off. The other two didn't care about the stickers. They were more interested in the animal crackers.


On the way home we planned at stopping at the playground but there were big kids from the school already playing so we just watched.

By the way, we are really into using the Choo-Choo Wagon lately. Eloise cries when we take her out. This is a coveted item by multiple moms because they stopped production some time ago so the used price was the same as retail. Just recently they started production on the Choo-Choo Wagon again which is great and I would highly recommend it to anyone with multiple kids to tote around. See the link below.
Choo Choo Wagon
Just beware, going downhill is super scary.