Visiting Santa

In need of distractions and laughs while in Michigan last week, my mom and I decided to take Cooper to see Santa Claus at the mall. The experience proved to deliver just what we needed: lots of laughs at the expense of poor Cooper. He was successfully traumatized by the event, and dependably answers a resounding "NO" whenever asked if he wants to go see Santa. Why is terrifying my own child entertaining? I'm not sure, but it was just what my mom and I were looking for. Hope you get a laugh too.

Cooper thought the train was cool,
but once he realized the seat was
close to Santa, he wanted OFF!

This one is my favorite.
I love the polite smile and
Cooper trying to hide his desperate fear.

Uh oh, this is getting scarier!

Can you please take me off of this thing?

Okay, somebody help me.

And the finale;
with one picture left
we decided to attempt the lap picture.
You can see Cooper
absolutely loved that idea.
I don't think he has ever gripped me
as tightly as he did when I finally
lifted him off Santa's lap.

46% of our County's Public School Children are Low Income?!?!?!

I don't know what angers me and saddens me more when I read things like this disturbing post on another blog: the high rate of children living in poverty or the extreme imbalance of wealth in our country. How do we call ourselves a super-power? How are we one of the wealthiest nations, a global leader, when there are such hypocrisies here? And where do our leaders get off thinking that we can solve the problems of another country, when we can't seem to solve our own?

I recommend checking out the link to the post, along with an interesting comment on the outrageous long-term costs of higher education.