A mid-summer's update.

So Dear Readers we have been crazy busy here in JH2D land, and much has been happening. Updates and entries aren't coming easy these days as life is good and summer is in full effect.
We're headed to the west again to go camping and give the kids some grandparent time. Anna spent the night in the camper with Tod the other night, and I think she's hooked.
More later of course.
Until then, me and the dog...

More on Adam Carolla: Internet Troll edition

A while back I wrote a piece for the blog on Adam Carolla and a comment he made about Gay parents. It was meant to be funny (like him) but apparently some people do not get humor. I chose to write this piece after his comment blew up around the LGBT blogosphere. Since the post went up, there have been quite a few anonymous comments from readers apparently not familiar with how to post with an identity on Blogger (it’s haaaaard!). There were also a few comments made by other bloggers who identified themselves, and I appreciate that. In this era of the internets, many people troll and comment without having the balls to identify themselves or stand behind their comments. Apparently Adam’s fans fall into that category.. There were quite a few that were just downright obscene and I deleted them. Yes, it’s censorship, but I run the blog, so I can do what I want. : )

If you don’t regularly read the comments, I have posted them here

1.Do you really take offense that he would RATHER have his kids raised by a heterosexual couple? All things being equal means if he had a choice between the two, and either couple were the same in every way other than their sexuality, he would prefer a heterosexual couple. This in no way means a loving homosexual couple should not raise kids.

2.There's is absolutely nothing wrong with being gay. But I do agree with Adam and I think most children would prefer to have a mommy and a daddy... all things being equal. Being raised by a single mother, I wish I would have had both. There's no reason to bad mouth Adam. He says a lot of good things about gays. He is right on about most things he talks about. I listen to him everyday and his career is far from over. Adam often talks about the fact that we as a nation have officially run out of problems. It sounds like you need some real problems when you feel the need to whine about Adam's silly little podcast which, by the way, is taking over the world. Muaaaaah!!!

Get it on. Got to get it on. No choice but to get it on. Mandate: Get it on!!! hill0ster

3. To the first four comments, it's so easy to say someone is an "ass" or "looking for attention" when you are completely settled on your side of the pond. You clearly know Adam from atom. Try to be open minded about other's views, after all isn't that what we should be teaching our children to do especially when we are asking the world to be open minded about gay rights?

4. I hope you all know Adam Carolla is a comedian. Do you all get offended sitting at a comedy show when they make gay jokes? seriously lighten the fuck up.

In response to all these, I have to say that I appreciate their willingness to step up and comment, but I wish that they would have done so without the cover of anonymity.

A Family Week Tradition.

Each July we head west to Saugatuck, MI for Family Week. We began a tradition a few years back where we take pictures of the kid(s) in a group of rainbow colored chairs in front of a resort outside of town.  Six years ago, we had to support our little Anna as she stumbled around on the chair as we took the pic. This year we needed straitjackets to keep the kids in line as we tried to photograph them en masse.
The week was fun and crazy with two other families joining us in the rental. The adults outnumbered the kids by one so naturally there were scuffles. Tempers flared, naps were ruined and much alcohol was consumed. But when we are home and unpacked, and we have a chance to go through the photos, the negative stuff (kind of) disappears.

So here is this year’s entry for the photos:

5 going on 15

You notice they are NOT sitting together.

 Last year is here: http://jesushas2daddies.blogspot.com/2010/07/family-week-update.html

And the post that started it all is here:  http://jesushas2daddies.blogspot.com/2009/07/is-this-little-girl-i-carried.html

Year one... holy shit.

A friend of ours remarks that god made kids cute so we don’t leave them on the curb when they are bad. I second that.

Swingin' out of here

Tomorrow we're out of here for a week in Saugatuck, MI. See ya.

What the hell do we have to be proud of? Borrowed from the Internets

I found this on NoFo and thought it was worth sharing. You can see the blog here: http://www.nofo.blogspot.com/

My note: I agree with every damn thing he says in here.

We’re proud because despite relentless persecution everywhere we turn—when organized religion viciously attacks and censures and vilifies us in the name of selective morality, when our families disown us, when our elected officials bargain away our equality for hate votes, when entire states codify our families into second-class citizenship, when our employers fire us, when our landlords evict us, when our police harass us, when our neighbors and colleagues and fellow citizens openly insult and condemn and mock and berate and even beat and kill us—we continue to survive.

We’re proud because pride is the opposite of shame—and despite what the Christian hate industry works so hard to make the world believe, there is nothing shameful about being gay.

We’re proud because—thanks to the incredible bravery shown by gay people who lived their lives openly in the decades before us—we can live our lives more and more openly at home, at work, with our families, on our blogs … and even on national television.

We’re proud because we’re slowly achieving marriage equality state by state. And even though the change is happening at a glacial pace, we’re still making it happen.

We’re proud because we are smart enough to overcome the self-loathing that our increasingly venomous, mindlessly theocratic society forces on us, and we have the power to stop its destructive cycle by fighting back and by making intelligent choices involving sex and drugs and money and relationships and the way we live our lives.

We’re proud because after all we’ve been through, the world is starting to notice and respect us and emulate the often fabulous culture we’ve assembled from the common struggles and glorious diversity of our disparate lives.

We’re proud because this weekend we’ll celebrate with drag queens, leather queens, muscle queens, attitude queens and you’d-never-know-they-were-queens queens, and together we can see through the “pride” in our parade and enjoy the underlying Pride in our parade.

Quite simply, we’re proud that we have so much to be proud of.

July update

The unintended benefit of adding sod: the need to water daily. Instant Waterpark.

We are back, but only for a bit dear readers. The past week has had us busy with a lot of stuff both in and outside the house.

1.       Anna went to Day Camp at the local YMCA. She loved it and came home excited and exhausted each night. We have her signed up for two more sessions this summer, she can’t wait.

2.       The backyard is done. Thanks to Tod and his Dad we now have a rockin’ play structure and grass. Yes, grass. We ended up sodding it as we took out a tree and we now actually have sunlight back there. It’s nice and not as dusty/dirty as it used to be. The kids love it.

3.       Our garden is coming along. Something is having midnight snacks on the cruciferous veggies; I may post Edwin out there to see what’s eating that stuff.

4.       We are also redoing some of rooms upstairs. Anna’s room got a fresh coat of paint, and her big girl/tweener bed is on its way. Eli will inherit the bunk bed and we’ll have one less baby thing in the house as we retire the crib. We are also updating our room, taking the hue down to a warmer tone and updating the décor. We’ve been stuck in this Up North mode for a bit, it’s time to move on.

5.       The summer session at JCC is rolling along. I held fast to my “just say no” daily reminder and kept the numbers at the right level and it has been nice. Our building is going to be redone sometime in 2012, so I may have to vacate and take my show on the road. I am working on finding a place to do this, and it has taken up much of my time and thoughts this semester. Time will tell.

6.       On a similar note, I am throwing pots like crazy, and I love the results.

7.       And, our annual trek to Saugatuck for Rainbow Families Great Lakes Family Week is a few days away. Can’t wait. This will be our 6^th year attending and taking part in the program, we are very excited. We will be sharing the house this year with two other families, and at this time the adults outnumber the children by only one. It’s going to be noisy, messy, and fun.

We’ll catch up with pics and updates after we return. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you can see the updates there.

See you soon.

T

The 4th

Signing out for a bit to be at home with the family. Please enjoy your time off (if you have it) and your life of freedom and liberties here in the US (if you have them.)

In the meanwhile, enjoy a pic of our house festooned for the holiday.