turn on, tune in

Attending to our civic duty, the girls and I (widowed by the grape harvest) packed into the car last night and headed for the hills. Over the river and through the woods to a friend's house to tune in to the first Presidential Candidate debate.

We brought the radio into the kitchen, tuned it to NPR and gathered around as we cooked dinner and the kids played and picked teaser bites off the counter.

There was a disappointing lack of details and a few frustrating sound byte repetitions, but neither candidate got cornered or mired down, which was a refreshing change from all the attacks that have been flying around recently.

McCain highlighted his age when he kept talking about Ronald Reagan and the cold war, and Obama put in a good defensive jab when he reminded everyone about McCain's song about bombing Iran.

The reception got a little dicey at one point and Matt had to stand in a corner with the radio in his hand in the air like the Statue of Liberty.

The kids were great, the food was yummy, the drinks were plentiful and we were feeling proud to be Americans, which is a break from the norm. Not the kids part, the Americans part.

I can't wait until the next one, I think we've come up with a good tradition.