Francis

Francis is my younger son, born 2005.

Vaccine Choice for New Jersey

Today is the extended deadline for forced flu shots for young children in New Jersey, the day schools across the state threaten to kick students out if they haven't taken the mercury-laden vaccine. Every year sees more forced and/or pressured vaccinations, many dozens now in New Jersey. The flu shot is particularly unnecessary. An average of two kids a year die from flu in the state and this flu season has only seen two pediatric deaths in the entire country. Yes, every death is a shame but why are we kicking kids out of school and spending billions of dollars in flu shots for a largely non-lethal disease.

New Jersey is also known as the state with the highest concentration of autism. I've met sane-seeming parents of special-needs kids who say the symptoms started right after a vaccination. I'm no expert but I've read enough to know the doctors and pharmaceutical companies have no clue about the cumulative effect of all these vaccinations. They took our little one Francis in to school this morning despite not having the shot. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Other New Jersians wanting to know more can check out the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice for more about the movement to have parents these choices for their kids.

January 26, 2009 9:21 AM. View Comments
Categories: francis , southjersey

Theo and Francis play lifeguard

Theo and Francis play lifeguard
Originally uploaded by martin_kelley

More pics over on the Flickr account. The afternoon ritual is to run off to an outdoor adventure when Francis wakes up from his nap. Favorite spot: the lake park. Here are the boys on top of the lifeguard stand.

August 6, 2008 9:36 PM. View Comments
Categories: francis , kids , photos , theo

Bike ride to Pleasant Mills

Bike ride to Pleasant Mills - a set on Flickr, originally uploaded by martin_kelley.

Francis and I had a nice 22 mi. bike ride on Saturday. Lots of back roads through blueberry fields, and a good off-road jaunt past carnivorous plants, orchid-filled bogs and mosquitoes galore. Full set of Flickr pictures here. (Julie & Theo were busy hanging out with the bishop instead),

June 28, 2008 8:49 PM. View Comments
Categories: francis , kids | Tags: bike, francis, kids, martin

Finally, some real snow!

February 22, 2008 4:23 PM. View Comments
Categories: francis , kids , photos , theo | Tags: backyard, fun, snow

But of course some photos....

...are worth taking:



Apparently the best part of making Christmas cookies is the mess afterwards.

January 1, 2008 5:38 PM. View Comments
Categories: francis , kids , photos , theo

Sights around the house

Top: The Architect at work. Left: the stitches; monkey Francis au natural in the morning; another view of The Architect.

December 3, 2007 5:49 PM. View Comments
Categories: francis , kids , media , theo

An Autumnal Halloween

The Batsto Village Halloween party wasn't quite so much fun this year: their website didn't mention that most activities ended part-way through the afternoon so that the organizers could sit in front of the old houses giving out candy. We arrived on the late side so no face painting or pony rides for the boys butterflies. We still had fun in the first really autumn day of the season and Batsto was looking more bucolic than ever. More pictures (including some of the cool gearing in the old Batsto gristmill) over on yesterday's Flickr page.

Right: rare video footage of a Genus Franciscus Butterfly in migration.

October 29, 2007 7:28 AM. View Comments
Categories: francis , kids , southjersey , theo

Butterfly Love

The town parade was postponed by rain again last night but as the butterfly boys were all dressed up we ducked into our favorite pizza shop for some mozzarella sticks and a slice of bruchetta-topped tomato pie. We got out without inflicting any major structural damage or physical injury, though Theo was only a twist or two away from destroying one of their neon signs. Rumor has it that the parade will happen next Tuesday though if the weather cooperates we should have pictures of the Batsto Village halloween before that (last year's pics).

(Still working on getting comments and Twitter to show up properly.)

October 26, 2007 6:01 PM. View Comments
Categories: francis , kids , theo , town

Older Entries

• Railroad & farm weekend in Lancaster. This weekend we took off for a family trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania--Julie and me, the kids and my... October 17, 2007 7:43 PM. View Comments
• The ascent of Apple Pie Hill. Yesterday the kids and I took a road trip to Apple Pie Hill, a summit of loose gravel that towers... September 30, 2007 10:17 AM. View Comments
• Scenes from a birthdays party: Theo (4) & Francis (2). Photos clockwise: Theo blows out the birthday ice cream cake's “4” candle; kids huddle around when box opens to... September 4, 2007 2:53 PM. View Comments
• Partytime prep. Photo: Sleeping Francis “helps Martin in lawn work getting ready for Saturday's birthday party Enlarged photo. Sleeping Theo was... August 31, 2007 9:04 PM. View Comments
• Francis turns two. Martin and Theo celebrated Francis's second birthday with an afternoon outing to fav spot Batsto Lake. Photos: Francis laughs by... August 29, 2007 8:22 PM. View Comments
• Yummy eats en route to Ohio. More back blogging from our Ohio trip, this photo from a vegan eatery a few miles off a rural... August 29, 2007 6:56 AM. View Comments
• The Young Conservative. Francis on the cover of the mock magazine.Photo: A new publication of the Neo Post Convergent Diaper Set. An... August 29, 2007 6:22 AM. View Comments
• Some gratuitious family pics. In the What a Difference a Year Makes (or Doesn't) Department: Julie took the kids out to South Jersey's fabled... June 14, 2007 7:36 AM. View Comments
• TV love songs. As promised the other day, Francis singing the Elmo song: For fairness sake, here's Theo with the Thomas/Gordan song:... May 2, 2007 1:14 PM. View Comments
• La la LA la?. Francis has been mostly quiet for his nineteen months, prompting the beginnings of worry but no real alarm. He's sort... April 14, 2007 5:46 PM. View Comments
• Francis makes a mess. ... July 31, 2006 8:49 PM. View Comments
• Playtime in the park. I like this Francis photo so much I wanted to make sure it didn't disappear in the Flickr stream.... May 2, 2006 2:37 PM. View Comments
• Francis's turn. ... April 21, 2006 9:16 AM. View Comments
• Pictures of Big-Kid Theo, Baby Francis and friends. How to tell if your child is obsessive-compulsive: Theo is very precise about lining his toy cars up just so... October 17, 2005 11:04 PM. View Comments
• Baby Francis!. Just the quickest of announcements to let everyone know that Baby Francis was born Monday morning. Stats: a boy, 8... August 31, 2005 2:41 PM. View Comments
• Strange Contractions.... Some strange things happening in Julie's belly last night. No labor yet but don't be surprised if the website and... August 11, 2005 1:23 PM. View Comments
• And Baby Makes Four. For comparison, Theo in Second Month 2003 and last weekThey say second children don't get as much attention and that... June 13, 2005 9:12 AM. View Comments
• Unpopular Baby Names: Avoiding the Jacob's, Emily's and Madison's. My wife has now finished the first trimester of her pregnancy so we can let people know that our little... February 20, 2005 2:06 PM. View Comments

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QuakerRanter by Martin Kelley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at www.quakerranter.org.