Yaarab Shrine Circus 2008

We went to the Shriner's circus this month.
They had three rings...
...and the kids loved it!
It was a family affair.
We saw tigers...
...and elephants...
and horses...
pretty white horses.
They had high-wire acts with a motorcycle.
When the guy did a handstand on his bike, that was cool. But when he started spinning around the rope, I was amazed.
They had juggling...

...and they even added fire later on.
They did special dances and drumming...
...and other special acts.
Then two women climbed way up to the ceiling on these skinny poles. Now, I was impressed they climbed all the way up, but when they started hanging and swaying the poles and spinning, I was amazed.

Then they swayed the poles back and forth and timed it right to exchange poles. The girls climbed from one to the other as they swayed.
And of course, what goes up must come down. A quick 4- or 5-second drop to the bottom...upside down!
They had a boxing kangaroo...
...who made his opponents look pathetic.
Syndi was mesmerized. She was a little cool, so she wore Daddy's pullover.

They had a motorcyclist driving around in this cage. You can see him in the upper left quadrant of the sphere.
My personal favorite was the bumbling idiot whose antics turned into fascinating acrobatics. He was a total klutz who thought he was diving into a pool (which was a trampoline).
He did some amazing bounces.
The clowns were pretty dumb actually. The klutz guy was much funnier, much more well done.
The clowns' house caught on fire, and the clown fire department tried to put it out.

It was a fun evening, well worth the (free-to-us) admission. We enjoyed popcorn and cotton candy. Three cheers for the circus!

Stephen's Birthday ~ 3 Years Old!

Stephen turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and we had a little birthday party at Ridge Ferry park here in Rome. We set up camp in the main pavilion.
The guest arrived, and they came bearing gifts.
And Stevie was more than happy to help bear the load.
The kids had fun playing on the playground equipment.
Stevie immediately made his way to the biggest slide for a swift ride down the curves, party blowout in hand.
Did I mention they had blowouts?
Noah loved his. Or is that Matthew?
Mary Grace had fun on the playground.
They had cars for racing.
Riley enjoyed the swings.
Stephen shared a cab with JD. Actually it was a police car.
Time for Stephen's first trip downtown? A little young.
They all gathered around for food and the party.
It was a beautiful evening.
We had some uninvited guests. And I don't mean flies or ants.
Two kids thought our party looked fun, so joined in. When we asked where their parents were, they said they'd gone to get a drink. So for about half an hour we had them following us, then joining us at the table.
No problem...the more the merrier!
We just kinda wondered if their parents would return, but someone eventually came for them.
Time for birthday cak....er, um... I mean birthday muffins. (Sometimes going healthy is a little over-the-top for even me.)
Matthew (or is it Noah?) helped blow out the candles on Stevie's muffin.
Now, to be fair, Stephen had tried and failed a few times to blow out his own candles, and I think Matthew finally had had enough.
Then Stephen opened presents.
He got some really neat toys!

Including a Thomas train and track.
The kids checked out their party favors.
The mini kites were a big hit.
Rex worked to get his crew safely on the grasshopper.

(Never realized it was a grasshopper until I had to come up with a caption here.)
Watch out indeed!

If he drives like his Dad, he'll mow you over.

(Actually, he'll make a few quick swerves, pass you and be out of your line-of-sight in 30 seconds! Then he'll make that trip downtown we mentioned earlier.)

What a lovely thing to see!
(What we won't mention is the next picture I snapped, which caught Syndi biting Junior's back because she got --no almost got -- hurt. I say hurt is what you get when you grab onto the back of a moving vehicle. But I digress.)
That's more like it!
JuneBug helped Jules get into the swing of things.

Oh, that was bad. Not even punny.

Happy Birthday StevieBoy!
He's the Big 3 now!