Under the Big Top: Days Two and Three

Me, Michelle and Julie, looking so stylish (?) in our glasses.


I didn't actually attend FAM JAM on Tuesday night. The kids all went but Mom went out with some of her BFF's (that's Best Friends Forever for you unenlightened people) to dinner and coffee. My friend Michelle moved to Kentucky 2 1/2 years ago. I'm used to her being gone, but I still don't like it. We talk weekly on the phone, sometimes several times a week depending on either the level of stress or boredom in Kentucky or California. Julie moved just an hour away just a few months before Michelle moved and let me tell you, that double whammy just about killed me. Julie was not just my friend but my neighbor. You know, the old fashioned kind of neighbor: "Do you need anything from the store? I'm making a trip?" "Colin, run up to Julie's and borrow a cup of sugar." "Can I drop Ethan off for 20 minutes while I run an errand?" Those kind of neighbors are hard to come by and the daily structure of my life really changed when she and her family moved. Thanks girls! (Is there such a thing as a sarcastic font?)

Anyway, Michelle's husband was gracious enough to let her come to California for four whole weeks this summer. If you know the husband to whom I refer, you will know I am being somewhat facetious here. He claims to be the Ruler of the Roost, but I know there is a little more give and take to it than he likes to admit! ;) Her visit is almost at an end and we've had a little swim time with the kids, some hang out time, a movie I liked and Michelle didn't (A Prairie Home Companion) and Tuesday night, dinner with Julie at Lucille's BBQ. We ended the evening by sitting outside a Starbucks drinking coffee and discussing life, the universe and everything. It was a perfect evening marred only by the absence of Tamila, the fourth flower in our friendship bouquet (azaleas to be more specific.)



So, I didn't miss FAM JAM at all, but the kids had a good time and Paul managed to get all the kids to bed (we've been watching a couple of spudlets for a friend) and asleep successfully. Last night, however, we all made it. Paul and Colin have been running sound. I followed Marley around with the camera taking pictures and hoping the camera would be my Get Out of Silly Games Card. So far, it has worked. Michelle and Tamila haven't been so lucky.



































Of course, I probably just jinxed myself and tonight, the last night of the Big Top extravaganza, I will probably end up covered in green slime or something.

Here are just a few of the 60 some-odd pics I took last night:















Lining up for the Silly Game du jour















The Snack du jour. It's a lion. Ingredients: cookie, frosting, licorice bits, crumbled shredded wheat. Cute, and tasty, too!














Marley and Chantal are enjoying their liony snack.