The Circus is moving on to the next town!

I’ve been debating doing this for a while, but just never got around to it. Sooo, here’s the thing-

The 3 Ring Circus is moving off of wordpress hosting to its own space!

Thanks to Bloggity Blah, we’re all moved!

So, Like Jacob Jankowski in Water for Elephants, jump the circus train and move to the next town with me.

Come visit the Circus’ new location- www.kileigh7.com

See you there!

Remember how I said the circus is moving?

So, I know I said we were pulling up stakes and moving on to the next town. And we are. Just not yet. The transfer is in process, so keep checking back and I’ll let you know when the move is really complete!

No, I don’t find this funny. Seriously.

This evening, I was reading my regular twitter and FB stream and came across this article that was posted by a few friends and others.

Some are just Disney fans, others, like me, are current and former Cast Members (CMs).

The fans? They find it funny. It’s a cute anecdote to them as well as a cautionary tale.

For the CM crew (including me), we are less amused. We are more annoyed by this article. Especially those (like me), who work(ed) at Disneyland and know the “routes” (what the Fantasyland rides are called) and what it takes to cycle them up and down.

When guests lose something on a ride that flies off, or a child drops accidentally and must have back NOW-like happened to me while I was working once with a 5 year old’s favorite pair of ears-we’re totally ok with getting it, even when it means cycling down the ride and bringing it back up again. Most people understand.

But when an adult does something like tweet photos from inside dark rides (which are notorious for sharp turns and blind corners-especially the older ones) and lose their phone, and we have to retrieve it, we are less amused. We will cheerfully do it for you, because that’s the Disney way. It’s how we are as a batch of CMs. That’s why we were hired in.

But

What we dislike about this whole situation is that we have to deal with the aftermath. The cycling up, down and sideways and the ticked off people that the ride is down. Some rides take longer to cycle through than others. Some guests are, shall we say, less understanding than others.

One cell phone or other item can make for a good hour of downtime on some rides. Sometimes, we can’t stop the ride, and we have to listen to the stressed out complaints of the person who lost the item in the first place.

To us, you just made our day harder, not funnier.

And for those of you who say things like “that lap bar kept me from grabbing my stuff,” please remember-you are most likely the one who would get your foot caught or something like that and go after the park for an unsafe ride. That requires the ride going down for a longer period of time with an OSHA investigation and the like.

So, no. That’s not funny to me. It’s just plain annoying.

Moral of this story? Be smart with your stuff.

Another rainy night

How is this for 2 in one week?!

We went to a local baseball game, and whaddya know, it RAINED in the middle of the 6th inning.

Is this a pattern for this week? First downpours at Maroon 5 and Train and now this!

Isaac took it all in stride-like we all should…and this says it all.

A Rainy Maroon Train Night

The need for an adult night out has been rehashed in our house for a long, long time. With all of the wackiness going on, we needed to have a killer night out.

So, when I unexpectedly won tickets to Maroon 5 and Train through a fluke that only I could get into, it was the perfect chance to send the Shrimp to Mom and Dad’s for the night and we went!

So, let’s discuss the fact that we had great weather forecasted until Monday night. We then heard the dreaded word-RAIN.

Now, normally, rain for a concert wouldn’t be a huge bother. But, we had LAWN SEATS at SPAC, and those have NO cover whatsoever.

Hey-the tickets were free. I wasn’t complaining. Girl Scout training kicked in and we packed ponchos, umbrellas and chairs so we wouldn’t have to sit on the lawn when the rain came down.

So, Doug brought a poncho

and Dawn (who came with us-because her other half wouldn’t join her on the lawn…) brought her umbrella and did her best impression of a turtle!

and we were ready for the rain.
(yes, I had my umbrella, but hey-I’m the one behind the camera.)

Let’s just get this part out of the way-it wouldn’t be an event with me if something insane or “you HAVE to be kidding me” happened.

and it did.

The show started out looking like this:

 

Then, the heavens opened up and we got the downpour of downpours!
It POURED.
But, the irony of the song Maroon 5 was playing was not lost on us.

This was the song:

Now, this was turned into a sing along. Please imagine a full lawn standing in the rain singing the lines about the rain.

Yes. This was not lost on us. We found it quite fitting.

As the rain poured down, Doug, Dawn and I laughed and watched the fastest set change possible over to the Train set. While this was going on, the rain stopped.

I even took the gutsy step of closing my umbrella.

And then Train did this:

(no, that wasn’t last night’s. But you get the idea)

I prayed that this would not tempt the irony fairy and ring another downpour to cap off our adult night out!

Thankfully, it stayed dry till the end of the show!

So, what an amazing night. It was so nice to just go to the lawn at SPAC and see a show. To give you some perspective in how long it has been since we did this, the last time Doug and I did SPAC was in 1999, right before we made the big move west. We sat on the lawn for the HORDE festival with Barenaked Ladies and a bunch of other acts. It was quite the day.

It was so nice to just be adults again.

Thank you to Maroon 5 and Train for putting on a great show and to the awesome radio station that gave us a night out by allowing me to win the tickets!

When it’s a zoo,what’s one more?

We’ve got cats.

We’ve got frogs.

Now, please welcome the latest addition to our zoo….

Red, the Guinea Pig!

Isn’t he CUTE?!

His name?

It’s after the fire truck from Cars.

So, can you guess who technically owns Red?

I’ll give you a hint…

Yeah. it’s one more in our zoo of a house, but Isaac had been begging for a gerbil or a hamster…and we’re SO not doing that considering the hunters we have prowling our house. You know, the furry kind that eat mice or anything that looks like them.

So, we settled on a guinea pig.

Red moved in last week and lives in Isaac’s room. They are a great pair. I hear Isaac reading to Red at night from the latest book of choice. It is quite the experience.

Isaac loves Red and Red has gotten used to the chaos that is the Three Ring Circus.

So, welcome to the nuthouse, Red! Glad you moved in!

Dude Ranches, Aquariums and exhaustion, OH MY!

Yes, I’m still alive.

 

I just went on vacation.
With Mom, Dad and Isaac.

It was quite the 4 days.

We went to the Dude Ranch.

 

 

We ran around at top speed and did things, like rode horses.

Mom cheated at Memory and stole my drinks.

We had fun. It was amazing to take Isaac to where I used to go growing up. It was a blast.

Then we were off to Boston!

We took a trip to the New England Aquarium!

It was there that we visited with Stingrays (and got to pet them too!)

Hung around with Myrtle the Turtle, who has been there for the longest time…and Doug and I used to visit her when we were just dating.

and we visited the penguins. Including the Little Blues.
No,

And they look like this:

And we even learned so much about sharks, as well as made a dental dermicle with a shark fact on it to hang in the aquarium’s Blue Exploration Day poster! Yes, it was a big shark!

BUT…

Now, we’re all exhausted.
Isaac and I for a whirlwind and Doug for the 6 hours of driving it took there and back to the aquarium.

I’m going to go take a nap.

and dream about all of the fun we had this past week.

Do the right thing, and no, it’s not the movie.

Let me start this off with yes, I do watch other things besides hockey. Frankly, from the time hockey ends, there’s that awful thing called Baseball, which I’m thrust into by the love of the Yankees and Cubs by my hubby and family. Sometimes, I don’t get it. Other days, I get it.

Like the other day.

Yes, everyone knows. Derek Jeter hit his 3,000th hit. It was a homer. It was amazing. He is now part of this exclusive club that few players get inducted into.

But that’s not what I’m all in a lather about. Honestly.

It is the way the court of public opinion has crucified the young man that caught the ball and didn’t ask for monetary compensation to return the ball to Jeter.

The young man wanted to do the right thing, and return it. Just to go and present it to Jeter was enough for him.

But not for the public.

They went gonzo, talking about how this kid gave up masses of money and the team can afford it.

But you see, this guy did the right thing. He just asked to present the ball to Jeter.  Derek Jeter worked for it, so he figured that he should have the ball.

Seems logical to me.

 

Think of it this way: You work hard all of your career, and whammo, your proof of everything you worked for goes into the crowd and then money is extorted from you and your organization for it? Yeah, no.

 

What kills me is that we’re telling our children and students and anyone around us to think before they act and to do the right thing.  We tell them to be “Godly” and in some circles to consider it a “mitzvot.”

Why then are we as a collective society decrying a guy who is embodying everything we constantly tell our children? Why are we slamming him for doing what is right, good and honest?

I don’t know. I don’t know why we do such things as a society.

 

For us here at Chez E. Nowhere, We made this a teachable moment. We talked to Isaac about how we do the right thing, and in this case, the right thing was to get that ball to its rightful owner.

 

That would be Derek Jeter.

 

So, to the young man who made that lesson in morals possible, Thank you. Thank you for doing the right thing and showing the world that there is more to being a good person than just saying it. Actions truly speak louder than words.

Happy July 4th!

Happy July 4th, and happy birthday to the best little sister in the world.

To celebrate, here are the annual Muppet clips…

Fozzie from my favorite movie-the Muppet Movie

And a classic-Sam the Eagle singing Stars and Stripes Forever. With a classic Sam freak out.

A wet, wild day at the fun park

For eons, my family would spend at least one of our summer days at the fun park, no matter where we were. If we were in Maine, we’d find a place there. In California, it would be Disneyland, Knotts, or Magic Mountain.

This time around, we ended up at our local theme park, Six Flags Great Escape. This is a park that we used to go to years ago, when it was Storytown, then it was renamed to Great Escape. The park has changed significantly, but we figured with the deal we got today, it was worth trying with Isaac.

Truth be told, with Isaac’s ADHD and other issues, I hadn’t even thought to take him to a theme park because I never would have thought that he could handle it. Frankly, I was scared on my way out there.

One of my friends who also has a special needs kiddo let me in on the SNAP pass, the thing that is almost like a Disneyland SAP pass for guests with disabilities. Since Isaac gets overstimulated, waiting is a severe challenge and all of that good stuff that comes with severe ADHD, I grabbed one, stuck it in my backpack and hoped to heavens above I wouldn’t need it.

Did I mention it was raining in spurts, fits and downpours?

So, we marched into the park, ponchos (courtesy of mom..) and an umbrella (courtesy of me) and headed toward the roller coaster to start the day.

For you all to understand why we headed toward a roller coaster (with kiddie rides around it for Isaac), I need to tell this story:

When M and I were growing up, we took frequent trips to this fun park, and as we got older, we would head onto the newly built roller coasters. Dad would often join us and sit with one of us.  Usually at a critical point in the ride, Dad would scream:

“OH MY GOD, I’M GOING TO HURL!”

and then make a puking sound.

(insert screaming people either in front or in back of us and us dying of laughter.)

So, while Isaac and Mom and Doug (he doesn’t do roller coasters since the HUGE surgery) went over to the train and the old time cars, Dad and I ran over to the Boomerang.  Dad decided he wanted to start the day right with a thrill ride.

(I had pictures, but the cell phone photos, which kinda suck, didn’t want to work here. OY!)

So, Dad and I rode the Boomerang for the first time in I don’t know how many years.

It was fun. It was hilarious.

Dad held his puke comment until later in the day.

 

Since it was wet and grey, it was nice to not have to use the SNAP pass for the Shrimper. He didn’t have to do a lot of waiting, but was insanely overstimulated by the entire day. It was a good thing that the first time was a rainy day!

It makes me think about how to make the day go easier the next time we do this.

Yes, there will be a next time.  Isaac had an absolute blast of a time. He ran from ride to ride loving every second of it.

He rode his first roller coaster-this bodes well for us later on down the road, because this means he’ll be in line with me and Dad for the big gun coasters in a year or two.

He was able to get on all sorts of rides and laugh and smile and generally be a goof. AND he got his picture taken with Scooby Doo.

How do you beat that?

 

So, it was a wet, wild day at the fun park. We ALMOST got Mom on a ride, but that’ll happen next time we go.
And

I’ll have photos to prove it!