The Night Circus Book Club Dinner

The circus arrives without warning.

No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards,

no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers.

It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen.

No color at all, save for the neighboring trees and the grass of the surrounding fields.

Black-and-white stripes on grey sky...



Le Cirque des Rêves



Some in the crowd smile knowingly, while others frown and look questioningly at their neighbors.

A child near you tugs on her mother’s sleeve, begging to know what it says.“The Circus of Dreams,” comes the reply.

The girl smiles delightedly.Then the iron gates shudder and unlock, seemingly by their own volition.

They swing outward,inviting the crowd inside .Now the circus is open. Now you may enter...


 The book for August was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 The "bedtime story jars"-  each jar contains a story. We also had a wishing tree .

The Dessert Table.....

 The Cake...

Strawberries stuffed with Almond Cream (There were chocolate covered strawberries too, and cream puffs and chocolate raspberry pie, but I didn't get pictures of those)

My Favorite Night of the Year!

slipping through my fingers...

I think one of the most beautiful things in the world has to be a tent lit from the inside. You look away from your campfire and see the soft glow coming through the fabric of the tent...transcendent. It makes all the fuss getting packed to go camping worth is.

Or how about seeing a the mist from a soft mountain rain while you are hiking, or water plants blooming on a calm mountain lake as you take your inflatable boat out for the first time. Or the smile on your kids face when they get over their fear and learn to dive. Or the sight of friends, lingeringing around the table after a BBQ until  the misquitos chase you inside. And then there is watching your kids volunteer at the food bank(because you make them), and seeing them take pride in stocking the shelves.

All this beauty seems so fragile. There is so much more to do and summer seems to be slipping through my fingers. I don't want summer to last forever. Just long enough to do everything we want to do again and again and again.

an every day dilemma

Generally I consider myself "nice" to the point of nauseous but last week I had a few decidedly uncharitable moments.  One of the worst of these breakdowns happened at Boondocks. I like to let my littlest one play in the" kid zone" a special area like a play land at McDonalds that is specifically for LITTLE kids. You have to purchase a special arm band to go in there and a parent is supposed to stay with the kid all the time. There are a lot of rules for this little play place, like you have to be less than 48 inches and you have to take off your shoes. Right after we got there, I noticed a big boy playing in the kid zone- way taller than 48 inches and he DIDN'T have an arm band and he was wearing SHOES.

Well that just wasn't going to work for me. I pay good money (3 whole dollars) to have my kid play in a place where he won't get run over by big kids. After a few minutes I decided I had to say something so I went over to the kid and told him he was to big to play there and he needed to get out. He ignored me. I told him again and then his mom came over to see what was going on. I told her that the kid was way to big to be playing in the play area. She said he was a special needs kid and the staff lets him play there. I said "he doesn't have an arm band". She explained that he wouldn't wear it and it was in her purse. "What about his shoes?". He won't take them off.  I was completely frustrated and she was in complete mother bear mode. It wasn't pretty.

I do wish I had been more charitable and understanding. If I ever see her again, I will apologize. I know raising Autistic and special needs kids is hard. The mother made a comment to someone else later that it is especially hard when the kid looks normal and if he had been down syndrome or otherwise visually different he would have been left alone ( which is probably true). But...I still think rules have to apply.  So that is the dilemma and I am curious to know what you think and what you would have done.

To Blog or not to Blog?

That is the question....

Long before facebook, there was the blog, that wonderful place to put your thoughts and activities for the world to see. The perfect place to stay connected with family and friends, especially Grandparents and family that lives far away. I would post ( which always takes 3 times longer than you think it will. I can't tell you how many times I sat down thinking I will just take 5 minutes and update my blog - for an hour and 25 minutes) and then wait impatiently for comments, checking back repeatedly to see if there was any new feedback. I would be concerned, ( and I still am) that someone creepy would be looking at my blog. I debated going private ( and I still might). The thing that has kept me public for this long is the absolute BORE factor of reading blogs about people you don't know. Try it sometime when you can't sleep. I also thought that some people won't read my blog if they have to go through the extra step of signing in.

The reality is, blogging takes a long time and some of the people I really thought would want to read it, just simply don't. I have had the conversation more than once that goes like this: Them, " I would love to see the kids Easter pictures". Me, "Oh, I put them on my blog, have you read it?" Them, "No, I guess I should...What is the address again?"...

Because Facebook is so easy, and people don't have to check to see if you have posted anything new, it seems to be the default form of generic communication. The bottom line is, I like to write, so I will keep writing this blog- sporadic as it may be.  I have a pretty good idea who reads this, and I love you for it. And to those of you who comment, extra love going your way!  It is nice to know you care enough to check and see what we are up to and what I am thinking about.

Moab

I love living in Utah! We are so close to so many Amazing places.

 Over spring break, we went to Maob and Arches National Park

 I love love love that the kids are old enough to make travel fun. They help each other and stick together, and yes, still do annoy each other and get a little bossy.

 The perfect little min-vacation.

Jamaica

So here is a little bit about Jamaica: It is an island nation about 90 miles south of Cuba. Close to 3 million people live in Jamaica and the minimum wage is $60 a week (compared to around $220 in Utah)

Jamaica is very hilly. The highest mountain is 7000 feet above sea level. It takes about 8 hours to drive the 150 mile length of the island because the roads are so narrow and hilly. They drive on "the other side of the street" The driver who took us from the airport in Montego Bay to the resort told us instead of freaking out about his driving to close our eyes and count to ten. By then he would have completed whatever scary maneuver he was attempting. It turned out to be good advice. Driving in Jamaica is scary. Our resort was on the west end of the island in a town called Negril.

The grounds of the resort were beautiful. this was our private patio. The beach is a 30 second walk to the left.

A couple of resorts down from ours was Margaritaville. We didn't go in. But we did pass it on our walk down the beach and during my morning run.

Nothing like toes in fine white powdery sand.

One of our favorite stops was Ricks Cafe to see the cliff divers and the sunset.

The resort offered a catamaran sunset cruise that took us along the coast ( I had the best view of all right there in the boat)

We saw some gorgeous sunsets!

This was our beautiful beach.

Our favorite entertainment was the Piano Man "Ultimate Chocolate". This man could play! There were nightly sing- alongs and a crazy game of "name that tune" which Kelly totally dominated (if you call 2nd place total domination)

We have to do this more often- every 5 years is WAY to long!

Christmas is a classroom

The Christmas season offers such an amazing opportunity for learning and growth. I think of all the values I hope to teach my kids and Christmas is the perfect time to do it. Things like compassion and having a giving heart, priorities, budgeting, dreaming big, being grateful and also accepting small disappointments and trying new things. I learned a lot this year, about myself, mostly. Some good and some not quite.

Here are a few of the lessons I learned this year: Riding the bus with the third graders on a field trip is not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact it was an awesome, fun, good time. BE ADVENTUROUS!

You can make anything out of gingerbread. I am amazed at the imagination and creativity I saw at the Festival of Trees. BE CREATIVE!

Not everyone is going to cooperate. They are not going to sit still or want to go see the Christmas lights at Temple Square when you want to go. BE FLEXIBLE!

They are only 9 once. JUST BE!

Trying new things can be scary but they usually turn out to be super fun. BE BRAVE!

Dinner is what you make it. BE FUN!