Zing Zang Zoom

Friday night the 6 of us drove to Biloxi MS to see the Ringling Brothers Circus, Zing Zang Zoom tour. It was a lot of fun, very exciting and entertaining for the kids and grownups too. This was an early Christmas present from my mom to the kids (and Matt and me), and Camie declared two different times during the show, "This is the best Christmas present ever! 
There was a pre-show starting an hour before the actual showtime where kids could come sit on the benches that make up the ring, and watch acrobats do handstands and tricks up close, see dogs do tricks, and for those brave enough, join in with hula hoops, jumping rope, etc. They cleared everybody from the ring and brought out a half-grown elephant who did some tricks and even "painted" by stepping in a tray of purple paint and then pressing it on paper. We entered the drawing to win the footprint, but none of us was the lucky one. I was just sure that out of 6 entries, surely someone from our family would win it. Oh well.

We watched camels and horses trot and dance around the ring, dogs perform tricks, and even some cats did some surprising tricks. I did notice the cats were a lot more determined than the dogs had been to get the treat the trainer would slip them after each stunt. Further evidence that dogs love people and will go to great lengths to please them, while cats put up with people and their silly ideas just to get food.

Of course the elephants were a hit. However, with live animals come live smells. Our kids are used to having an outside dog who does his business away from the yard, so they rarely smell it. After the elephants did a few tricks Felicity said,
"I think one of the elephants pooted. Something stinks." 
(Yes, Lissy. But, I think they don't waste time scattering sawdust to clean up gas.)

Other than that, there weren't really any animal smells,  which was nice. It was held in the MS Gulf Coast Coliseum, so we were able to sit in cushioned chairs in the air-conditioning.

Some of the things the acrobats did made me hold my breath. And a lot of it made me cheer and clap like the rest of the crowd. We don't normally go places that condone cheering (church service broadcast live on the local radio, for example) so I think the kids were surprised when Matt or I would let one out. :)

I think my favorite of all was the magic tricks, because I have no idea how they did some of them: Squishing up a box so small  a lady was in  that there seems no way she could have still been in there, then stretching it back out and up she popped! And she didn't look like Gumby either.

There were motorcycle stunts which Micah liked, girls who hung by their hair, clowns that had Camie sitting on the edge of her seat laughing hard, parrots doing tricks, and even a  live band. The show was 2 hours with intermission, and well worth it. Thanks Mom, for thinking of such a great family gift. It's one we'll remember for a long time.

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I've realized today what an appreciative audience a theater-full of kids are. We went to Hattiesburg today  to the theater where they are showing kid movies during the summer on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It's $3 per person, which includes popcorn and a small soda. We rarely go to the theater, and if we do, we don't buy snacks, so our kids were pretty excited to have their own drink and box of popcorn. Matt came when he got out of class and joined us.
Anyway, about kids being an appreciative audience: They laugh right out loud at the funny parts. And it is so funny to hear a roomful of kids truly laughing. But the best part was at the end. They clapped! Who claps at a movie? I loved it! For $12 (Cassie got in free, and Matt got there about 30 minutes after the movie started, so he got in free too) we entertained our whole crew for an hour and a half and got to eat a snack along with it.

~~~

Tonight I decided to give Cassie a bath really fast while the others were listening to Camie read. (Yea!) It was Micah's day to put up dishes, and because of our trip to Hattiesburg this morning, none of the chores got done. I told him I needed him to quickly (you heard the emphasis, right? Why doesn't he?) put up dishes and then he could help me scrub the bathtub after Cassie was done bathing. Being four, the scrubbing didn't sound quite as "chore-y" as dishes, so he dragged his feet, but went on to the kitchen to get through the torture of dishes while I finished Cassie's bath. A moment later he asked where the big blue glass bowl goes. I told him to put it on the bar and I would put it up in the high cabinet later. Many minutes later I heard him yelling something on his way upstairs, sounding kind of urgent. I figured he'd hurt himself putting up a spoon or some other terrible dish-related injury. When I could get out of the bathroom and hear him, he was saying, "There's smoke all over the kitchen and I didn't mean to. I don't know how to make it stop!" I ran downstairs, and could see a thick cloud in the kitchen and smell a terrible, sulfur-ish smell. The stove was off, and I was frantically glancing around the kitchen trying to figure out where the smoke was coming from.
Micah pointed to the big fire-extinguisher we have in the corner and I could see yellow powder still slowly spraying out of it. Apparently, he'd decided to put the bowl up for me, which required climbing on the bar. He used the extinguisher as a step-stool, and since some child had long ago knocked/taken? the pin out of the handle, the stinky yellow powder sprayed all over the corner of the kitchen, behind the fridge, under the potato bin, and out into the dining room.

I got it all cleaned up without too much trouble, but in the meantime, put Micah in the tub with instructions not to let the water get too high. After a while I realized I still heard the water running, so then I  was running, up the stairs, to shut it off. Thankfully it hadn't overflowed, but the floor was very wet due to his laying back and making waves.

So the dishes are still not put up, but the kitchen floor and bathroom floor are nice and clean. Thank you, Micah.



And some random funnies:
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Cassie loves to hold her fuzzy blankey and suck her thumb.The other day she was sucking her thumb and petting the dog, Buddy. Micah said,
"Don't pet him and suck your thumb. He's a dog, not your blankey."
Cassie pulled her thumb out of her mouth and said, "No he not. He Buddy."

Our youth minister is Mr. Boo. His name is really John, but he goes by Boo for some reason, probably been his nickname since he was a kid. But Cassie thinks his name is Mr. Boo-berry.
Our music minister is Mr. Darwin. All our kids call him Mr. Darling.
Our pastor is Bro. Hal. Micah and Felicity think it's Bro. Pal.
Mr. Danny is another man at church. The other day Felicity saw him and called him Mr. Dandy.
Reminds me of when I was a kid. Mom had a friend named Mrs. Peggy. I liked the Muppets, so I called her Mrs. Piggy for years, thinking that really was her name.
 ~~~
Camie and I stopped by a Salvation Army store today in Hattiesburg while the other kids rode home with Matt in his car. I should've known it was going to be a junky store when we walked in and it was barely cool inside. Later Camie had to use the bathroom. Only half of the lights worked in there, so it was very dim, it smelled a little like sewer, and there was a sign above one toilet. It said something like,"Don't push the handle down hard to flush. The water will keep running. If it won't stop running, reach in the tank and adjust the rubber piece."
When we finally had had all the shopping in heat that we could take, we went to the fitting room for Camie to try on some jeans. The ceiling had a big sagging section that was water-stained. Apparently there had been some sort of plastic bins in there at one time to catch drips. A handmade sign was on the wall in there too. I took a picture with my phone, but don't have  way to upload it onto the computer right now. It said, "These containers are not for clothes and hangers. They are for dripping water. Please hang clothes on rack." Yup. That's a high-class thrift store for you. :)
~~~
And speaking  of signs, one of my favorites is on the drink machine at the post office:
"NO SIGNS ALLOWED.
             I will remove it.
               -----Postmaster"


While we were eating a thick ABC noodle soup, Micah: We're eating poor-idge. That's 'cause we're poor."

Little short, fat 8 year old boy in Children's Church after wresting with 6'2" Matt said,
"Uh-huh. Who's Big Daddy now?" 
(Well, let's see. You're neither Big nor a Daddy, so I think that disqualifies you.)

One Southern little boy taunting another's drawl, "He has a ackkksent." Sadly, the taunter didn't realize his was just as strong.