Hutterites & First Night

Picking up from this morning....
After getting back from the strolling acts at the Pancake B-fast the kids hit the pool and I did the laundry as Mami rested. The funny thing is since everyone look and talk Americanish it is easy to forget the money here is not the same. The hotel manager went ahead and changed my $20 bill into Loonies (one dollar coins). Laundry is about $6 per load, start to finish. But almost everything here is double to quadruple in price...oh, well.
After all that we did shopping for dinner and a bathing suit for Cynthia, oh, and new show shoes (found some cute ones on clearance...only $5 each) for the girls. They are black with a giant jewel on the toe.

In keeping with our previous blogs below is a centipede of sorts that was running around the front of our stage area. An audience member spotted it as I chatted with them before the show. I took this picture then went back to talking. At that moment it was crawling away from me so it was a surprise to me when everyone nearby ewed and moaned as I accidentally stepped on it and smashed it...at least half way.

Ever hear of a Hutterite? Kind of Amish in that they live in colonies and Mennonite like in that they drive, have TVs, even text message each other. In fact, outside them living in colonies, and dressing modestly, they are pretty much like everyone else. We chatted with the group pictured below for some time. Cynthia was surprised that they seemed just as worldly as every other teen. The do have a German-English like accent.

Below is sunset in Swift Current.

This is a shot CC took of us setting up chairs. The fair folks set them up theater style but we decided to change them to an arced circusy style.

It was nice to have Mami's home cooked meals on this tour. Tonight we had veggies and a rice chicken meal. The RV, as a kitchen is really coming in handy. Miles and Nick are living in it but come back to the hotel for bathes and pool time.

As far as happenings of the day, the only problem we had was a man for the 4H who insisted on using our hall as a thorough-fair for himself. That means walking around our vehicles that are blocking the door, around "caution" and Do not enter signs, through our backstage, around another line of caution tape and through the hall then out the front door. It literally would not have taken him any more time to just walk next to the building, never entering it. Finally, after walking through as my little girls are changing, I asked him not to do it, and explained why. He said, he was with 4H and he was on 4H business. I further explained the girls changing and he told me, "that's too bad". I did what I hate to do and took the issue to the manager. The door is now kept locked and we have a key.

On the "never underestimate the power of a good night sleep" front. I kept loosing track the order of the show. I skipped on routine or act and announced the next one. Nothing was in order, especially in the second show. The kids kept whispering to me what I forgot. It became obvious to the audience and ended becoming a running joke. The audiences are great here.

Cynthia sang "Down" to the River" tonight. It started off well but little Belle (our poodle) shortly after Cynthia started, walked out on stage to her. The audience, "awed" and laughed. I scooped her up and Cynthia continued. The house was dead cold quiet as she sung. A testament to her voice. Even little kids remained shushed as she sang. One lady in the first row, a mother of two, cried. Wow.

One section of the fairgrounds is an on going living history museum town and Mami took the kids through to experience early Candadian life. They even got to play with old toys from the 1800s.

One more note. Candadian money looks funny!

Swift Current Pancakes

You betcha! Fur sure! Oh, yeah! Eh? or is it Ay?
These are the verbal habit lines used by the folks up here. It only takes a day to start picking up these lines and the light accent. It's kind of a Wi-MN accent with the lower Midwest slowness and a touch all their own. And we are beginning to speak that way, for sure!

Since the day is very young at this posting I haven't much to write but I have 5 pictures from the morning. The first is of Nick, our sound guy, walking Belle. You must understand, Nick is the manly, cowboy, soldier, hunter, camper type. Not a poodle walker type. So for his family to enjoy here it is.



James, Cynthia, and Miles did strolling acts downtown at the city's pancake b-fast. (It's part of the fair.) Here they pose for you.

Perky Penguin to the rescue!

Perky and the Credit Union who sponsored the B-fast's mascot....not sure what it is; maybe a tiger?

Later on Miles changed into a Pink Gorilla riding a clown bike. He drew lots of attention.

The line for the pancakes went down the street and around one corner. It was amazing how many people showed up. Especially when you realize how small this town is.
I will continue this blog tonight after the main shows.

BTW as I type this can you guess where the kids are? I will give you a hint...there is a pool at this hotel. BTW the pool seems to use a chlorine-salt hybrid to hygenize the pool. It's kinda like a less salty version of the ocean.

We're in Canada, Ay!

We left the mosquito infested, train tooting, RV park of Malta, MT and made our way north. My Android phone's navigator said it would take a little over three hours....

along the way we saw this mountain. It looks exactly like a mountain in our town called Table MT.....If it had an "O" on it it would be identical.

We reached the border in a little over an hour and got held up at the check point for about 45 minutes as we waited for our papers and passports to be processed. Since we are "working" (AKA performing) here the paper work took longer than a normal tourist. Finally through we drove on over flat prairie after flat prairie. A few hills separated them. Along the way little Richard's Ground Squirrels tested fate by running across the road. Sadly we smooshed one....Cynthia, Jim, Miles and Nick witnessed it and a loud coral grown came across our Motorola.

My navigating phone got us to the hotel directly. It was then that we realized we didn't have Cynthia's passport. I made calls to the border but the agent was sure he had given them all back. We tore the van and RV apart. No passport. I called US customs and they told me to call the State Dept. Finally I gave the van one last go over and low and behold I found it stuck in a very thin space between the dash and the drink holder/glove box area....also found an old CD.

The stress gave me a pimple on the side of my nose...groan!

Miles, Cynthia, Nick an I took the RV and trailer over to the fair grounds. The fair folks are really nice. But almost everyone we have met up here have been nice. Even the older ladies who worked the front desk who worked hard on this sold out night to relocate us from the second floor to the first due to no elevator and Titus having a wheel chair, were very nice.

Our Venue is a nice sized air conditioned building. We set up our full stage set up (fair version)...or at least we set up most of it. We were tired and very hungry and very sweaty so we headed back to the hotel, showered, and headed next door to "Carol's Diner". It's owned by a kindly older Greek couple. The menu was the standard family fare.

While we were away setting up James, .Mami and the little ones hung out at the hotel. The little ones waited and waited for my return so we could all go into the pool....

Wonder what kind of people live in Assiniboia?

After dinner we broke up into three groups...two hotel rooms and back at the fairgrounds are Miles and Nick and Belle....no dogs at the hotel.

Tomorrow morning the kids have strolling acts at the town pancake b-fast. So early to bed.

Mami will be up a while (since she doesn't have to be at the b-fast shows) to sew a cape onto Perky Penguin. Our Penguin got a make-over this year....he's a cute supper penguin.

Mosquito Montana

I will get to why we titled this article "Mosquito Montana" later. First let me report that we are near the Canadian Border and will cross over tomorrow. So different compared to 10 years ago. We need our passports and the dog needs proof of rabbis vaccines...only the bunnies can go over undocumented.
The picture below was missed yesterday when I was putting things together. After the pool Miles and Titus ended up falling asleep together in the tent. Neither one planned on it.



Montana is beautiful. We have been most impressed with the western mountainous half. The central northern part is very pretty too. The landscape has changed from mountains to rolling hills and prairies. It's also hotter today than yesterday.

Here is a picture of hwy 191. Through the town of Judith Gap the highway becomes gravel as they replace the whole section that goes through town. We detoured around the town...which was all gravel and dirt as well. 15 miles an hour!

Below is a picture of a can of "whole Chicken in a can".....can't wait to open it ans see if really is a whole chicken....better have a beak and legs. Hmmm I wonder if there are feathers.

The town we are staying in is small. It isn't modern in many ways. Both RV parks in town are located on the road leading out of town and both are next to a river. Below is a picture of an old bridge over the river. The water is high due to a lot of rain recently.

There is a great park just next to the bridge. The kids loved playing there.

Again we are near a rail road. That means we get the train noise. But so far no horns. Now, one RV park is a little prettier than this one but it has two drawbacks. First the train tracks are right next to the camp and one corner of the camp is actually under the train trestle. So the train noise is off the charts. But they have a pool...but it cost $3 per person to swim. The other drawback is the mosquitoes. But that drawback comes with both camps.

I'm not talking about passive ones either. When we pulled into the 2nd camp (a little farther from the tracks) I checked in then ran back over to the van which Cynthia is driving and as I explained where we were pulling in I felt ten or twelve pin pricks on my leg. I looked down and my legs were coated in mosquito's and the subsequent blood from when I swacked them.
We all quickly sprayed down with deet but realized they could bite through clothes so sprayed everything down. That only lasted a short while ....I think the mosquitoes think of deet as some kind of human-sauce and makes us taste better. Later on we met a local who taught us how to apply the stuff properly....by the gallon. She said said you have to spray it on so thick it makes you look like a well oiled muscle beach man. Below is a picture of the lady who helped us dog and the girls.

Please Keep Mami in your prayers as she has hurt her back a bit from playing soccer with the kids yesterday then having to sleep with Titus who (due to an earlier nap) had a rough time sleeping last night.

James' upper chest near the shoulder still hurts and he is wearing a sling. We are keeping him from work duties to recover so keep him in prayers too. The injury came from when the wheel barrow handle fell on him down in SoCal last week.

First time we had to use the RV aircon as it reached mid 90s here. But I see from my smart phone that my home town in cali is over 100 degrees so I won't complain.

Early start tomorrow. We enter Canada!
God Bless you all. Go out and bless others!

The Traveling Performing Family Troupe's Life is Rough

If you have followed our blog over the last couple of years you know that our life on the road has been filled with adventure, all kinds of performing, occasionally trouble-shooting, lots of discovery, a cornucopia of challenges, a few heartbreaks and boredom (sometimes) and more. Today, at least for today ( I repeat it to stress...for today) all was a laid back and wet! No it did not rain. We spent the day in the pool. Mami even slid down the slide into the pool (picture below). You have to understand she is a very quiet, take no chances (except marry me) kind of person. This poor woman who has been stressed having to deal with me as a husband, a disabled son and six other kids actually let her hair down and had fun. She even plaid soccer with the kids today. I tried but I really suck as a soccer player...speaking of sucking...We all got bug bites.

The sunset was red-purple and orange..red sky at night...sailor's delight!

Everyone is enjoying the home cooked meals and the Rving (though still new and challenging) has brought a kind of relaxation to the trip.

RVers like to keep their rigs looking nice so each day I spend time cleaning bug juice off the hood, sides and windows. We also have the constant job of handling limited space so order and patience is a big part of our trip. Move one thing to make room for the other....ever seen the counter space in an RV.

We had our animals out today so they wouldn't burn up in the van. The 20lb Flemish Giants and the snake get a lot of attention from fellow travelers.

While still at home a few days ago, after gassing up the night before our departure, my "check engine" light came on in the van. I worried little because the same thing happened a last year on our drive to Texas while 300 miles away from home. I called the Ford Dealer I bought it from and the told me it was emissions related and was probably nothing and that it would take a day or two for the van's computer to clear the error. He came to that conclusion because I reported no loss of power or unusual sounds.
I tell you this because right after gassing up in Idaho yesterday the same thing happened to the RV (also a Ford). I am hoping the error will clear out as the Van's had sometime over the next two days or else I have to take it into a shop. And if you know how crazy the next 7 days are going to be you will understand there isn't much time for that. No loss of power, gas mileage, or strange sounds.
One other scare was we were smelling an LP or natural gas smell around our rig at the RV site. At first we thought it was coming from other places. But it was only around us. So I checked the tank, valve, pipes, etc and found nothing. Then later while feeding the mice (our snakes future meals) I discovered a rotting dead one. After ridding ourselves of it we ridded ourselves of the smell.
Below are pictures from the day at the pool. By the way, even Titus, my disabled sone got some pool time.

Mami taking the plunge

Olivia taking the plunge.

Victor going in...Amelia and Mami in the foreground.


Titus and me!



Titus, me and Mami




Mami and Amelia.

I also wanted to mention that the RV park (Bear Canyon RV Park) is great. They messed up our reservation and we ended up not having to pay for our RV spot, just our tent spot (saved a bundle). They run a clean camp with everything for the family...you could stay here a week and be happy. The only draw back is their Internet router limits the number of people who can go on at a time so if the park is packed Wi-fi could be difficult. The view from here is incredible. But the sounds, a train every two hours with an engineer who loves to toot his horn kept me from a deep slumber. But any RV park in the area is subject to that guy! Oh well! Almost as bad as the hotel next to the Harley Davidson repair shop that opened at 6AM in Oregon a few years ago as far as noise goes..otherwise this place is top notch and the view (see yesterday's photo of the sunset) is wonderful.

Miles Baby sitting

Montana

It's our first time in Montana, even just to pass through. It is too beautiful for words.
We are still getting used to the whole RV thing. It's cheaper than hotel and it is much prettier and closer to nature.
Since we are so many on this trip we pitch a tent too for the big boys to sleep in. Since Titus fell out of his bed (a whole 12 inches) last night and then didn't want to go back to sleep again last night we are trying the tent with him.
James' upper chest is still hurting from the wheel barrow falling on it a week back...but then again he isn't resting it...trying to be super man.
The RV park we are at is very nice and the owners are great. They messed up our reservation (was supposed to be a tent site and a pull through...they put the pull through for the wrong night so we are getting the RV spot free and only paying for the tent spot....nice!
Cynthia saw a sign while driving to day that said, "game crossing" so she radioed me to warn me to watch out for scrabble and candy land popping out and running across the road...sick kid!

The Sinclair Gasoline Dino.....
Nick setting up the tent.

Sunset...awwwww!

First Day Out- Learning to RV- black water, grey water?

So far so good!
We made it to our first goal of Wells, NV...and hour and a half slower than usual...adding a wife and a special needs child, a new RV and the van pulling the trailer...oh yeah, there was a dog traveling with us for the first time....
this entry is dedicated to her as she hunted out the best places to lay.





Duncan Hines was from Bowling Green, KY. Before his name was put on cake boxes he made a name for himself by publishing a pamphlet critiquing hotels, restaurants, etc way back when since there was, at that time, no rating system or anyone else doing it. It became a badge of honor to have him put his name on your business. He did all that because as a traveling salesman he could never tell the quality of a hotel or restaurant and thought a list would be helpful. So in Duncan Hines spirit allow me to critique the places we visit.
The folks running the Mountain Shadow RV park are awesome and the place is clean and nice. They really were helpful to me, a first timer, and they reserved an extra big spot so both our RV and the van and trailer....5 ellipsoids (stars are over-rated)
Our first hook-up....The boys even emptied the "black water" (toilet water) and then the gray water (sink-shower water) to rinse the black out of the hose. I missed out on that adventure as I was sent to the grocery store next door for supplies. Too bad for me! (NOT)Princess Amelia helped her mom make dinner tonight...stroganoff!(spelling???)

We averted a big accident during the hook-up. We noticed water draining from under the wheel well and so we thought we might have a bad pipe. Turned out one of the little ones left the bathroom sink on with the plug in. It over flowed and went out an emergency drain hole....whew!

Mami has never traveled outside of Cali with us. She went by train to Chicago 20 years ago but this is her first car trip past Reno. She is amazed at the beauty of even Nevada. I think having crossed NV so many times it has become a blur an blotch to me. That's a shame and I was happy to experience through her eyes.

It's Official!

At the writing of this it is official we are on tour. Granted we did go out to Wisconsin and had a couple of trips to SoCal the last month or so but circumstances (Cynthia's High School graduation) meant coming back and restarting the tour. And that is fine. I wouldn't want to miss something that important for the world!

While trying to pack we got a last minute booking for the orange Grove Festival in Ontario, CA. It is the first annual so it was lightly attended but I have to tell you it was a great event and if word of mouth spreads the news it will be well attended in the future. The vendors there were great. The food was awesome and the people really nice. (It's hard for me to compliment SoCal so these are high words of praise indeed.) LOL!

I should mention that in our videoblog of the event at our videoblog page, www.kentfamilymagiccircus.com/videoblog , you will catch me complaining about not being able to get into the event early enough to set up after being promised a certain time. I mispoke in the video and said it was the organizer who told me we could get in at 7...it was really a security person who told me so keep that in mind when you watch me whine. I also want to appologize for whining. I was tired.......no excuse, I know!

Also while setting up this week we performed for the Tehema county libraries. Three libraries (one a day) in rural NorCal. We have worked with them for 15 years. The shows were a lot of fun. Sally, the boss, hired us 15 years or so ago when we were starving performers and it is an honor to perform for them each year.

I do have one funny story. Our performing space blocks off a small portion of the library..can't be helped. But it's only for a short time and if someone really needs to get to a book we have no problem with it. But, while at one of the three libraries, an elderly man (I must add that he had full use of his faculties) came over and sat down on a chair right behind us, our backstage area of sorts; the area was cramped already for us and there was plenty of seating in front of us...we were nearly against a wall as it was. I mean it was very obvious by the equipment and my kids and the animals strewn about that the area that his choice of seating was a bad one. So after I handed the show over for Miles to do his routine I whispered to the man to please leave as we are doing a show....did I mention he was right in view of the audience...it was like he joined the show. I should also mention my expensive still and video cameras were right in front of him, unguarded.
Well, after the show he came over to me and asked why I asked him to move. I explained it was because we have equipment there and there was a show going on. It was like him walking onto a stage at a theater during the show. He asked me if I thought he would "pilfer" something. I said, "It's happened before." Then he told me I had embarrassed him. I don't think anyone really noticed me telling him to go. But he wouldn't let it go and told me I was rude to him. And that there were no signs posted to tell him not to come into our staging area. We went back and forth for a while and finally just to end it I asked him to apologize for interfering with the show. He balked and that ended it.

Where is Alf?

Amelia was able to contort her way through the ring....I got stuck.

Well, it is less than a day...nearly 12 hours until our departure. It is the first time my wife and my disabled son will be going out on tour. After so many years of performing without them will they be able to adjust? Will we? We have come to live a double life...the road and the home.
I suppose we will find out soon enough. I can't lie. It is exciting to have them. Home cooked meals on the road. My wife nearby. My whole family together. It will be challenging too. Please keep us in your prayers.
God Bless all of you and may you also bless God in all you do.

Where is Alf in Corning and Los Molinos

Find Alf at the Los Molinos Library yesterday.

In spite of a bruised rib from the wheel barrow this past Sunday Jim balanced this very heavy table on his chin at the Corning Library today.

Where is Alf!

Day One Orange Grove Festival

Where is Alf...he's in there...
We pulled th biggest crowd of all the acts today...whoohoo!

During the show I took a pix of the audience as Cynthia was suspended in the air.

We had a wonderful day today though I must admit it had a rough start. The hotel we are at turned out to have very rough beds. I mean hard wire spring in the back can't escape it painful. The breakfast was nothing more than a half-sized bear-claw and cranberry juice so we had to go to a gas station to get food. Last night we were told we could load our show in at 7am but the security folk shouldn't let us in until the organizer showed up at 8am. I was able to talk them into letting us into the loading dock but there we waited until a little after 8 when one of the organizers came and allowed us in. It was then a mad dash to load in the show. Since we were inside the convention hall we had a longer than usual hall in. But somehow, by the grace of God, we made showtime: 10AM.

The first show started at the same time the gates opened so we had an audience of mostly vendors waiting for customers. The second show was bigger. But our third show was spectacular.

James took his new stunt of laying down while balancing it on his chin a step further by re-standing up while balancing it.

Pink Gorilla, Perky the Penguin and Jim on Stilts did strolling as well.

I should mention that the Chick-fi-le (Spelling?) provided us with free chicken nuggets and sandwiches. I have a cute video on one of the guys doing a magic trick. It will be on the video blog.

Travel Day........Orange Grove Festival

We left our home at 7am. The supposed 8 hour drive took nearly10 hours but that was due to SoCal traffic....Friday...first week of summer vacation...I'm thankful it was just 10 hours...could've been worse.
We had to track down the organizer at the event as he was impossible to reach by phone...not unusual for someone in his position on the first day of a large event. Especially in LA area. H e also had the trouble of vendors running late, banner people screwing up and a number of other visits from Murphy's Law.
The hotel required one of the bosses to drop what they were doing to check us in due to some unusual rules the hotel had. But since this was the only hotel in the area that allowed dogs and one of the other acts has dogs ...in fact, it is a dog act...this hotel was set aside for the entertainment. It's not a bad place.
We had dinner at a local new joint. Kind of a family place with a variety of food choices. better than Denny's for sure. I give it 5-6 out of Ten....The Garden Square is the name of the place.
Early to bed is the plan as we have to load in the show around 7 tomorrow morning. The tough part is we have to carry the stuff over 300 yards to get to the stage since it is inside the convention center.

Name the skunk...

I have been given many good names for our skunk but we have yet to decide so Please give us some ideas...see the picture of him two posts prior to this one...it needs to be cute, memorable, not too silly, not too cerebral, and clean.
Thanks

Belle's hair cut

Belle Before her hair cut...kinda scruffy!

And after...elegant!

video blog 1.10 PART 2 Chocofest -new stuff, choco-bacon, moonwalk KFMC

Updates:

Miles as our Skunk...still needs a cute name.

How about two nails up my nose!

1. We are less than two weeks to the kick off of the 4 month tour. Canada, Ky, OH, CT, NY, ME, CT again, NC, MA,KY again, IA, NM, TX, OK then SoCal.
Lots of packing going on in case we find a house in KY.

2. Video Blog 1.10 Part 2 is finally out at www.kentfamilymagiccircus.com/videoblog.htm or at our youtube channel.

3. Gold Sox Game....wow are we pooped after performing at the Gold Sox Game in Marysville last night. We did five in between innings acts as well as strolling magic, stilt, skunk, penguin and Cynthia as the balloon twisting Freckle Face. They told us that the crowds were big because of us. They apparently did a ton of advertising in print and on TV. The team did not disappoint either. They won 12-3. The owner told me that over the past four years every time we perform there the team wins Yeah!

Casino celebrate 10 years...has me to clebrate

Last night I helped a local casino celebrate their 1oth anniversary here in town. I don't generally perform at casinos as I am not much of a gambling supporter. Kind of like Jimmy Stewart refusing to do a second season of the Six Shooter back in the old time radio days because the new sponsor was a cigarette company. Though I am not opposed to people using their money as they see fit I don't like the idea of using me as a means of getting people into a casino to gamble. Since I wasn't advertised or promoted and therefore not the reason the people coming into the casino I had less of an ethical issue performing there. (To clarify .... I would rather not do a lounge performance at a casino where fans of mine would be lured to see the show then maybe do some impulsive gambling. In that case I am being used as a "lure" to bring in gamblers. Showroom performances I have less an issue with. And strolling performances where neither magic nor my name are advertised as a lure are borderline OK as well. )

I started my professional career as a kid doing birthday parties, libraries and churches. By my college days I performed nightly at a restaurant-bar doing strolling magic and balloon animals. I have since performed mostly stage shows with the occasional strolling show. I do the occasional strolling show for corporate engagements. But the schedule is usually short. This show was four hours straight. It took me back to my college days. Non-stop magic, occasionally stopping for a quick soda or coffee (I mean real quick) and the occasional reset of tricks or restocking my pockets with things I used up in the performances.

No doubt the balloon swallow was the most popular thing I did followed by the human block head. As far as pure magic goes, I performed a trick where I never touch the cards and yet still the spectators signed card (even after they put the card in the middle of the deck and put it back in the box and sealed it ) ends up in my pocket. And really I NEVER touch the card from the time they take it to the time the put the whole deck back into the box and the deck is no where around when I take the card out of my pocket. I learned it from a man at the Magic Castle two years ago after he blew magicians away with it...including me. I did linking rubber bands, and a cute four card trick called eye test where one by one queens turn over then their backs change color until finally their backs turn into little eye charts. I also revealed chosen cards by having the spectator squeeze my arm so hard they bruise me...the bruise bore the name of the card....Here is the bruise!

I also bent spoons "with my mind" and did a number of coin tricks and mentalist tricks. All in all the night went really well.

In the buffet I went up to one table where two men sat. One wanted to see magic the other didn't. The man who didn't (man 2) did everything he could to make the experience of man 1 a bad one. But I have 7 kids, and have performed before over a million people in my lifetime. So I have experience with all types of people. Those early college days where I often performed for drunks, who are the worst type of hecklers, had prepared me for this man. I should mention one more thing, it was all you can eat crab night at the buffet and man 2's hands were covered in crab juice and butter. After doing the afore mentioned eye test the man wanted to hold the cards and check them out. Well, one look at his hands told me no way...so i told him no way. He took that as a sign of "trick cards"...no matter how much I tried to prove otherwise without dirtying my cards up by giving them to him he would not relent. So I pulled out my utility deck (who cares if those cards get dirty ..this deck is the one I use for card singing and tricks that often end with the cards on the floor, ceiling, etc. so who cares if crab juice and butter spoil them further) and performed the afore mentioned card to pocket...where I never touch the card. He relented and gave me high praise after that and even tried to tip me. I didn't take the tip...winning him over was good enough for me.


But boy were my dogs tired by nights end. There is a definite difference between my stamina when I was in my early twenties and today (I'm now in my mid.....twenties...would you believe thirties?....Ok I'm 45! No. Really! It's early gray.) When I got home I had a hot meal, a shower, and bed. I slept dreamless for nearly 9 hours. Very nice.

Cynthia Graduates

Princess Cynthia has graduated High School and will soon be heading off to college. She will do one last season with us before becoming a college co-ed. It may be a bit cliche but it is hard to believe how fast she has grown. We now have to adult kids.
The same day Cynthia graduated Mami and I celebrated our 21st Wedding anniversary. Twenty one years seems impossible....all I can think of are cliches. Is it a cliche even when it reflects the actual thought or feeling one is experiencing? Time is going by quickly. I should also add that Mami and I will actually celebrate our anniversary some time next week.

The ceremony was one of the better grad ceremonies I've experienced. It was mostly run by the students and the one or two adult who spoke kept it brief. The absence of an opening prayer or invocation was missed, especially since Oroville is a bible-belt town.
The co-valedictorians did a very funny speech feeding off each other.
The two or three serious speeches were filled with the same things we have all heard in our graduations about this being the start of the rest of their lives not the end. How the future is their oyster, etc.
At the ceremonial point right before the 'walk" when the principal "introduces the graduates of 2010" three big beach balls appeared and were bounced around. But the evening was a bit windy and the balls were quickly blown in the direction of some of the staff and that ended the ball bounce. I think the kids missed timed the ball release for optimum effectiveness of fun. But it all gave the family and friends watching a hardly laugh.
My little girl is grown. My roll as parent slowly diminishes as I slowly become more of an adviser and friend. I hope she stays with the show in the years to come. But then again, I sometimes think, "why would I wish the show biz life on anyone" .
She has grown up a beautiful young lady with high morals, ethics and a love of Christ. She is smart, frugal , and silly. She is an awesome singer and a great organizer. Pray she builds a sturdy house on the solid foundation we've given her.
I love you Cynthia.