On the road again!

Sorry I have been absent for a day or so. Yesterday we had a seventeen hour drive from home to Winslow, AZ (yes we are getting our kicks on rte 66). We planned on stopping in Flagstaff but when we got there the town was flooded with NAU (Northern AZ Univ. ) parents, it being parent weekend there. No rooms at the inn. Well, there was a Ramada that had a suite with not enough beds and a second room with no TV at gouging prices. We took the 52 minute drive to Winslow. By the way, our drive would have been quicker if Cali didn't have that dumb law about trailers having to stay in the torn up right lanes and drive at 55. It was like riding an elevator very slowly up a tall building passing through 2/3 of that state.

We almost ended up pulling a "Wyoming" because as we pulled into Winslow we found out the town was full of motorcycles in for a big rally. We got the last two rooms at a low end Super 8. The rooms were clean but the rooms were small, bare and the beds hard. But the front desk lady was nice and got a fair price for the rooms. That is to say an average price for today's travels.

AntiMonkey Butt Powder is still getting a lot of attention. While on hwy 58 outside of Mojave a woman on a bike rode by and gave me the thumbs up. Seconds later her man rides by slaps his butt a couple of times as he passes and gives me the thumbs up. Bikers love their AntiMonkey Butt Powder. Our trailer is a popular thing for people to take pictures of....or I should say the AMBP ad on the side is popular. At the Madera Fair I caught a couple getting their picture next to our AMBP banner.

Today we kept the driving down. Only 10 hours or so. It's hard to keep track since we went through two time zones...we lost two hours. Getting up tomorrow is going to be hard. We have made it to Amarillo and will do a 9 hour stint tomorrow to make it to Mt. Pleasant.

Everyone is doing really well. Lukas and James spend a lot of time sleeping. The little ones do their studies and play. Nick would love to drive since he has been the driver of the van all summer. But then I would have to be a passenger and I don't see that happening very easily.

We had some really bad Chinese food for dinner. I don't think we have ever had good Chinese food in Texas. Oh, well. We were able to squeeze a tiny Bible study in this morning. It was nice since we are missing church today.

Well, that is the update for now. Ciao.

Oh ...gas in Albuquerque was $3.19/gal

Titus turns 14.

He can't walk, he can't talk, he still wears a diaper. he doesn't understand many things. But inside that head is a very very smart kid. When asked what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, through a series of yes no questions (which he answers by touching our fists; one represents "yes" the other "no") he choose a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Then through lots of ideas he choose a horse and football to be on his cake. So Mami whipped this up today.


He tried to blow out the candles but couldn't so shortly after snapping this he leaned forward to try and take a bite of it.
The Grandpa serenade.

Gettin' Ready

In my last post I laughed at the term "Two Weeks Off" because at that point I had yet to have time off. I also lamented the endless list of things that needed to be fixed or replaced since our return. Fortunately nothing else has broke since that last post. And each of us have been able to grab a little R and R here and there but the preparations to go back on the road, half way across America, are daily.

Yesterday was haircut day for all the boys and Belle. With the dry hot of our Indian summer here in Cali, the haircuts have certainly helped cool us off. Which just reminded me that there were two more things that "went wrong" since our return. The aircon in Mami's van is broke and the "service engine" light has come on in the Chevy van. I'm putting both off until we get back in October.

I made some updates to our website. Jim, as well as a couple of fans, gave me a heads up about a few links on my website. Some speculated that I was hacked. Turns out the links were to a URL that I used to use "kentfamilyillusionshow.com but have stopped using. So when the url went dead the links (which actually just bounced from that url back to my regular site) the service provider sent them to an ad site. So all that is fixed. I noticed while fixing those things that I have neglected much of my website and a complete update needs to take place.

Midori has left America and is in the air as I write this on her return to Japan. It was nice having her on the tour but job hunting season in Japan is nearly over (yes they actually have a hiring season) and she needed to get back and get a real job. So she will miss out on Texas and New Mexico and Calico. She will be missed. One Facebook friend has already written to us about her young son (5 or 6 years old) being in Love with Midori and will miss her so much. He was planning on marrying her.

Had lunch with my good friend JC. Sadly the restaurant we went to, one we have been going to for years, is suffering from the Obamanomic economy and has cut back in many areas that sadly it was not a good experience. I think we are done with them.

We hit the road Saturday.

Two Weeks Off....Really?

That's me kicking a $2100 tranny that cost a total of nearly $3K to have replaced. That is the old one.
Jim balancing a grill on fire on the last day in Madera.

Some peppers a friend of Midori's in Chico sent down to us.
And other stuff too.
A whole bunch of stuff....we discovered our grape vines had a bumper year too and the girls had fun picking those. We freeze them and enjoy frozen grapes all year long.

Well, after the Madera Fair we found ourselves with a two week vacation. We will take off for Texas, NM, and Southern Cal near the end of this month coming home finally around November 1.

Our home coming was truly an interesting affair. I took the Ford (which I reported earlier had transmission noises and silver filings in the pan down to be fixed.....$2920 later she is running like a top. When we got bak and my mechanic checked it he found more filings, even though it had been services and cleaned out in Madera, which meant something in there was coming apart. Shortly my money and I parted as well.

We also discovered on homecoming that somehow the plug for our deep freezer in the garage had been pulled out so it had become a lab for mold growing. Several of the buttons on the dishwasher don't work either. The door latch on the front door had loosened (it does that once a year) so i had to take that apart and fix it. Since I was in fix-it mode I took my office window (i broke the inner pane last year) down to be repaired (another $85.) Oh, and the swamp cooler pump shorted and had to be replaced. OK, so there are no profits left from the summer tour and I still have to analyze and figure out why the RV's ABS and Break light keep coming on.

I hope I am not depressing any of you. I am actually finding this all rather hilarious. How can you not? I mean we started the season off with a promoter not paying us for 10 days of work and have every natural disaster under the sun follow in our wake (tornadoes in OK-two days after leaving Canton, OK then just one hour after leaving OK City, major thunderstorms everywhere, Missouri River Floods in Plymouth, IA, Earth Quake in Virginia one week after leaving there, Hurricane Irene floods Walton, NY one week after we leave. Oh, and not to forget about the big power outage in Ohio while we were there. One Facebook friend wrote, "...and destruction follows them..." It has been weird.

If this all seems disjointed I must apologize. So much has happened that the flood of thoughts are overwhelming and I have a scatter brain anyways.

Upon returning I called one good friend and he goes into atrial fibrillation while I am on the phone. Thankfully he is fine and we will meet for lunch next week. Then I get off the phone to find out that Buttercup the snake had escaped from his cage (he is harmless as everyone knows) but for his own health and well being (we don't want to find a dead snake 2 months from now somewhere in the house. So we tore the house apart. Jim's new girlfriend was over and threw in a hand. By here scream we knew he had been found, nearly two hours after we noticed him gone and 10 or 12 hours after he escaped. The house was now in shambles. UGH!

So what is next to come??? What an adventure!

Tomorrow the kids head to Trapeze Arts for practice and tips down in the bay Area.

Madera Fair (day 3) Visitors From Home

The day started with a restful night sleep and a nice quiet breakfast alone at the RV...well, Belle was with me. The family was at the hotel and all reports were they had good nights.

At the fairgrounds, pre-show, everyone worked on various acts. Victor Jr is trying to learn the unicycle, while Jim is developing a Lyra routine. Midori will be calling it quits after this fair and be heading back to Japan to take care of some personal business. She will stay at our home over our 2 weeks off until she is ready to leave. So Jim wants to take up the vacancy that will be left by Midori.

In spite of our contract calling for 2 show during weekdays and 3 on the weekend we have done 3 on Thursday and Friday and four today and tomorrow. We don't mind because we love to do what we do but it is exhausting.

Today, Nick's family and friends were here, Lukas' family came, a girl who likes Jim and her family came down from Colusa and like wise a girl who likes Miles and her Big family came down. I think the boys have mutual feelings for the girls. Still both fams were really nice people and it was a pleasure to meet them.



Lukas' dad got in the show throwing a hoop to Jim who caught it on his head in our "ADULTS VS KIDS" routine.
Victor Knnels on the wire.
The eveil eye from Lukas!
A young lady from the audience becomes the newest circus star in Madera.
Midori at work.

Nick spent a good part of the day hanging out with his visiting big brother. Nick even taught him a few things on the trapeze.

One funny incident in the second to last show was when I was performing walking on broken glass. A man from the audience kept giving me instructions, kind of heckling me. Finally I just exploded and said, "do you mean like this" then marched heavily all over the pile. Then I jumped up and down furiously, "or this" then I ground my feet in as I did a twist move like in the twist dance. I the said, "Is that what you wanted, smart allec? Now why don't you come up here and try. I later learned the audience thought is was part of the show. I just lost my cool. The guy got up and left after that. Fine with me. Luckily I didn't get hurt. Anger can make you do some pretty stupid yet spectacular things. The stunt went over big.

I love this old sign out near the hotel we are staying at. It makes me think of the old time radio shows I listen to often. The hotel itself has been redone time and time again to be modern but the coffee shop is as it always was. It's really quite cool.

In our show tonight Jim entertained friends and family of Nick and his own friends who came all the way down from NorCal to visit us. with his Samoan Fire Knife Dance.

We also had our chevy van brought down from home base to bring the large trailer home since we are worried about the condition of the Ford Van's tranny. It goes into the shop on Monday. Ever since the servicing yesterday I haven't heard any noises. But with a Texas and New Mexcio and Socal Trip in the near future I don't plan on taking chances. What little money we were going to bring home it will be evaporated by this repair.
Jim then took his fire knife and lit the fire cage on fire and...
Amelia and Belle appeared fromt he fire.
More fire.
Titus got a warm reception . All the crowds were large but not as big as Arizona and Iowa. There are many Spanish only speakers here so many of the verbal jokes don't work. Still we are drawing crowds of 300-500.
Victor did his upside down strait jacke tescape again. Man can that kid put on a show.
Miles' new fire whip is insane. I mean the fire ball from that is off the charts big. The audience eats it up.
Right before the last show I had a back spasm and took a muscle relaxer to help. This is me after the show a little spacey from the pill. One thing those pills do is make one tired.. Luckily I sleep at the RV so I didn't have far to go for bed.

Nick's family and friends, plus Jim;s friends, plus Lukas' family (coming tomorrow) plus one more surprise family guests (tomorrow) sure is making this an interesting show trip. Nick's parent find it hard to watch their son risk life and limb for show business. It's fun to watch them watching him.

We sold out of the stuff we sell at the shows in AZ but luckily FEd EX brought in new supplies so kids can have a cool remembrance of our show.

I bought Jim a big ladder yesterday so the balancing part of the show will be more impressive. Tomorrow I am getting him a grill that we will ignite and he will balance that on his face. Need to keep it hot!

Cynthia called. She is off to a church retreat in Indiana this weekend.

Hard to believe we will stop by home, albeit for only two weeks, this Monday. We will hit trapeze school one day during that time and I will build a Crystal casket illusion while at home to keep things fresh. I am excited about doing the Titus Fair in TX and the Eastern NM State Fair in Roswell. We are thinking of having Nick do the trapeze as an Alien. That might be fun.

God, I love my job.

Well, blessings to you all.

Madera Fair Tranny Trouble 105 decibels

I started today rather philosophical. Then I jumped into my van to do some running around (pick up mice for Buttercup for one) when I noticed that my van had a funny sound, like a card in the wheel of spokes on a bike, but only when the car was in low gear or reverse. Yikes. I went back to the fair and reported I would need to have it checked but first I had to get all the rest of the crew ( three were at the grounds practicing) from the hotel then go. I also put a call into a mechanic friend of ours for advice...he wasn't in. The drive back and forth to the hotel brought about a change in the sound. it was no longer in the low and reverse but only when Overdrive was off or when the car shifted down from overdrive. Hmm. On the way to the mechanic I noticed the noise virtually disappeared except for an occasional rough sound. Since it would have to pull the big trailer home (four hour drive) on Sunday, then do a Texas - new Mexico trip later in the month I took no chances and took it into Madera Transmission. Steve, the owner took care of me right away and explained everything. He drove it and wouldn't you know it, no noise. So I had him service the transmission and low and behold we found silver shavings in the pan...not good news. He changed the oil and seals and gave me advice to give it a good 30 minute drive somewhere to see if the noise came back. I will do that tomorrow. I also finally talked to my mechanic friend at home who had lots of great advice...he will be getting the van in his shop on Monday.

In the mean time, since Nick's family will be driving down here they will be bringing my Chevy van down to us so it will pull the large trailer and the Ford will just go home with no extra weight.

There will be several visitors this week. One surprise visit was Tiffany, a girl Jim has been communicating with. Her and her family came down from Colusa, Ca for the weekend. Nick and his fmaily plus friends and relatives will be coming down tomorrow. Lukas' family will be here Saturday. And there are more surprise guests I can't mention yet still coming.
Yhe area we are at is beautiful. Only one small problem. See the circled area above....that's the grandstand...directly behind us. The grand stand show started at 7:30pm our second show started at 8PM. At 105 decibels our show was nearly drowned out. We ran our speakers hot, pushing their limits just to compete so our audience could here us. It was exhausting. We pulled around 200 people for the first crowd, 300ish for he second and 200 for the third. Pretty OK for a Thursday school night. The fair opens at 5pm.
A shot of our set up. We bought so neat colorful lights that match the back drop and I will try and get a nice night shot if I can to show you them.
Studying?
Fish face.
Too serious?
Haning around....silly smiling girl.
Jim and Nick have been practicing passing clubs. I got Jim a taller latter today to balance on his face. He and Nick got the idea to work out a juggling passing routine while on the latter. They are getting close to adding it to the show. Amelia is practicing her hoops. Since our shows were all back to back we were all pretty much in costume the show time we were here.
In between the shows Nick and I had a pepper eating contest....it was a draw at 10 peppers each. I accidentally got some in my nasal passage. Ouch.
Miles' infamous fire whip...it is a scary thing.

Well, today was a pretty nice day. The sad news about the van, it may need to have the tranny rebuilt or replaced, made it a bummer for a while. The loud competing music also made it a bummer for a while. But we did well and there is a prayer and hope for the van so I will call it a good day. By the way, if there are any rich people near the end of their life who would like to write us into their will to help safe this season please do so and let me know. Thanks.

Blessings to you all.

Rambles

It is strange. Time, distance, places, weather, people, all of them are strange.

By strange I don't mean anything mean. I mean unusual, weird, odd, in their own relative ways.

OK, by now you can tell I am going a little philosophical. Can't help it. I had a great night sleep last night. For the first time in two weeks I slept in the RV on a fairgrounds while they are setting up or tearing down the fair. The sounds of the tractor trailers, clanging tools, men shouting in English and Spanish, the fork lifts, and squeaky breaks, and a myriad of other sounds familiar and unique to the fair lulled me to sleep last night. I started off at the hotel but found the bed and the noises common to hotels just unbearable. So I drove the mile to the fairgrounds with Belle as my room mate and found home.

When we go "home" we strolled the grounds for a while and watched as hard working crews labored to bring a pile of metal and light bulbs to life in the form of a Ferris wheel or a Himalayan ride. I chatted with the mechanical bull man, a good Christian gent, about the ins and outs of life on the road and life as a Christian in today's world. Since we both work lots of fairs and festivals we have both seen it all! We pondered how and when did the rebel image of old become the norm. You know, sex before marriage, drugs, open depravity, etc, etc. I posed him a thought that my friend, Bill Jackson, posed to me a few weeks back, "With the things that were once considered rebellious now the norm being a strong stand-up Christian is makes you a rebel today."

After my chat with the bull man I met the night guard out here. It's always good to know the guards. He now knows who I am and will not have to worry when he sees me wander at night. And he knows who should not be in our area after hours.

Meanwhile Mami was back at the hotel getting Titus bathed with Miles' help and the little ones were all getting themselves ready for bed. The big kids were just out of the pool and getting on their computers to watch Muppets, Monty Python and the like on Youtube and email or call friends. Midori, being the only girl, though I think that is not the only reason for even when CC was here, prefers to spend her time alone. I worry her language skills might be one of the reasons she doesn't communicate and get closer to everyone in the group. She is a knock out performer and a really hard worker, but quiet.

I am writing this as the kids are outside the RV on our stage area practicing for today's shows. Nick and Lukas' families will be coming out this weekend. After all, they haven't seen each other for months and we are just 4 hours or so from home. There are some surprise guests coming too but I will write about that later.

I went over to get the kids a couple of hours ago but before bringing them out here Mami and I had a "date". We went food shopping and to the post office. It was sooooo romantic! Tonight we shall have Stirfry! Yum. Still shocked at prices out here but we were happy to find some deals on some stuff, so we stocked up. Fruit is a little cheaper here, though. And we all love our fruit.

No back to why I called all this stuff strange. It is hard to believe how fast and how slow this summer has gone by. We have made so many new friends and we re-acquainted with old friends, but had to say good bye so quickly. We went from 100 degrees to the high 50s back to 100 in the course of ten days. We've seen the Atlantic, the Rockies, the Catskills, the Pocono's, the Ozarks and Appalachians. We've been in natural caverns, and man made coal mines. We have been across the plains, over mountains, under the Chesapeake Bay, in the desert, and in numerous valleys and over numerous bluffs. We have eater weird things and wonderful things. We have all been through all kinds of emotional roller coaster rides. It's strange. But it's living. The idea of sitting in my office at home and staring at the walls as I wait for the next booking literally scares me. Wanderlust has grown in my blood and I like it. It's taxing on the mind and body, and the wallet in these days of Obamanomics. But I would think sitting and doing the exact same thing, knowing that the next day would be the same, and the day after that the same would drive me insane. No, I am not getting rich, just the opposite. And, No, I have no more fame than any other performer that passes through a town. I have bills up to my eyeballs, and vehicles falling apart under me. I have to close my eyes when I pick up a pack of meat to feed the crew so I don't see the price. I have to sigh and begrudgingly pay the gas station man when I fill our tanks. The same way I have to sigh and pay the tax man. But as an honest man I will not cheat the tax man nor the gas man. I fretted something awful the other day when I thought I had not paid for the box of baby wipes that was under my cart. I realized it in Arizona that night, some three hours later. The next day I got up and rechecked the receipt and to my relief I had paid for it. I was so tired I just didn't realize I had paid it.

I got a call for a booking for while I was home. It would be for a school carnival 80 miles from my home. I thought it would be a nice little extra money maker before we took off for Texas and New Mexico. After several email exchanges it turns out they only want to spend $100. They wanted our show with strollers for $100! WOW. Naturally I had to turn it down. If I had even performed the show alone I would have lost money. Many people don't realize the value of our show. perhaps those same people have no concept of value for anybody's work.

We have many offers for 2012 and it looks like it may be bigger than this year. But not all of those offers have heard our new rates. I think it is a great value for what they get but......

I think back to two years ago when Discovery followed us around at an event filming a sizzle reel only to say we were too milk toast for the public. Then I think of the hundreds of times this summer when fans insisted we needed to be on TV. I know they would've gotten a lot of pretty cool drama this year. Starting with that loose promoter, David Jackson, who stole all the performers and vendors' money, through the trials, tribulations, and exaltations of the season. If 19 and Counting can be a good show then The Kent Family would knock socks off. But there goes my ego. Oh well.

The philosopher, complainer, and circus boss has to sign off now. I have to run and get some mice for a snake.

Great Expectations

For the first time since Early early early May we are back in Cali. That same depressing feeling I get when I return to this state hit me again. We slept in Bakersfield, then gassed up and dined on a nice breakfast in a grocery store parking lot. We are so sick of restaurant food! I was shocked at the prices of things. Blown away might be a better description. Gas is nearly a dollar more than other states, as is milk, and orange juice. Nothing was cheaper though there were a couple of things that were similar in price. The most shocking thing is water. Bottled water (cases of 24) is $2.99 almost everywhere with no CRV fees. Here it is $3.99 plus $1.20 CRV. When you drink a ton of water on the road that can add up. We are buying big jugs instead of little bottles now.

Our spot at the fair seems like a nice area. We are on grass and have been provided a huge lot. I will post pics tomorrow. The fair staff has been very nice here. Our set up is very similar to the setup we did last week in Arizona.

All quiet on the western front.

Good night.

On the road to Californee it was a hard and hideous journey...

Ok the title of the blog is a lie.....well we were on the road to Californiee but it wasn't hideous...except for the gas prices. Nearly a full dollar more than another state! The title of today's blog is from a song Alfalfa sang on an old episode of the Little Rascals. It was his debut and he performed it with his real brother. Later in life he would be a guide in the foothills near the very area we are heading towards tomorrow. He of course died after being shot by a guy he got into a fight with, deemed self defense.

When we left Flagstaff this morning it was under thunderstorm conditions. The drive was none the less easy and went very quickly and smoothly except for hwy 40 in Arizona the closer we got to Cali and then alllllll the way through Cali. Titus' DVD player kept stopping and skipping because of the roads. Oh yeah, "quickly" was killed by the rule that vehicles pulling trailers in Cali have to stay in the crappiest lanes and under or at 55 MPH. The only state to do that to us this year.

We will miss Flagstaff. the audiences were off the charts awesome.

We were aiming to stop in Barstow but as we got near we realized we still had sunshine and pep in our step (metaphorically speaking) and so we went on 2 more hours to Bakersfield. Sadly all the hotels in this town are in bad parts of towns....or is there a good part of town?...There has to be.

Yucky fast food for dinner.

We are only 2 1/2 hours from Madera now so we will be able to get the show loaded in earlier than we expected.

The drive time gave Mami a chance to get some intense homeschooling done. I eavesdropped and was pretty impressed with how smart these kids are getting. Mami is very clever at coming up with ways to present problems to be soled. i.e. " A banana walks into his kitchen and is surprised to see 6 octopuses hanging from the ceiling. How many legs did he see?"

Well, no pictures today. Midori took a boat load of them because she has never seen high desert. This whole trip has been a new experience for a couple for our troupe this year. It's neat to see things from their eyes.

Last day in Flagstaff

Today we the threat of thunderstorms hung over us, according to the weather people; a 50% chance. Instead we had warm sunshine and the occasional cloud, though we could see the storm clouds off in the distance. All three shows were packed though today had a lower attendance at the fair over all (all kinds of Labor Day events in the area and the rain threat). But still we pulled off audiences of 300+ at every show. One fan posted a video of us...I posted that video on the blog just before this one.

In the pictures of Miles you see here is is showing his singed hair. Though we did not of the rain during the shows we did get some strong winds and while he was doing his new fire whip the fire ball from the crack (see the fire ball in yesterday's blog) was blown back on him and his hair was singed. Crazy. He was and is fine.

James and Buttercup sharing a kiss?

One of our "stalkers" (fans) family ran the llama ride concession. As a treat the family took the girls for a ride.

They even let Mami take a ride. last year it was her first John Deere combine ride. This year it was her first Llama-cart ride.

The fair ended early so all of our shows were back to back with our last performance at 2:30. The fair was closed by 4 and we were half packed up by then. By 6pm we were totally packed and hooking up when those promised rains hit. And did they hit hard. The short drive back to the hotel had roads with as much as a foot of standing water and storm drains at capacity. If we were on flat land I would worry about flash floods but since we are on a mountain top I worried little about that.

I have to say that so far Flagstaff is my favorite AZ town. We haven't performed at many venues here but the pine trees and mild heat were very nice to be around.

Tacos and Burgers for dinner tonight. The boys are watching Monty Python videos on Youtube. Midori is watching Japanese videos on her computer. Everyone is winding down. Tomorrow we begin our drive to Madera. We will start on Thursday. We will make a mild 5 or 6 hour tomorrow. And finish with a 4 hour or so on Wednesday.

Like everywhere we made lots of friends here and will miss the great audiences.

Kent Family Magic Circus Performance

Filmed by an audience member who posted it to Youtube

Coconino Fair Day three 300-1000 audience members per show!

Get a good look at this pure white face....by the end of this blog it will "magically" change color.
Olivia is getting better and better on the lyra.
There is a vendor at the fair that I believe is equal to the snake oil sales people of old. The people selling the product are actually showing up all over the US...and its pure crap! There is a Balance bracelet that goes by many different names. They cost anywhere from $5.00 upto $30.00 and they are supposed to realign your protons and give you better balance and make you feel good. The problem is there demonstration is right out of a 150 year old strong man or hypnotism act. I demonstrate it on stage today. (I will post the video of it soon.) Simply have the person stand like the boy is doing in the picture. The charlatan then puts his hand on the victims elbow and pushes down...the victim loses balance. They put their bracelet on the victim and do it again. This time he doesn't fall. Wow, it's a miracle..he has gotten balance from a piece of plastic with a metal or magnetic strip in it. Baloney. Here is the secret. The first time the creep puts his hand on your elbow he applies a downward and slightly outward pressure, you loose balance. The second time, when you wear the bracelet. He simply pushes straight down or slightly inward. Since you are instructed to push up against his pushing down you can't feel the difference. Don't be scammed. I will repeat it in every show tomorrow because I can't stand people intentionally ripping people off like this.
A shot of the new backdrop.

Studs. Might look better if Miles wore one his size instead of Nicks backup unitard.
Victor made a chess set from water bottle caps and duct tape. Miles and him played chess.
Mommy and her baby!

OK, now these are real fans...I mean stalkers. They were great fun. Chatted with their whole family afterwards.
Haven't posted this style pix in a while so here it is.
Samoan Fire Knife dance.
The new fire cage...a great way to introduce Belle and Her trainer while CC is away.
OK. I know I shouldn't be doing this stuff with a back in my condition ....I just can't resist.
A burst from Miles' new fire whip...it is a big hit.
The parents verses kids ring toss onto Jim's Head.
OK...guilty dog got into the garbage and had spaghetti ...then she got a bath at the hotel .

Our good friend Wade Henry is performing out here. Haven't had time to spend chatting with him but we hope to....we will work with him in Texas in a couple of weeks.

An old Circus stage hand from the Carson show and one other show watched our act with tons of compliments. He regaled us with many stories from the road. He was a lot of fun....should've taken a picture with him. Oh snap!

Nick is thrilled with the new weighted trapeze bar. he is adding some very daring swinging stunts into the act. He finally took the safety harness and showed them to me today. Folks are going to love it.