The Boy went on his first school field trip, a visit to the Santa Ana Zoo.

Santa Ana Zoo is a small zoo with loads of active primates. All of them were alert and moving about as the Kindergarteners observed with excitement. A special shout out to the White Handed Gibbon, who in addition to moving to the front of the exhibit so the kids could get an up close look, can scream like a police siren.

The Santa Ana Zoo also has a farm exhibit, with ducks and wild turkeys, feral pigs, goats that like to be fed, and, according to the zoo employee, one goat that doesn’t like to be fed, the San Clemente Island goat:

I will ram you. Ah ha ha ha!

There were wallabies and rheas and an animal that looks like a llama but isn’t one (nor is it an alpaca). It’s called a guanaco:

Why, hello there!

I attended the said zoo trip not as a chaperone nor volunteer parent, but as The Woman Who Is Allowed to Give Her Son Benadryl.

I was concerned that going to the zoo might result in a breakout of hives. The Boy’s skin has been unusual of late, with hives breakouts for no reason and I suspected that being at the zoo would have been an opportune moment for hives to strike. I asked the teacher about the Benadryl and as any of you familiar with public schools know, she can’t give him Benadryl. I also can’t give the Benadryl to The Boy to give to himself because one) I’m not guaranteed he’ll remember to do it and two) the school principal said no to that option too (I imagine part of the concern was that he might give it to someone else). So I took Little No Limit out of preschool for the day and we enjoyed ourselves a little trip to the zoo and no hives made themselves noticeable that day and all’s well that ends well.

Scarlet ibis in the Colors of the Amazon aviary

Before we get started, don’t forget I have a book giveaway going on until Wednesday.

Here are some of the musicians who chose to play on street corners and fill the air with their lively tunes over the weekend during the Temecula Bluegrass Festival:

“They think the banjo can only be happy, but that’s not true.” –Bela Fleck

“I don’t care much about music. What I like is sounds.” –Dizzy Gillespie

“In memory everything seems to happen to music.” –Tennessee Williams

“Music is about listening, the more you play, the more the magic spreads.” –Maynard James Keenan

Disney On Ice

10. When they see The Incredibles on DVD, they brag to their friends they saw the REAL Elastigirl because only the real one could hold one foot behind her head while spinning around on the other.

9. They think that Alice actually went to a Winter Wonderland, and that Alice’s one-foot spin is the new way to handle the Queen’s “off with their head” request (seriously, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum – watch out, you’re getting a little too close).

8. They wonder what happened to the bottom halves of all the Disney princesses’ ball gowns.

7. In addition to “falling… with style” and karate chop action, Buzz Lightyear can add Triple Axel his repertoire of skills.

6. My kids know what a Triple Axel is?

5. They have changed the lyrics of “I Wanna Be Like You” to “I Wanna Skate Like You (ooh ooh).” Better than the more difficult to sing “I Wanna Do a Toe Pick Jump Takeoff Like You (ooh ooh).”

4. They believe it is acceptable to drive a car on ice.

3. Cinderella never ceases to amaze in her unending list of skills: cleans, cooks, talks to mice and birds, can arrive fashionably late at a party via pumpkin, rides around skating rink atop Prince Charming’s arms – The Boy dreamily muses, “So this is love… doo doo doo doo… so this is looooove…”

2. They’re worried that Nemo and the gang (not to mention Ariel) are going to freeze on the ice.

1. They go to Disneyland and are disappointed to see Mickey and Minnie “just walking.”

So. Interested in seeing Disney on Ice?

***

Much like I gave you the dirt on circus specials last week, MomCentral also sent out word there are some specials for moms who want to see Disney on Ice:

Offer #1: Get 4 tickets for just $44 by entering the code “MOM” at select ticketing channels*. Offer good on all performances, minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each. Offer not valid on Gold Circle Seating, Front Row and VIP seating or combinable with other offers. Other restrictions may apply.

Offer #2: A select amount of Front Row and VIP seats have been reserved for you to buy before they go on sale to the public - just enter the code “MOM” when purchasing those seats.

Dates and cities where families can use the national MOM code are as follows:

Houston
Disney On Ice presents Mickey and Minnie’s Magical Journey
April 15-April 19

Dallas/Ft Worth
Disney On Ice presents Mickey & Minnie’s Magical Journey
March 18-March 29

Sunrise/Miami
Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy
March 26-April 5

Toronto
Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy
March 18-March 22

Kansas City
Disney On Ice presents Mickey & Minnie’s Magical Journey
April 1-April 5

Denver
Disney On Ice presents a Disneyland® Adventure
March 12-March 15

Phoenix
Disney On Ice presents a Disneyland® Adventure
April 9-April 12

Chicago/Rosemont
Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic
Sept 8-Sept 13

Don’t see your city? Check out the Disney On Ice website or Ticketmaster to use the 4 tickets for $44 code, MOM. The Disney on Ice site also includes video highlights of the shows (check out Pinocchio – a real boy with real skills!).

I met Mary Patterson Broome a few months ago when she was on the Duke Fightmaster Show and she was so funny I asked her if I could do an interview with her on my blog. She immediately responded yes and it took me almost three months to send her the questions. This is why I will never be a top tier blogger.

The world of stand up comedy is so intriguing to me. I love watching it, on TV and live. I imagine it would be so fun to do, but find it incredibly daunting. I think I would really take it to heart if people didn’t laugh. I have all the respect in the world for anyone who does stand up, especially one as nice as Mary Patterson Broome.

1. What prompted you to go into stand up comedy?

Talking is really the only thing I’m good at. My friends always told me I was a great story teller and I’ve always loved performing - especially when I have total control of the content, which is something stand-up allows and plays or improv comedy do not.

2. What were some of your previous jobs before stand up comedy, and do any of those jobs make it into your act?

Oh yeah. I was a page (glorified usher) at CBS where The Price is Right tapes. I had to wear a red blazer with shoulder pads and a bow tie. I felt extremely attractive, as I’m sure you can imagine. Definitely have that experience in the ole’ routine.

3. What is your favorite thing about stand up comedy?

I love that it’s live and in the moment. There is no other art that gets an instant response. Of course if you’re not getting laughs, that is sometimes not the most fun aspect of it!

4. And your least favorite thing?

My least favorite thing is some of the time wasted just waiting for 8 minutes of stage time. I’m told this is part of paying your dues as a young comic but some times showing up at 7:00 PM and not getting on stage until 10:30 PM is exhausting.

5. Have you ever totally bombed with an audience? How do you handle that?

Yes. Like, the bomb.com. It’s brutal but the longer you’re a comic and the more you get on stage, the less and less you care if one set doesn’t go well. It happens to EVERYONE…or so I’m told.

6. What advice would you give to someone interested in doing stand up comedy?

Take a writing class and learn how to write a joke. Don’t just get up there and ramble because your friends tell you you’re funny. Strangers will expect you to have set-up and punch. Write as much as possible and get on stage as much as possible. Be nice to every comic you meet because they’re usually the ones that book shows you’ll want to be doing when you first start out!

7. Who are some of your favorite comedians?

I love Seinfeld and Jeff Foxworthy. I tend to lean toward comics on the clean side but I also love Doug Benson and Chelsea Handler.

8. Where do you come up with your material?

It’s usually all based on personal experience. I can usually twist any weird interaction with someone, whether it be a total stranger or a guy I’m dating, into a joke (not surprisingly, the guys I’m dating don’t so much enjoy that). I have some stuff about being from the South and my parents, too.

9. Where do you hope your comedy ultimately takes you (eg: movies, talk show, Vegas casino, comedy tour, etc)?

I’d actually love to get acting roles based on my comedy. I find that most comedic actors and actresses are basically themselves (is that grammatically correct?) in every role, with slight variations. I did a lot of acting growing up but felt more pulled to stand-up after college. I’d love to get back into acting through stand-up at some point. I would also love to do the road with my stand-up act.

10. I notice a lot of comedians use YouTube and MySpace to promote their work? How do you think the internet has changed the face of comedy?

It’s completely changed the face of comedy. A person can convince cyber space that he or she already has full-blown comedy career just by having a good-looking MySpace page! I think it’s good though because a comic can create and produce a ton of content then immediately get exposure for it. A performer can develop a fan base on the internet which sometimes really appeals to agents and managers, a great thing for performers without representation. Having said that, it’s kind of sad that these industry types can just pull up YouTube now instead of going out to a comedy club to check out new talent live.

11. How would you describe your style of comedy? Who would you compare yourself to?

This question is still tricky for me. I’d say I’m definitely clean so if someone’s looking for raunchy stuff, I’m probably not their gal. I make observations based on personal experience but sort of make fun of the fact that it’s coming from a limited, upper-middle class white girl perspective. I don’t like to compare myself to anyone. I’d like to think every comedian brings something new and different to the table.

12. Top three places in LA for good comedy?

My top picks are the Hollywood Improv, The Laugh Factory and O’Brien’s Pub in Santa Monica (okay, I really just love this bar but the comedy on Thursday and Sunday nights is free and fun!)

13. Any thing you’d like to say?

Get off your computer and go see comedy LIVE. It’s much better that way. If you live in the LA area, check out Mary Patterson Broome’s MySpace page for her upcoming appearances, and enjoy this clip:

I’m pretty funny…

This post contributed to Thursday Thirteen.

Friend called me last Thursday and said, “Sorry for the last minute notice, but I have an extra ticket to Lord of the Dance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center this Saturday. Want to come?”

Short notice? In the words of Special Man, “Nooooo problem!” Sis in law graciously stepped in to watch the kids and I got to sneak off for a free day of fun with Friend. And to show what kind of good friend I am, I offered to buy her a drink during the intermission. She declined because she’d just had her wisdom teeth pulled but accompanied me to get my drink, which is a good thing because after I ordered my drink, I discovered that they accept cash (how twentieth century of them) and my friend had to lend me money to buy my own drink. Yes, folks, that’s the kind of friend I am.

But back to Lord of the Dance. First off, let me just say that I love the song “Lord of the Dance” so much that it was the recessional hymn in my wedding ceremony. I also love theatre. I also love dancing, in particular tap. And while I don’t know much about Irish dancing, all these other loves point to YES.

In short, Lord of the Dance is totally awesome. Anyone with a love for theatre or dance will enjoy this show. I will admit, the costumes and stage effects do have a New Age tone to it, as if the entire show had been put together by Stevie Nicks in and for the city of Sedona. And I don’t deny I didn’t entirely follow the storyline short of it being something about good vs. evil and sexy seductress vs. girl-next-door.

But the dancing, oh the dancing. I smiled through most of the show involuntarily because I love listening to the tapping just that much. I also got a couple charley horses just watching them dance. Oi. Those people some serious dancing legs.
If Lord of the Dance is coming near you, by all means go. You won’t be disappointed. And to give you a little taste of its awesomeness, here’s a bit of the grand finale from the Michael Flatley times – it’s cool to watch on video, but pales in comparison to watching it live:

If this is just too long for your attention span (you sad product of today, you), try to make it to the 3:36 mark or so, and if even that is too long, try to watch at least from the 3:13 to the 3:20 mark – 7 seconds. Think you manage 7 seconds?

When was the last time you went to the circus? I haven’t been since I was in third grade and went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Circus, during which they unveiled a unicorn. A real, live unicorn! I was eight. I was mesmerized. Those unicorn guys are back, this time with two different shows, Zing Zang Zoom and Over the Top. MomCentral has a discount offer for anyone who wants to go, see the end of this post for more details.

It just so happens that exactly one year ago I was thinking about the circus. I had just finished reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which is about an old man reflecting on the days of his youth when he jumped a circus train and learned what that crazy life was all about. I posted it about it then too, but I figure, Water for Elephants was an interesting read and worth reposting:

Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I’d choose the corn. Not that I wouldn’t love to have a final roll in the hay—I am a man yet, and some things never die—but the thought of those sweet kernels bursting between my teeth sure sets my mouth to watering. It’s fantasy, I know that. Neither will happen. I just like to weigh the options, as though I were standing in front of Solomon: a final roll in the hay or an ear of corn. What a wonderful dilemma. Sometimes I substitute an apple for the corn.

The above paragraph is taken from chapter one. Water for Elephants is quirky and funny, demented and tragic. Such is the circus life, I guess.

I read this book for my book club and tonight is the meeting. I skimmed over the suggested discussion questions at the end of the book and in one of them, Ms. Gruen says she incorporated Jacob’s story from the Bible. Yikes! I did not see that coming. In fact, I was a total lidiot (my own made up word: literary idiot, the reader who JUST DIDN’T GET IT), saying to myself, well, his name is Jacob I can see that connection. But what else?

After giving it more thought, I have come up with these:

There’s the woman Jacob loves, Marlena. You could make the argument that Uncle Al is a sort of Laban, extracting unpaid work from Jacob, although there’s no promise of anyone’s hand in marriage. Also, what does that make August?

Jacob’s ladder. In Water for Elephants, the ladder is important to life on a circus train (as well as bootleg liquor, hey hey). The ladders enable one to jump atop train cars and move from one to another, which happens from time to time when you’re on a train as often as these fine folks. Maybe the circus people are like the angels ascending and descending the ladder.

If Jacob’s Ladder is to signify the Jewish exiles, then you might say the ladder of a circus train is symbolic of the exiles of the circus performers, like Kinko/Walter, who has nowhere else to go because his mother sold him. And really, one might consider the whole circus an exile, given the multiple occasions on which they are run out of town.

Jacob’s Ladder leads from earth to heaven, and since the circus train ladder leads from inside the stock cars to atop them, maybe that means both heaven and earth are the circus train? For these circus performer, life takes place, essentially, on the train. The train only stopped to put on the show, so when they were off the train, they were working to set up, put on, and take down the show. So earth is the insides of the stock cars, these people’s homes and livelihoods. Heaven is looking upon the train from atop the roof, like when Jacob Jankowski ascends the ladder:

I climb to the roof. He moves over and when I sit down next to him he claps a hand on my shoulder. “Turn around. I want you to see something.”
He points down the length of the train. It stretches behind us like a giant snake, the linked cars jiggling and bending as it rounds a curve.
“It’s a beautiful sight, isn’t it, Jacob?” says August.

In the case of the circus performers, I tend to think that heaven could well be the view of the train from above, because it is a home and employment during the Depression when both were scarce.

Camel. Well, the name alone works with the stretching muscle. There were camels in the Bible, right? Camel also has the problem of having done something bad that he hasn’t forgiven himself for, and though we never do find out if Camel’s family forgave him, we know they were willing to take him back. All that forgiveness talks seemed to have “Biblical imagery” written all over it.

I think the best parallel to Biblical Jacob comes when Jacob Jankowski realizes that it is up to him to protect the circus animals from the treatment they receive under Uncle Al and August:

I am their shepherd, their protector. And it’s more than a duty. It’s a covenant with my father.

While I realize that Jacob is referring to his biological father, I think it’s safe to assume this sentence is meant to carry more meaning than just that.

We’ll see how it goes tonight at the book club meeting. In case I’m totally amiss with my interpretation, I’m bringing a copy of one of the books of circus photos that inspired Sara Gruen to write the book. “Wild, Weird, and Wonderful: The American Circus as Seen by F.W. Glasier.” I had to drive to not-my-usual library to check it out. Extra effort like that should count for something, right?

All I know is, parallel to Biblical Jacob? If she says so. Good read? Definitely.

***

So, are you itching to read the book now or go to the circus and see the real deal? Got time for both?

You can visit Ringling’s site here.

The details on the discounts are as follows:

Offer #1: Get 4 tickets for just $44 by entering the discount code “MOM” at select ticketing channels. Offer good on all performances, minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each. Offer not valid on Circus Celebrity Seating, Front Row and VIP seating or combinable with other offers. Other Restrictions May Apply.

Offer #2: A select amount of Front Row and VIP seats have been reserved for you to buy before they go on sale to the public - just enter the code “MOM” when purchasing those seats. Dates and cities where families can use the national MOM discount code this spring are as follows:

Newark/East Rutherford/Uniondale/NYC
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
March 5 - April 13
Offer not valid on performances from April 10 - 13 at Madison Square Garden

Washington D.C./ Fairfax, VA/ Baltimore, MD
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
March 18-April 19

Philadelphia
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
May 13-May 25

Phoenix
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
June 24-June 28

Houston
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
July 15-July 26

Anaheim/LA/Ontario
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
July 8-August 2

San Francisco
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
August 12-August 23

Dallas/Ft Worth
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
July 29-August 16

Sacramento
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
August 27-August 30

Kansas City
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
September 16-September 20

Don’t see your city listed? Visit the Ringling site to find it. You can also visit Ticketmaster to use the 4 tickets for $44 code, MOM.

An animal sighting is always fun with the kids. On our recent trip to the Ocean Institute, The Boy had to walk by the touch-and-feel tank three times before finally deciding he could reach in and touch the starfish and sea cucumbers. I was a little apprehensive over how the slimy feeling would go over, but he liked it, though not as much as he liked Boris the BIG lobster:

Boris the 25lb (or so) lobster at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.

On a different trip to Irvine Regional Park to play, the kids were extremely excited to see a peacock wandering about:

It turned in my direction, likely due to the sound of the agitated voice of The Boy: “Mom! Mom! Take a picture!”

Other pictures at Wordless Wednesday, MomDot, and Special Exposure Wednesday.

I’m trying to organize my photos and came across this photo I snapped while camping in Idyllwild a couple years ago:

That’s the photo of what the parents were looking at. Clearly, there was something much more interesting going on in the grass:

Hmm, what’s that?

I want to look too!

Don’t forget me!

Oh, to be a curious child.

More pix at Wordless Wednesday, MomDot, and 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

Allow me to introduce the Master of Ceremonies for this week’s Carnival of Family Life:

Junior, The Fearless Robot.

Hi, I’m Junior the Fearless Robot. I’m a 5.9oz hand-carved (by Husband) boxcar that was painted and decorated by The Boy (see other handcrafted works by children at Magic Marker Monday). Over the weekend, I raced down this track in THE PINEWOOD DERBY:

Allow me to tell you about the magic that is THE PINEWOOD DERBY as we meander through the many categories of this week’s carnival.

Education

The Pinewood Derby is a boxcar race wherein men and their sons put together what they hope is the fastest car. Knowledge of physics, aerodynamics, and gravitational pull help, while the ability to answer the question ‘how do you get the wheels on just so in order to make the car roll in a straight line?’ is imperative.

Other educating posts:

Woman Tribune presents Get Your Kids Interested in the Environment posted at Woman Tribune.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Teaser to Exercise your Memory and Reasoning Skills posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution. Are you familiar with these American and international proverbs?

Family Cooking & Recipes

At the Pinewood Derby, you might be able to snack upon burgers and french fries from the In-n-Out van parked outside. It’s a swell way to comfort sad little boys (and sometimes sadder fathers) when their cars don’t win.

Other cooking posts:

Cyndi Lavin presents Vegetable vindaloo posted at Busy Family Meal Planning. “Vindaloo sauce can be used to flavor meats,” Cyndi writes, “but we like it best as a vegetarian delight!”

Cyndi Lavin presents Top 10 Chocolate Gadgets posted at Cooking Gadgets. Who doesn’t love chocolate?

HowToMe presents How To Make “Cream of Chicken” posted at HowToMe.

Family Crafts and Activities

Preparation for the boxcar derby includes wood-carving, painting, drawing, then realizing the paint wasn’t dry enough, then fretting over smeared graphite, then repainting and waiting several days for the new paint to dry, then accepting that, in the end, dry paint is overrated. Then attending the event where everyone else’s car had no problem getting their paint to dry?

Other crafts and activities:

Riley presents A Faery Hunt at Griffith Park posted at All Rileyed Up.

DeeDee presents Five Recipes For Finger Paint posted at Things Your Grandmother Knew.

Stephanie presents Modeling Compound Magnets posted at Make It From Scratch.

The Smarter Wallet presents Nintendo Wii Review, Video Game System Pros and Cons posted at The Smarter Wallet. Considering purchasing a Nintendo Wii for your family? This review might help you decide.

knittsings presents Knitting Machine Manuals - Brother, Passap, Studio, Knitmaster, Singer, Silver Reed posted at knittsings, saying, “Is there a knitting machine lurking at your home in need of a manual? Here is a list of all the free downloads across the web, organized by machine manufacturer.”

Kevin Fleming presents Dish Network Family Package Review posted at Satellite TV Guru.

Dianne M. Buxton presents Some Highly Effective Tips For Ballet Summer Intensives Auditions - And The Nerves posted at Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes, offering “advice for aspiring ballerinas and young men in ballet to prepare for ballet summer intensive auditions.”

Family Finance

The Pinewood Derby is a realtively inexpensive way to have a good time with your children. To put it in a MasterCard ad:

$20 - supplies to make boxcar
$10 - In-n-Out food at Pinewood Derby
$1 — band-aids applied to children’s bodies after a little too much exertion in the bounce houses
$3 — vending machine waters
Free - comforting hugs to the fathers and sons whose cars didn’t advance on to the finals

A DAY OF FAMILY FUN? Priceless.

Other posts on Finance:

Richard Adams presents Save Money By Not Going Abroad For Your Holiday This Year posted at Reading UK.

David presents Citi PremierPass Elite Review posted at Credit Card Offers IQ. “My family and I recently took a trip to Guatemala and saved thousands using a travel rewards credit card,” David explains. :The Citi PremierPass Elite is one of the best travel cards available for family travel.”

singlemomsrock presents 7 Steps to Economic Empowerment: It Begins Between the Ears posted at Rich Single Momma.

Raymond presents Review Of ING Direct Savings and Electric Orange Checking Accounts posted at Money Blue Book.

Jim presents Best Money Market Account (MMA) Rates posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. “It’s important to keep up to date on the best rates when it comes to your savings,” Jim opines.

Finance Tips 101 presents Identity Theft Prevention Tips posted at Finance Tips 101.

Family Health and Wellness

A healthy family is a happy family and it’s good for the family to do things together, like check out the competition together and analyze how to sabotage them:

I’m definitely worried about that one on the left.

Other posts about family health and wellness–

Matthew presents Home Safety Information for Alzheimer’s Disease posted at Fast Medical Information. “If you are caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease, you face many challenges everyday life,” Matthew observes. “These tips will help keep your loved one safe and free you from worry.”

Shen-Li Lee presents Infant Food Allergies on the Rise - What’s the Real Cause? posted at Babylicious.

Shamelle presents Ways To Regain The Hours Television Steals From You posted at Enhance Life.

Donald Latumahina presents 8 Essential Life Lessons for True Success posted at Life Optimizer.

Aparna presents Are our eyes ageing faster than our bodies? posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming. “Compared to our ancestors, we enjoy better health,” Aparna tells us, “but we might be outliving our eyeballs say the Australian researchers working at The Vision Centre in Australia.”

Janine presents Parents with Purpose posted at Why Homeschool, sharing what she has learned about brain development in children.

Family Humor

This boxcar didn’t win, but it sure made me smile:

My boxcar has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R!

Other posts to make you laugh:

Nicki presents Things I Say To Kids, But Never Adults posted at Domestic Cents.

Shawnee Rivers presents Of Dust Bunnies, Spiders & Natural Selection posted at Kinsanity - Real Life Family Dysfunction.

Family Pets

I suspect that if the dogs had been allowed to participate in the Pinewood Derby, they would have carved a boxcar of the animal services truck and made sure it went extra s-l-o-w, so that they could laughingly outrun it.

Check out Matt M., who presents Winter Blues for Dogs posted at The Pet Haven.

Family Relationships and Self-Improvement

Y Guides is a great way for Husband and The Boy to spend one-on-one time together sans ladies. They camp, they carve, they sing, they howl (or so I’ve heard). I hope The Boy always has fond memories of spending this time with his Dad.

Kate presents Cherish the Time posted at Advice on Love, Life, and Everything Between, saying, “A look at how to cherish the time with loved ones and create long lasting memories”

Alessia presents 13 Signs You?re In A Toxic Relationship posted at Relationship Underarm Stick.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Family Life In America: Report on Lifestyle, Economic Trends From The Trenches posted at The Digerati Life, a “look at how last year shaped up for one family.”

Isaac Yassar presents How To Realize Happiness posted at Isaac Yassar’s Overture. “People study and work to achieve success. Is happiness achieved by amassing money and massive personal consciousness?”

AEDINSY presents Tips for Finding the Love of Your Life and How to Have a Lasting, Happy Marriage posted at Everything You Need To Know About Getting Married and Staying Married. “Finding the husband or wife of your dreams is possible if you have a good attitude,” this happily married couple writes.

Family Spirituality/Belief/Worship

And since this is Y-Guides and all, the Pinewood Derby began with a man wearing a headdress reading an invocation to the Great Spirit. All the kids go by special Y-Guides names, like Howling and Growling Wolf Who Carved The Winning Boxcar.

Other posts on spirituality, belief, or worship:

Concerning Kids presents Healthy After School Snacks For Kids posted at Concerning Kids.

Jason Isbell presents Interview with D. Barkley Briggs posted at Tired Garden. In this interview, Dean Barkley Briggs talks about his life as a pastor, husband, father and widower and how he has forged a career as a writer.

Family Travel

The Pinewood Derby didn’t take place too far away from my house, but attending it and seeing how happy it made The Boy was otherwordly.

Tom Tessin presents Travel Websites That Save you Money posted at FAC Travel Blog, a list of websites you can access to plan your trip and save money.

Parenting Tips and Advice

In the event should you ever attend your own Pinewood Derby, make sure you are *very* clear that the fact that your car won a heat DOES NOT mean you’re taking home a trophy. Much sadness upon this realization… I cheered The Boy up by reminding him that he would receive a patch to put on his vest.

Other tips and advice:

Kim presents A Little Perspective Never Hurts posted at kimworld.com. “Finally! The baby moved to the crib. Mom thought she’s be throwing a party…” Kim explains.

Super Saver presents Teaching Delayed Gratification Skills posted at My Wealth Builder.

More than just a mother presents Having a dog and barking yourself posted at More than just a mother.

T. Dalia presents Lesson Learned posted at Daily Dalia.

Stephanie presents The One Bite Rule posted at Stop the Ride!

Kevin presents Teaching Children Respect posted at More4kids.

Vee presents Thought for the day posted at Tom Zirpoli’s Blog.

Becca Glouzstein presents 5 Things to Tell Yourself when Angry with the Kids posted at Inspiration for Mothers.

Hope you enjoyed learning about my little Pinewood Derby excursion over the weekend! Thank you for participating in and supporting this edition of the Carnival!

Next week, the Carnival will be making a stopover at The Expanding Life! Susan will be hosting for the first time, so click here to submit the link to and relevant information about your post. Should you have questions, be sure to review the Carnival guidelines before submitting your post.

Would you like the Carnival to pay a visit to your site? Check out the hosting schedule, select a date, and then drop a line advising what week you would like to host.

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Wings. Glitter. Tassles. An array of pastel colors. It’s time for a faery hunt, at least that’s what’s on the minds of fifty-some kids and their parents standing around Fern Dell at Griffith Park.

Three British-accented women in floppy hats call the children to attention and we begin the hike. Faeries smell like perfume, they tell us. Look around and above, they say –

“Shh! Shh! There! I see one!”

A faery.

A faery in Griffith Park.

Her purple dress gives sparkle to her body. Psychedelic tights turn her legs into a swirl of colors. She tiptoes down from the hill, blinks her wide eyes, and states: “Are you friend or foe?”

The adventure has begun.

A Faery Hunt in Griffith Park is an audience-interactive show that takes kids to the Land of the Faeries, where we seek out the Queen Faery and are given the task to help her retrieve her faery light. The adventures walks us around Griffith Park, with a cast of characters that includes the troll Grendel and the Half Man Half Bird.

Cletus loves corn.

Day light come and me wanna go… GNOME!!!!!!

Holler if you see him! No! Only if you SEE him!

There’s also a Mermaid Faery, whose main purpose seemed to be to cause all the girls to whisper, “She’s part faery AND mermaid… WOW.”

Mermaids + Little Girls = Can Do No Wrong

The whole show takes about an hour and once the troll and his hodgepodge band join the picture, the laughs abound.

While this was a girl-saturated event, that didn’t stop The Boy from oohing and aahing over the Queen Faery, shutting his eyes and making wishes, clapping his hands and singing along, and like the good big brother that he is, making sure Little No Limit could see.

“Can you see?”

“How about now?”

After A Faery Hunt ended, the be-hatted British-accented women passed out papers for the children to collect autographs from the cast. I figured my kids were too young to want to do that. But as the Colonel said in The Waterboy, “Momma’s wrong again!” We waited for every one of those faeries’ signatures, and this one took a picture with Little No Limit because they have the same exact name–

(or as the other little girls put it, “The same name? WOW.”)

A Faery Hunt in Griffith Park ends right next to a picnicking area with a playground, so bring a packed lunch and call it a day of fun.

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