fully charged

on saturday we went to the Ringling Brothers circus with Steven and Chelsa as a birthday celebration for Steven.

i had never been to a circus before so i didn't really know what it would be like but now i am totally a fan of circuses!

who knew they were so fun?!

i guess you can't go wrong when you have a bunch of craziness going on.

and fire juggling.

and strong men.

and horses walking on their hind legs.

(who the heck knew horses could do that??)

all my favorite parts were when they did tricks with animals.

the tigers were amazing!

and seriously, what kind of a guy will get into a big cage with 12 tigers surrounding him?

that guy must be insane but he made them do all kinds of cool things!

jump around and lay down and roll over.

and stand up.

and have a little fight with one

(like i said, the man is insane)

and then the last tiger went jumping on his hing legs out of the cage.

it is so crazy what we make animals do for our amusement.

the elephants were probably my favorite.

they're just so cute and big and funny!

shhhh they're sleeping.

so cute when they dance!

and sit like people.

i just couldn't get enough of those elephants!

Matt's favorite were the bouncy guys.

he told me he wants a pair of their shoes so if he ever gets in a fight with someone he can just jump over them.

don't know why he would be getting in a fight or why the person he's fighting would let him put those shoes on before the fight begins but whatever.

i just think it would be hilarious to see someone jumping down the sidewalk with those things as you drive by.

and who doesn't love a good catapolted human fireball?

i'm pretty sure all four of us sat there with our jaws dropped for most of the show and that, my friends, is the sign of a GOOD show!

it was a blast!

i'm totally making Matt take me to another one real soon!

ps. here's the trailer for the show but be warned, the song will stick in your head worse than the Small World song.

pictures and such

we FINALLY started putting some pictures up on our frame wall.

Matt's new star wars picture he got for his birthday.

our favorite caricature we got in portland.

and the calvin and hobbes style cartoon Matt painted of us on a piece of wood.

i know it's not much but at least it's a start.

and it makes me so happy every time i see it!

oh and we learned an interesting tidbit last week.

when you put live plants into a fish tank you get snails even if you didn't buy snails.

strange right?

and it's not like you get one snail, no no, we have over 10 snails now and they just keep multiplying!

in a couple weeks the snails will probably take over the whole tank.

at least they're keeping it extra clean!

Dogs Love Slip and Slides Too!

after we were done slipping and sliding we brought my brother's dog, Toby, out to play before we cleaned it off.

he loves slip and slides just as much as the rest of us!

it's a little scary for the people going down though.

and painful when Toby pushes you into one of the bricks.

and painful for Chelsa when this happens.

good thing her husband is laughing too hard to be of any help.

but don't worry, karma got Toby back in the end.

Slip and Slide Hazards

hazard #1: soap faces

hazard #2: slipping and bonking your head and ending up with a mild concussion

you can't see Matt slipping and slamming his head ridiculously hard against the ground in this video but you can hear us react to it and see him slide the rest of the way like a little limp rag doll.

and then he spent the next 10 minutes like this.

and then my sister tried to put water in him.

and then he sat in the shade with a crazy blank stare while Chelsa the soon-to-be nurse took care of him with medicine, food and more water.

he was feeling better after 30ish minutes.

that is until the next thing happened.

hazard #3: strong wind flipping the plastic over which flings a brick into you

so sad that all Matt was trying to do was jump through the tube and then he ended up with a HUGE bruise on his arm.

pour thing!

hazard #4: scratches and bruises

dead grass plus sliding equals bad scratches.

this year Ben was smart enough to bring an extra roll of plastic to put at the end of ours to prevent grass scratches but somehow it still happens.

and maybe next time we'll think of a better way to hold down the tarp because those bricks are not the softest things to hit while you're sliding down at high speeds.

proof: Matt's arm bruise

and my butt bruise.

no bueno.

hazard #5: sunburn

Matt wouldn't dry off and let me re-apply sunblock on him so i sprayed him while he walked around which ended up in a very splotchy and painful sunburn.

good thing the only thing you can remember the next time you pull the slip and slide out is all the amazing fun you had or you would never slip and slide again.

Surprise Slip and Slide Bday Party!

since Matt ended up having to work on his bday i wanted to do something nice for him so with the help of our friends we threw a surprise giant slip and slide party for him!

and it was a BLAST!

my nephews absolutely love the slip and slide!

Matt and Chase are expert surfers.

sister sliding!

(thanks for adding the "would you look at that"s Chase!)

Ben is the king of penguin slides!

ninja turtle spins.

trying to get the slip and slide soapy.

getting lubed up!

J.J. trying to be like Uncle Matt.

Matt's lubed up tummy slide.

Ben's lubed up tummy slide.

the boys thought of a great way to clean off the plastic this year that took a fraction of the time it usually does.

those little smarty pants!

perfect surprise birthday party!