CIRCUS, CIRCUS...
This was my 3rd Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, but I have to admit it was not the "Greatest Show on Earth;" at least not this year. We were really missing Bella. This Ring Master and crew was just no competition for Cirque Du Soliel. That show was AMAZING! Top that off with the news reports that the exotic animals in Ringling Bros. are being abused and we just had a lot of question marks...Mom and dad were sure to eyeball the elephants quite closely.
We made such an effort to arrive early for the animal open house, but never the less we missed it. Mom and I sat in horrific traffic for 2 hours before picking up dad on the way to the Reliant Stadium. It was raining, we had no cash for parking and we were starving to boot. All of this led us to an ATM and McDonald's before we ever hit the gate.
Mom and dad were ready to check out the great seats only they were terrible. Mom was so disappointed. We were in row A, but the chairs they added to bleachers infront of us did not allow for any slant in the seating. Mom couldn't see so there was no way I could. I didn't mind though. I sat on laps, across arms serving as booster seats and stood to see all the magic. I was quite busy partaking in all the sweet treats as well. I had a bag full of $12 cotton candy and sipped on a $9 sugary lemonade. I was wired! I thought the clowns were great; especially the one with the tall, green, spikey hair. I let out my traditional belly laugh here and there and that was just what mom needed to complete the night. My favorite act was easy to spot--a motorcycle complete with reving engine on the highwire. You could smell the exhaust. I was a bit concerned about the tigers as 2 of them decided to snarl and fight (yes, clawing and biting included) right there in the ring. I think the lion tamer was a bit worried too. He quickly separated them and offered them hunks of raw meat to obey. I can see it now...mom and dad will be making me shishcabobs by morning. Depending on the day, they feel like the Ring Master, Lion Tamer or Clown and somedays the guy who is stuck cleaning up after the big show ends.
It had been a wonderfully crazy week and the fun had just begun. We were heading out for San Antonio the next morning and I was sure to be exhausted and a bit loopy too. An 11:00 bedtime is just not what I needed.

PIRATE SHOW...
Welcome to the pirate show! Aunt Kaci and I put up curtains, built an island and an ocean out of the appropriate pillows and blankets, a treasure chest out of a chest and sit and spin and swords out of bendable foam tubes. We had a script going and after practicing we really put on a show for mom. I had facing going and my sword swinging. Whew--it was great to have a stay at home day.

PALM BEACH AND THE OCEAN WAVES...
This post could probably be summed up in one sentence. I LOVE THE BEACH! So what if I called it "chocolate milk water," add Aunt Kaci to the mix and I am really having a good time. We were so lucky that the rain held off for us. We drove through lots of it on the way to Moody Gardens in Galveston, but then it was nothing but sunshine. Palm Beach was a hit! I can't believe this was our first trip here this summer. We swam through pools and trudged through all the rocky sand to visit each of the 4 sections. Ironically, I loved the splash pad and the giant waterfall of a mushroom. It did not bother me one bit that sprinklers were spraying from every direction and "soakin' me." I loved the water slides and the water "shooters" too. I can honestly say I could have done with out the water tower of doom though. Every 5 minutes or so gallons upon gallons of water would erupt from the water tower and beat down upon anyone in the surrounding area. It only took me a time or two to conclude that when the bell started ringing I needed to move fast! This was definitely the beach of luxury. We had a giant umbrella to shade us and 3 comfy loungers to relax in as we ate our picnic lunch from home. Only one thing was missing, "where are the waves?" That was all I needed to say because mom was missing the sound of the ocean too. We packed up all our beachin' stuff and headed on down to the Seawall. (Sigh)there they were...white caps, seagulls and the sounds that instantly relax you and call upon you to just stay awhile. We were a sandy mess, but lovin' every moment. We fed the gulls Crasins, made sandy mud balls to throw into the ocean waves, fetched pieces of seaweed from here and there, jumped over countless waves and sunk ourselves right into the sand itself. I got a little worried when mom and Aunt Kaci were partially buried in sand. There legs had sunk right under and I feared the waves would wash them away with the sharks. I refused! I insisted they move and reluctantly they did so. Mom tried her best to capture the moments, but I was too busy to fuss with a camera. She captured a familiar shot though. When Uncle Scott was my age mom caught him laying among the waves. It is one of mom's favorite pictures of him. I too was enjoying myself to bits in the waves and layed right down among them! I LOVE THE BEACH! Maybe mom and dad are right. I just might become the animal advocate, hippy at heart kind of kid that truly makes a difference in this world. I can't wait for our next trip in September. 4 days at the beach is a dream come true for me!
See me? No sunburn here. My mama knows how to keep me slathered in sunblock and covered from head to toe.

TO THE AQUARIUM...CHOO, CHOO!...
We had forgotten how much fun we have here. I am so glad we made it back before we return to school next week. Mom is having issues...as usual with returning. Her dream job has not become available yet--stay at home mom extraordinaire. We have been up one freeway and down the other from one side of Houston to the other this summer and loving every minute of it. Mom knows her days are numbered. It won't be too much longer before I actually want to stay at school with my friends instead of take the summer off with her at home. In fact I have mentioned my friends several times this summer and I really don't seem too stressed out about returning either. This of course is good news, but once again showing how quickly I am growing up. We will see what happens next Tuesday when I grace the doors of LMS full time again.

Back on track now...the weather men called for rain all week...HA! We had cooler weather and shine galore. We were thrilled and ever so grateful. Afternoon showers did not put a damper on our adventures one bit. We rode the carousel 4 times I switched animals each time we rode. The ferriswheel 2 times. It was up so high I spied the guitar on the Hard Rock Cafe building. I remembered eating there with mom before we went to the Nutcracker last year. I loved the tattoed waiters and all the music. I made mom promise she would take me back for my birthday. We wern't finshined though...we rode the train a whopping 7 times and all of this was before we even stepped foot inside the aquarium. The train took us right thru the shark exibit, and you know me, I was wide eyed and pointing in every direction. I was having such a good time with mom. I called all the shots and mom was content to soak up my smiles and play right along beside me. We picked out our favorites; mine had lots of teeth of course and moms was a Saw Fish. FYI-I knew the names of the sharks before they were announced and a Saw Fish is not actually a shark. It is a member of the Ray family and yet it was still mom's favorite. They are endangered and cost the Aquarium 50,000 dollars a piece. Whew! The train took us around the ground and curved us right beside a small body of water...out jumped a mechanical shark! AGGGGHHHH! I jumped right out my skin the fist go round. I knew what to expect the next 6 times and snuggled closer to mom as we drew closer to the shark. I kept reminding myself that "it's not real...just pretend."

When we finally made it inside we were hungry. Sharks may only eat every 3 days, but I prefer every 3 hours. Shhhh, don't tell...we ate our lunch right in front of the white tigers. They were chewing up some very interesting meat and so we chewed right along with them. According to the spokesperson Tigers as well as Oranguatans will become extinct in the wild in the year 2010--that is next year people! There are less than 3,000 tigers left in the wild. Their habits are being destroyed for mining purposes...money that is. Do you know what the leading cause of that is? The aluminum can. Please recycle! It is so hard to imagine that these animals alongside the Rhinos and Polar Bears will only be seen in zoos and aquariums. What a shame. We learned so much about the tigers from the keeper. He said that in the wild they are solitary and need about 25 miles of territory. If they cross another tiger in the wild they will typically kill eachother for the space. This is obviously not the case at the aquarium and therefore the animals are in a perminant state of adolesence never fully maturing. These tigers are the children of tigers that are rescued from the wild. They have a sanctuary in Decatur. There are 4 of them at the Aquarium and they all have very different personalities. Oddly enough, these tigers were born to parents that were orange with black stripes. Hum...maybe I got my brown eyes the same way. In captivity, the main source of food for these tigers is a carnivore mix. It is literally a whole cow or other animal ground up; hair, eyes, hooves and all. Yummy, huh? As I listened to the facts, I asked the keeper my own question..."do they like hot meat or cold meat?" Mom was so proud of me. My thinking brain at work again. The answer is they eat it at room temperature. The meat is stored in the fridge so when it comes time to eat it is thawed out. On really hot days, they are served a specialty...blood pops! EWWWW! It is all the fat and blood that is drained from the meat and then frozen into blood cubes of sorts.

Tigers knowledge complete we moved on...we were up close and able to touch sharks and rays. Mom was hands on and ready to encourage me. It took me a few attempts, but I stuck my hands right in. The trouble was reaching them. I was hanging off the ledge up to my elbows in water with a camera and video camera in my face...it was the slightest bit akward, but mom was able to get a keeper to help us out. He very gently lifted the sharks up to the surface so I could touch them. My response was simple, "Rough." The rays were much more social. We learned an interesting fact too. Their barbs are like our fingernails. The keepers trim them off every 3 months to prevent injury. Good to hear that. They were so squishy! A bit slimy feeling too. I reached in a dozen times or more to touch these guys and they loved the attention. We saw everything from a conch (have you ever seen the actual creature?) to a lionfish and more.

It was an amazing day and I was the perfect date for mom. Before leaving we hit the train one more time...the conductor had to see us coming. As we were exiting we heard the crash of thunder, saw our first flash of lightening and felt our first sprinkles too. Yep, the rain was on the way. We jogged to the car laughing getting "soakin" before the downpour began. I slept so soundly on the way home no doubt dreaming of all the sea creatures and fun we had. I am already asking when we can return. I wish they had a season pass too.

MY MAGIC BOX...
I can turn just about anything into a creative, dramatic play experience. On today's agenda was our blanket trunk aka my "magic box." I carefully climbed inside and tucked into a little ball. I needed an audience so I called for mom. I was full of giggles and thought my magic act was superb. I popped right out of the box yelling, "tada!" It was all fun, games and lots of sillies until I accidentally locked myself inside the trunk. The lock came down and I was stuck! Yep, this is how people become claustrophobic. Not much wiggling is happening inside that magic box--believe me! Mom was quick to the rescue and finally convinced me that the magic box was probably not the best place to play. On to the next show...I think this trunk would make a great treasure chest.

BUTTERFLIES, A RENEWAL OF LIFE...
Mom loves the symbol of a butterfly. What an experience! Our first 5 caterpillars arrived "sleeping"presumably from the heat. Mom called and had another set of critters sent. She is sneaky...I woke up from napping one day and found that my caterpillars were awake too. That is when the fun began. I watched the Painted Lady Caterpillars string silky threads from one side of their food cup to the other. Then, WA-LA! They crawled to the top and formed the "J" we had been waiting for. We were lucky too. We were able to watch as each of our little friends began to jerk and shake and shed its old caterpillar skin for the gooey, green slime that becomes its chrysalis. Mom captured it on video and wishes she could share it with you now. It was amazing! Exactly 7 days later our butterflies emerged. We checked on them daily and I was the first to notice the fluttering wings. WOW! I was so gentle and kind. We kept them close and watched as they sipped sugar water and flew in circles around the netted home. It didn't take too much convincing for me to stick my hand right in the habitat. I just needed to be reminded that butterflies don't have teeth. They have a straw like tongue for drinking instead. I was ready then. I held them and "pet" them, then 4 days later set them free to fly. They walked right onto my finger and were content to stay awhile. I actually had to encourage a few of them to try out their wings in the open skies. I was in awe; eyes wide and loving each step of the freeing process. I released all 5 with a smile and then wondered when they would be coming back. Mom promised we would raise a new butterfly family soon.