The Hazard Chronicles

This week can be summed up in two words: FUN and STRESSFUL. As for that last word, we'll just pretend it's not there. We'll get to that some other time. As for the fun part, well, read on. This post might be a little bit random with a bunch of disconnected thoughts. Just bear with me.

My highlight of the week was the date I went on with Evelyn. We went to a movie in the park, where they bring out a big screen and the audience lays on the grass and eats popcorn and candy. The best part, however, was just before the movie started. They were working out all the technical stuff with the screen and projector and everything and they just had music going through the speakers. After a while Evelyn seized upon the opportunity and asked me if she could dance. Sure- why not? So she ran up onto the stage in front of over a hundred people and got into her "ready" position just as one song was ending. Then she just held it- still as a lamp-post, until the next song began.

And then she totally amazed me and the rest of her "audience" with her amazing dance moves. That girl can dance! Seriously, I have no idea where she gets it from, but she can just feel the music. She did a total of four songs ranging from a heavy techno to a slow ballad, and each of her dances was unique and perfectly in sync with the tone of the music. I was a very proud daddy as I just listened to the reaction of all the people- it was obvious that they thought she was cute and that they were also pretty impressed. I could literally close my eyes and know exactly when she did something especially cute because of the collective "ooooohs" and "awwwwwws."

She is definitely not scared of the spotlight, that is for sure. In a few weeks she will start up her city-sponsored dance classes and she is very excited to meet her teachers. At the end of the year she gets to do a performance in one of the nicer theatres in the area and she is pretty excited about that as well. I love that girl!

On Saturday we took pretty much the whole day to go to the county fair! We went in the morning and checked out all of the livestock and fruits and vegetables and stuff. As it was getting to be afternoon we went to the carnival area and let Evelyn go on a few of the rides. Also, there was a "family fun" area where all of the kids had fun playing with little toys and games. After nap-time we went back to the fair where we ate dinner while watching the North Idaho Rodeo. It had been quite a while since I had been to a rodeo and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed them. There was one scary part though- at the beginning of the rodeo the entire audience observed a moment of silence for two fallen soldiers from Coeur d'Alene. They decided to do this right in the middle of one of Jack's tantrums for more cookies.

So I sat there with my hand over his mouth for the better part of a minute as he squirmed around in my arms and tried to break free. I was thinking that there must be some other kids in the audience who would make some noise too, but no. It was one of those complete silences that are almost audible because of the intensity. Right toward the end I couldn't hold the squirming Jack any longer, but just as he began a shrill shriek of protest the announcer came back on the loud-speaker and thanked everyone for their reverence. Whew. Disaster averted- I am not a social outcast because of my son- although I'm sure that those who were standing next to me were probably sure I was trying to strangle the poor boy. Oh well. Like Rachel said- We have to at least try- the only other alternative is sitting at home and doing nothing and that's not really an option.

Well, I'm trying to think of other things that happened this week. It seems like the week has been so long. Let's see...Rachel took the kids to the beach...we went to a park...We went to the mall to see what all of our new appliances would have cost us if we had purchased them from the store...yeah, overall it was a pretty good week.

Here are some pictures:

The shade-sitters. I took this from the carousel. Addy totally lit up every time we came around. It was so fun to watch her and it took my mind off the fact that the ride sounded like it was going to collapse on us at any second.

I know we have already published enough pictures of Evelyn on a carousel, but this is definitely one of her favorite things. This particular one was quite an adventure for me as well. I called it the carousel of death. The horse Evelyn is sitting on goes up and down, like a normal horse, but the fun doesn't stop there. It also goes left to right and rotates around the pole. I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen.

Jackson loved this game.

Addy was a fan of the snakes. Evelyn was a little more cautious around them. Jackson tried to squish them.