A Special Moment...

Andie sent me this great picture of

Bailey and I down by Eagle Creek in our back yard.

I just love being a Gramma.

Over the Kentucky River & Thru the Woods...

Sunday, March 8th, Andie and the mini-Marx's drove to Sadieville for a couple of days. I had a ward conference in Frankfort to attend so Pa greeted them and entertained until quiet time. When I got home the mini-Marx's were all laying down and so the adults followed suit. Nothing quite like a Sunday afternoon nap. Let's face it, the grown-ups were just worn out from the circus still.

When the kidlings awoke, Hayden and Pa had a snack of circus peanuts. Hayden learned that you can tell by how many lumps are on the outside of the shell how many peanuts will be inside the shell. Bailey would wander over for a munch or two. I found a HUGE Diego coloring book I purchased long ago and tucked away and forgot so coloring was another activity for the afternoon. We made train tracks and baked cookies and watched shows. Later in the evening, I was getting Bailey and Hayden bags to play with. I have a holder for paper bags and found 2 small ones with handles. Turns out they were just the right size for Hayden's feet and he enjoyed bending over, holding the handles and walking around the house.

Monday was a great day after the clouds went away. We spent a great deal of time playing in the dirt outside. The bourbon barrels that we use for planters on the lower deck were great for the digging in. Then Hayden took me for a walk down the hill to the altar where the winter had eroded some of Pa's handy work on his steps. Hayden spent a great deal of time moving that gravely mixture around to shore up the steps. He really did a good job and I was very impressed. Bailey eventually left her bourbon barrel dirt project and joined us on the hill. She wanted a walk to the creek and off we went. Eventually Hayden and Andie joined us and we had a nice walk down along the creek. After all this exercise we hit the kitchen and made smoothies out of fruit, yogurt, orange juice and ice cream. We got the chance to use the Bubba Gump glasses that have flashing lights in the bottom for the first time. Great fun. Hayden tried riding the tricycle I bought last summer at the consignment shop for him. His legs were long enough to get to the peddles and he could make them work himself. He was so excited and said, "Look at me. I'm riding a big boy bike all by myself!!" So we took bikes out to the driveway from the deck and rode for a while. Miss Bailey took her nap and Hayden stayed up and played with the adults. He is very entertaining. We fixed him a big bubble bath and he played for a long time. This was great for all that dirt he had accumulated in his fixing the step project. After Bailey's nap the Marx's headed home to La Grange with the brass "a"rmadillo for Hayden to use for his "A" object in pre-school this week.

Under the Big Top...

Last Saturday was Circus Day!! What a beautiful day it was both in weather and in family fun. Claude and I met the Marx Family in Cincinnati at the US Bank Arena. Then we entered the arena and took the prerequisite potty breaks. The Sheriff's Department had a booth where they placed arm bands on little children with their seat number for easy return in case they got lost. We told Hayden and Bailey these were special circus bracelets. We thought this was a great move on the part of the Sheriff's Department. Our seats were row C or 3 rows back from the arena floor. We were right on top of all the action and there was LOTS of action. When we entered there was a clown entertaining with a piano in the center of the arena. So from moment one we were into the show. The grand parade at the beginning showed off all the cast of characters and a lot of the animals. There were 3 huge screens where they displayed pictures that coordinated with the action going on in the arena. The mini-Marx's were fascinated with those big screens. (Probably harks back to not having as much electricity at the Marx home for TV.) Hayden started out curled up on my lap. What joy for a Gramma to snuggle with her little grandmonster as they try to absorb all that light and action. Michael took lots of pictures, thank you Michael.

Claude and I spent more time watching the kids reaction than watching the circus. At one point Bailey was standing making sign language for "more".

One of the highlights was the huge steel ball with a door on the side. They fit 4 motorcycles & cyclists in there and then they drove at high speeds around the inside center of the wall of this steel ball. Then they added another and then 2 more for a total of 7 motorcylist driving at high speeds in this ball. With our motorcycle background, we were very impressed and awed at this sight. Hayden loves elephants and totally enjoyed the elephants parading around the arena in the beginning and then doing their portion of the show later on. I found myself empathizing with the elephants trying to get up and down and lay on their side and then have to kick a leg to stand. Way to go elephants!

The tigers were another hit. They were beautiful animals. The motorcycle driving on the high wire with a trapezee underneath went right up and down our side of the arena.

During the intermission we bought popcorn, cotton candy in a clown hat, 2 snowcones in clown cups, and wise Mommy Andie balanced it with hot dogs. Silly Ma & Pa Christensen didn't think of solid nutrition, just circus junk food. Miss Bailey was soooo happy to get that hot dog, she grabbed it and ate the whole thing with wide eyes watching tigers and aerial acts and more. When it was all over, we hurried to the toy booth to find a toy. We promised Hayden one toy but not until the circus was over. He was patient and immediately picked out a twirling lighted stick thing. Bailey picked out an elephant. When they got in the car to head to lunch, they both traded toys. We had spotted a Chipotle's for lunch so Claude and Michael headed there in our Jeep and Andie and I with grandmonsters headed there in the Marx Mobile. On the way we asked Master Hayden, "What was your favorite thing?" He put his little hand out and made the appropriate circle with it and said, "Zero!" Now, if you understand Haydeneze you know that just means he liked it all. We all enjoyed our Chipotle lunch. Hayden wanted to sit at the bar stools and look out the window. So Pa took him and Michael got the cutest picture of those two sitting there. Bailey and Ma sat at the table and played touching nose to nose across the table and laughing. Then we went out to the parking lot and did races on the grassy area until time to put the mini-Marx's and their parents in the Marx Mobile so they could head home. Claude and I put our weary bones in the yellow Jeep and headed home to Sadieville. It was a great day and such fun. I remember how much fun it was to take Katelyn and Paul years ago. It was great to experience that again.

Just a historical note about Chipotle. About 5 years ago (when we were still living in Maryland and so were Andie and Michael) we got a call from Andie and Michael saying they were at Chipotle's eating and it was soooooo noisy they wondered if they could bring their food to our home and eat there. We assured them that was fine. They came and finished their lunch. Then Michael said, "We brought some ice cream bars. Who wants one?" We all did so he headed to the freezer and brought back ice cream bars. He tossed one to Claude and said, "One for Claude." Then he tossed one to me and said, "One for Sandi." Then he tossed 2 to Andie and said, "And two for Andie since she is now eating for two!!" That is how we learned she was just pregnant with our little Hayden.

Claude just came in with a picture sent to him by his mom. Marie Roche from his home ward in Thatcher, Utah gave her a picture that she thought Claude might enjoy. It is of his Church basketball team when they were the Junior Champions of the South Bear River Stake. Claude is on the back row and to his right on the end of the row is Stacy Little, Claude's best friend. Claude would have been about 15 years old (if he remembers right) when this was taken. The guy on the back row peeking his head around from #8's head is Monte Andreason. Monte lived across the road from Claude and his mom is Mim. She gave us a white dress when Nissa was born and we used it to bless Nissa in. Monte passed away in a motorcycle crash. Stacy still lives in Utah. Claude remembers Barry Roche as being a great coach for the boys. He was really good with them. He was a brick layer by profession and was extremely strong. Claude said people loved to hire him to load hay because he could toss a bale of hay really high to the next layer. Those bails can weigh about 100 lbs at times. Claude particularly remembers getting a bad charlie horse in his leg during one practice. Barry, his coach, had him sit on the edge of the stage and show him exactly where the charlie horse was in his leg. Then Claude remembers him getting those big hands around it in a vice like grip and squeezing it so that it hurt more than the charlie horse. The question I wanted to know was...is this where he got the name "Tank"? He thinks it was. When we were first married he had tank written on the side of a pair of sneakers (if I remember it right). He was nicknamed "Tank" because of how he moved up and down a basketball court. There wasn't a lot of grace in the movement but he got the job done. He always told me he was "built for comfort, not for speed". I always thought he was built pretty good. But, I digress. So there you have it...my hubby, the basketball player. Note: he has no beard or mustache. He does remember that they went to the All Church Tournament the year before this picture was taken.

From the Stage to the Big Top...

Sunday right after Church we headed to La Grange. Andie had tickets to take Hayden and herself to a play titled "Peter Rabbit" Monday morning. Claude and I were to have Bailey duty. Andie and Hayden needed to be at the play by 9:30am so it seemed easier to go over Sunday and spend the night so we could wake up and play instead of that o'dark thirty AM drive. The kids were very excited to get up from quiet time sunday afternoon and find Ma and Pa in the house. Michael was supposed to have flown to Maryland Monday morning but his flight was cancelled due to the snow dumped on the DC area Sunday during the night. Monday morning Andie and Hayden headed off to see Peter Rabbit. They had a wonderful time. Then they scored a bonus by being able to go into Louisville and have lunch with Michael. Or as Hayden says, "We went to Hyatt Work!" He was one happy little boy. Bailey entertained Claude and I completely for the morning. She played Play-Doh with Claude while I took care of Medicaid affairs for Papa. Then she played coloring with us and read books. She wanted a bubble bath so I carried my Sudoku book up to the bathroom and filled the tub with bubbles. She played for 1/2 hour until she demanded a change with loud voice and sign language. I got her out of the tub to find a "floater", if you get my drift, in the tub. No wonder she was soooo vehement. I don't blame her at all. So Monday was a great success and Claude and I returned to Sadieville after getting grandmonsters down for quiet time. Tuesday morning I awoke at death's door. I was sure I was having my gall bladder attack again but since I had that removed 2 years ago I can safely state it was not that. Maybe somethings I ate. I spent Tuesday in bed under lots of cover with chills and fever (I never run fevers) and a hubby bringing me Tylenol and trying to help where ever possible.

Wednesday was supposed to begin with a session at the Louisville Temple, but I needed to sleep in a little after Tuesday's event. We managed to get to La Grange in time to jump in Andie's mom-mobile which she had on the street, Bailey locked in seat, and car running. We were off to get Hayden from St. John's Pre-school. He didn't know we were coming. Bailey and I entered the room and he was under the table hiding. She found him immediately (I think they have done that routine on previous pick-ups). I bent down to look under the table and saw the best surprised face any gramma could hope to find. He yelled, "Ma!!" and was out from under there like a shot. We met Ms. Joy, his teacher. Renewed our acquaintance with another classmates mom's. Checked out his picture on the wall. Reviewed the pyramid they made of sugar cubes. And then headed off for Pa (Claude) to buy lunch at McDonald's. Other than leaving Hayden's coat at McDonald's, we did fine at lunch. Claude and I stayed with the grandmonsters while Andie went to retrieve the coat and run some errands without children (that is a treasured bit of time when you have kids, even if it is running errands).

Wednesday evening, Claude and I headed to the Kentucky Center in Louisville. We saw Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy. This was our 2nd time to see a Cirque production in person. The first was in Las Vegas and was a water show. This one was just delightful. It was our first venture into Louisville's Kentucky Center. We both wished they would put center aisles in these huge theaters. We were in the Grand Balcony Tier in the very center of the 3rd row. We had to walk over all the people to get to them. Now this was after we had been steered to the floor level, row C and walked all the way across the people in that row only to find people in our seat number. Then we realized we should be in the balcony and so we headed up stairs and walked all over those feet. The seats were excellent and the view was grand. A few of the highlights...They had a "Blackbird Hairialist". She is from Bulgaria where twirling from a rope by the hair on your head is an art form. There are only a few people in the world who actually do this art form any more. The rest are bald!!! No, just kidding, but it did look painful to me. Another thing that was really amazing was "Jungle-ibrium". There are two guys, one from the Ukraine and one from Moldova, who stand on a table about 4 feet high with legs that are decorated like orange and green florescent giraffe legs. Their costumes are also orange and green florescent giraffe print. They have a board on top of the table on which they place a metal cylinder. On top of the metal cylinder they place a board on which they both stand and do balancing tricks, trying to keep the board on which they are standing from rolling off the cylinder thereby placing them on the floor on their backsides. They did several tricks with this one can and climbing on each other's shoulders and balancing. Then they added 3 tables the same size as the board on which they were standing and each table had legs about 12 inches tall on it. These were stacked one on top of the other as they slowly managed to climb on top of each table as it was added. Way cool. Then they brought out 5 metal cylinders. They put one on the board directly on top of the giraffe legged table so that the open end was facing the audience. Then they placed cylinder #2 one top of cylinder #1 so that the open end was facing the sides of the stage. Then they placed cylinder #3 on top of cylinder #2 so the open end was facing the audience, and so on until 5 cylinders were resting on top of each other. THEN they put the board the stand on, on top of the 5 cylinders. This was just amazing to watch, they stood up there and did not fall and the cylinders all wiggled against each other but nothing collapsed. Katelyn would have enjoyed the "Soultree Violinist". He is from the USA and began his classical training at age 3. He was playing a 6 string electric violin "Viper" created by Mark Wood Music with special strings that are super sensitive and created especially for Cirque Dreams. This violin had the neck but it split at the base and fit around his neck and the top of his body. Very interesting looking musical instrument and he was great at playing it. There were contorting lizards, aerialists, jugglers of metal geometric frames, 3 very strong men who did lifts and balancing/counter-balancing acts, lots of animal costumes that were over-the-top. The show was done around a 'jungle-boy' (who is from the USA and began his gymnastic training at age 3). He goes on a journey through the jungle and encounters all these fantastic things. Accompanying him and guiding him through the jungle is Mother Nature (a girl from the USA who sang aboard the QEII and Holland America cruise lines). There was a juggler who bounced the balls on a drum set to play the drums. Ellen Henry, a Louisville native and winner of the "Run Away with Cirque Dreams" contest performed the role of the "dancing bird" which was a crowd pleaser. The whole evening was just great fun, full of ooohs & aaahs. We would recommend this show to anyone, even kids.

Saturday we are taking Hayden & Bailey and their parental units to the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey circus in Cincinnati. It should be great fun. It was right at this time of year that we took Katelyn and Paul many years ago when they were about this age to the circus in Maryland. It will be great fun to be under the Big Top at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.