The Circus is moving on to the next town!

I’ve been debating doing this for a while, but just never got around to it. Sooo, here’s the thing-

The 3 Ring Circus is moving off of wordpress hosting to its own space!

Thanks to Bloggity Blah, we’re all moved!

So, Like Jacob Jankowski in Water for Elephants, jump the circus train and move to the next town with me.

Come visit the Circus’ new location- www.kileigh7.com

See you there!

Remember how I said the circus is moving?

So, I know I said we were pulling up stakes and moving on to the next town. And we are. Just not yet. The transfer is in process, so keep checking back and I’ll let you know when the move is really complete!

No, I don’t find this funny. Seriously.

This evening, I was reading my regular twitter and FB stream and came across this article that was posted by a few friends and others.

Some are just Disney fans, others, like me, are current and former Cast Members (CMs).

The fans? They find it funny. It’s a cute anecdote to them as well as a cautionary tale.

For the CM crew (including me), we are less amused. We are more annoyed by this article. Especially those (like me), who work(ed) at Disneyland and know the “routes” (what the Fantasyland rides are called) and what it takes to cycle them up and down.

When guests lose something on a ride that flies off, or a child drops accidentally and must have back NOW-like happened to me while I was working once with a 5 year old’s favorite pair of ears-we’re totally ok with getting it, even when it means cycling down the ride and bringing it back up again. Most people understand.

But when an adult does something like tweet photos from inside dark rides (which are notorious for sharp turns and blind corners-especially the older ones) and lose their phone, and we have to retrieve it, we are less amused. We will cheerfully do it for you, because that’s the Disney way. It’s how we are as a batch of CMs. That’s why we were hired in.

But

What we dislike about this whole situation is that we have to deal with the aftermath. The cycling up, down and sideways and the ticked off people that the ride is down. Some rides take longer to cycle through than others. Some guests are, shall we say, less understanding than others.

One cell phone or other item can make for a good hour of downtime on some rides. Sometimes, we can’t stop the ride, and we have to listen to the stressed out complaints of the person who lost the item in the first place.

To us, you just made our day harder, not funnier.

And for those of you who say things like “that lap bar kept me from grabbing my stuff,” please remember-you are most likely the one who would get your foot caught or something like that and go after the park for an unsafe ride. That requires the ride going down for a longer period of time with an OSHA investigation and the like.

So, no. That’s not funny to me. It’s just plain annoying.

Moral of this story? Be smart with your stuff.

Another rainy night

How is this for 2 in one week?!

We went to a local baseball game, and whaddya know, it RAINED in the middle of the 6th inning.

Is this a pattern for this week? First downpours at Maroon 5 and Train and now this!

Isaac took it all in stride-like we all should…and this says it all.

A Rainy Maroon Train Night

The need for an adult night out has been rehashed in our house for a long, long time. With all of the wackiness going on, we needed to have a killer night out.

So, when I unexpectedly won tickets to Maroon 5 and Train through a fluke that only I could get into, it was the perfect chance to send the Shrimp to Mom and Dad’s for the night and we went!

So, let’s discuss the fact that we had great weather forecasted until Monday night. We then heard the dreaded word-RAIN.

Now, normally, rain for a concert wouldn’t be a huge bother. But, we had LAWN SEATS at SPAC, and those have NO cover whatsoever.

Hey-the tickets were free. I wasn’t complaining. Girl Scout training kicked in and we packed ponchos, umbrellas and chairs so we wouldn’t have to sit on the lawn when the rain came down.

So, Doug brought a poncho

and Dawn (who came with us-because her other half wouldn’t join her on the lawn…) brought her umbrella and did her best impression of a turtle!

and we were ready for the rain.
(yes, I had my umbrella, but hey-I’m the one behind the camera.)

Let’s just get this part out of the way-it wouldn’t be an event with me if something insane or “you HAVE to be kidding me” happened.

and it did.

The show started out looking like this:

 

Then, the heavens opened up and we got the downpour of downpours!
It POURED.
But, the irony of the song Maroon 5 was playing was not lost on us.

This was the song:

Now, this was turned into a sing along. Please imagine a full lawn standing in the rain singing the lines about the rain.

Yes. This was not lost on us. We found it quite fitting.

As the rain poured down, Doug, Dawn and I laughed and watched the fastest set change possible over to the Train set. While this was going on, the rain stopped.

I even took the gutsy step of closing my umbrella.

And then Train did this:

(no, that wasn’t last night’s. But you get the idea)

I prayed that this would not tempt the irony fairy and ring another downpour to cap off our adult night out!

Thankfully, it stayed dry till the end of the show!

So, what an amazing night. It was so nice to just go to the lawn at SPAC and see a show. To give you some perspective in how long it has been since we did this, the last time Doug and I did SPAC was in 1999, right before we made the big move west. We sat on the lawn for the HORDE festival with Barenaked Ladies and a bunch of other acts. It was quite the day.

It was so nice to just be adults again.

Thank you to Maroon 5 and Train for putting on a great show and to the awesome radio station that gave us a night out by allowing me to win the tickets!

When it’s a zoo,what’s one more?

We’ve got cats.

We’ve got frogs.

Now, please welcome the latest addition to our zoo….

Red, the Guinea Pig!

Isn’t he CUTE?!

His name?

It’s after the fire truck from Cars.

So, can you guess who technically owns Red?

I’ll give you a hint…

Yeah. it’s one more in our zoo of a house, but Isaac had been begging for a gerbil or a hamster…and we’re SO not doing that considering the hunters we have prowling our house. You know, the furry kind that eat mice or anything that looks like them.

So, we settled on a guinea pig.

Red moved in last week and lives in Isaac’s room. They are a great pair. I hear Isaac reading to Red at night from the latest book of choice. It is quite the experience.

Isaac loves Red and Red has gotten used to the chaos that is the Three Ring Circus.

So, welcome to the nuthouse, Red! Glad you moved in!