Skating Evaluation Day

Don't worry mom...I brought my "A" Game!
Our Anaheim Duckling getting ready to hit the ice!
Look, no chair!
Oh yeah, I can do tricks...

Evaluations are done and I'm movin' on up to Tots 2!

Forget Ringling Bros....

There was a new circus in town, and it is Buhac Huntington, Rupe & Tinsley Circus - and boy were the other patrons at Acapulco probably sad they picked that night to dine out. No really, we weren't that bad - we had 7 clowns (the kids) 8 jugglers (the parents), an acrobat (Lily climbed out of her high chair), a sword swallower(poor Hannah took a fork in the face)....yes we should've saved our money and just enjoyed the three ring circus that was dinner.

However, the second half of the night proved to be just as entertaining. We started out on the floor watching Asia the Elephant do a painting before the show. Tim would not have been pleased with this. He didn't attend because "the circus kills" and he wanted no part of that. How would he feel about his 17 mo. old daughters being a trunk's length away from a 2 1/2 ton Asian Elephant. The show was about to start so we headed to our seats way up in the nosebleed section, and it was just as well, there was no danger of a disgruntled tiger lunging toward us - the circus was not going to kill us!

With babies....and children over 2 posing as babies for the free admission, nestled in our laps, we were a cozy group, armed with juice boxes, goldfish, teddy grahams and bottles - and that was just the Rupe family. Madeleine was jumping out of her seat the entire time, Lily too. Lily's favorite part were the soft, cuddly "kitties" - tell that to Siefried and Roy, cuddly kitties, yeah right! My favorite part were the swaying poles, though I couldn't even watch. They had to be 100 feet in the air and people were standing on top of them....with no net! My hands were sweating and my legs were shaking. I was afraid to look because, well, you know, "the circus kills." It was impressive though - what little I saw of it. Maddy really liked the puppies and the elephants. I couldn't tell you one thing the elephants did. Why? They walked out, assumed their positions and the one decided to "drop a couple of kids off at the pool," if you know what I mean, which Jason felt the need to point out. I was focused on elephant crap the whole rest of the time. I watched the guy shovel it, I was worried he was missing big piles of it and that another elephant, or worse a dancer, would step in it. I couldn't keep my eyes off the whole process of cleaning up Dumbo's massive dump.

When all was said and done, it was a fun night. No potty accidents, no fits, no tantrums, no crying....and all the kids were well behaved too. The circus as a show was even better than last year. There were more acrobatics, a lot of the classic circus stuff like tightropes, more trapeze, better animals - although we did have a Zebra go down in the very beginning, he ran into his ring and hit the floor but don't worry, he was okay. It was quite the "Bello"bration and well worth the risk you take when you go to a place that "kills".

Why Happy Feet and Polar Express are SCARY movies!

I've posted the latest pictures of Madeleine's ice skating lessons and thought I'd give you a run down of how lessons are going.

Lesson One

Loves the skates, wants white ones, doesn't understand why she has to wear the brown rentals.

Maddy: "These are not my favorite. They're too....too.....just brown."

Mommy: "Maybe if you stick with ice skating, Santa Claus will bring you pretty white ones."

Apparently this option is acceptable. Off to the rink with Taylor to find their class. We enter the rink area and I see Maddy surveying the scene very carefully. It turns out skating is a HIT! She loves it! Taylor and Maddy are in Skating for Tots, Lily and Austin sit on the sidelines with goldfish and teddy grahams. Cut to end of lesson, Madeleine is crying....

"But I don't want ice skating to be over!" Yes! Score one big point for Ice Skating!

Lesson Two

So we start with complete enthusiasm about getting the skates on, wearing a pretty sweater, having fun with Taylor.....it's time to go out on the ice.....tears, tears and more tears!

Maddy (screaming): "I don't want to do skating!"

Where did this come from? She spent the entire lesson two crying. Cried through skating, cried through standing, cried through sitting in her plastic chair while the teacher pushed her around on the ice, cried through it all.

Lesson Three

Maddy: "Mommy, I was crying last time."

Mommy: "Yes you were, but ice skating is fun."

Maddy: "Yes, I love ice skating. I'm going to be a big girl."

Phew! Maybe last week was just a bad week. Everything was fine until it was time to go out on the ice and then, once again came the screeching "I don't want to ice skate." I'm baffled as to what is freaking her out.

Mommy: "Maddy what is wrong? You loved skating last time!"

Maddy: "Is this the kind where you go through?"

Huh?

Maddy: "You know, it breaks and you fall in? With the water?"

She's desperately trying to make me understand, and finally I do. It turns out we've watched Polar Express and Happy Feet one too many times. The poor thing was terrified that the ice would break when she was on it and she'd fall through! Whether she has some mad ice skating skills is yet to be determined, but I have learned that without a doubt she has inherited her mother's overactive imagination. I guess I will have to teach her to use her powers only for good.

Goodbye Myspace Hello Blogspot

Okay fans, I have made the transfer, gone legit, if you will. No more will I post my blogs on Myspace.....in fact, I may even (gasp) phase my Myspace page out. I've gone on to bigger and better things, like Facebook. So when you need a dose of Rupe musings, pictures, updates or for whatever reason, find yourself with an insatiable appetite for our mundanely pedestrian lives over here in Rupeland, log on over and see what's up with Jason, Kerry, Madeleine and Lily Paige.

http://rupethoughts.blogspot.com

check it out