Stuck in Frump, Striving for Fab

We recently attended the County Fair.

This is a big deal in our family and an annual tradition.

First, there is the fair food.

Judah was in the mood for an ice cream cone.

Jericho walked away with some deep fried concoction.

Surprisingly, it was not the deep fried Twinkie he'd been thinking sounded so great on the way there.

Ahhh...mini doughnuts. The gold standard.

They always remind me of the time we were helping my dad move a family member from suburban civilization way out to the boondocks on a very rainy Saturday in Washington. Suddenly, my dad pulled off the country road into the parking area of a remote gas station and went inside for a snack. He emerged, his hands full with a two paper trays filled with great big globs of greasy grimy something-or-other and sticks one in through our car window under our noses, announcing excitedly, "Gizzards, anyone?"

I was scarred for life.

Mini-doughnuts, however, aside from smelling faaaar better than deep-fried gizzards, taste heavenly. Which I’m pretty sure mean they’re like manna, and therefore good for you. Ahem.

Judah in his chili pepper sunglasses cracks me up every time.

Of course no trip to the fair would be complete without stopping to see some farm animals.

A friend’s pig.

And you just haven’t lived until you’ve washed your hands at a porta-sink while tapping your toes to a country tune playing loudly at the nearby bandstand.

There was one exhibit not far from the animal barns that included a whole bunch of exotic animals we don’t often get to see up close.

Kookaburras. Australia’s laughing birds.

I really enjoyed getting them to laugh, but have to admit I would find them terribly obnoxious in a tree outside my bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning. Even if they are cute.

Also from down under, the kangaroo and wallaby exhibit. Here the giant rat wallaby bit Judah’s finger. There was a sign warning of the possibility, but Judah is just too quick. Thankfully it didn’t break skin.

**sigh** He’s a very hands-on kind of learner that way.

He then looked up an noticed that the animal handlers were allowing folks to touch a select few critters.

“Isn’t he so cute, mama? I want a bearded dragon. Please? I’ll keep it in my bedroom and feed it and everything.”

My answer was immediate. “No!” Oh, heavens no!

Imagine finding a colorful critter like that darting out from between the washer and dryer after it got lost in the house?

Because that is undoubtedly what would happen, and I just can’t live with that kind of stress in my life.

Now these guys were almost big enough for Judah to ride, and seeing the wheels turning in Judah’s head as he grasped the low-walled sides, their owner said, “No climbing into the exhibit. You may touch their shells with your hands.”

They did, however, allow him to hold this little reptile.

And, just to freak mom out, he had to go and hold an emperor scorpion.

And charm a snake.

“Aww…look, mama…he’s playing with me!”

The snake didn’t scare me so much. It was behind glass.

What really frightened me was that delighted look on my boys face while interacting with the deadly creature.

Because we live in rattlesnake country.

And people within walking distance of our house have had to call out animal control to rescue them from snakes on their property.

I quickly tried to distract him by dragging him over to the cage with the adorable little African hedgehog in it, which seemed a bit shy.

Unfortunately for me, there around the corner was this gator.

Which reminded Judah again of the bearded dragon, and because the owner was still holding it, he ran back over to see it once again.

The llama looked spitting mad (pardon the pun), so we kept a safe distance.

My sister was once spat upon by a llama (while she was pregnant and morning sick, mind you).

Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience, and we’ve all learned from it.

And this emu…well, frankly it looked a bit deranged.

It had orange eyes and turquoise skin.

And the way he kept leaning down and eyeing our boy let us know we should keep his curious fingers far from the enclosure.

I can’t recall the name of this fowl from the Amazon, but it had a body and legs like a turkey with a head and bill something like a black flamingo, topped with a curly feathered mohawk.

Perhaps the biggest attraction at the fair for our boys, however, was this:

Getting to stand inside a giant hamster ball bubble and roll around on the water in it.

The boys thought it was a huge thrill.

It was a lot trickier than it looked, standing up in a rolling bubble.

Ahhh...success. Pressing on the bottom and top at the same time, he did a complete turn around.

It was an unseasonably cool and windy day at the fair that day, but because our boys were laughing and having such a good time, they brought in some extra business for the attraction, and the operators let them stay in extra long.

They did not complain once.

Afterwards, the operator pushed their 'pods' over to the exit.

Jericho emerged headfirst.

Judah in breech position.

Jericho reported afterward that the inside of the bubble had a sour sponge smell. Eww.

Germaphobe that I am, I took one look at their now filthy socks and opted for another stop at the porta-sink to scrub down all their exposed skin.

Both boys talked about the attraction for days afterward, so it was a definite highlight for them.

And last, but not least, my favorite part of the fair:

The home and fine arts exhibits.

Though I love visiting these buildings anyway, this year was extra special for us because the boys and I had each entered items and wanted to find out if we’d won any ribbons.

Jericho entered this marvel. Captain America.

Jericho had been hoping for a first place blue ribbon, but he still got best of class.

Though as you can tell by his expression, he wasn’t too happy that his ribbon was pink.

This was Judah’s abstract work, painted last summer while his cousins were visiting.

And that is his blue ribbon for his division. He was thrilled beyond words. “I won? I won a ribbon?! Oh…I’m so proud!!”

I suppose it chafed a bit for Jericho to see his kid brother win a blue ribbon for what appeared to him to be more of a happy accident than a purposeful, time consuming rendering like his Captain America.

But when his attitude turned a little south about the whole issue, we had to stop and explain that we ‘can’t win them all’, and that he still needed to be happy and supportive in his brother’s success, just as Judah had been when we stopped first and found the pink ribbon hanging on Jericho’s work.

The photography exhibits were nearby, so we dropped in to see how my photo had done.

Nada. No ribbon in sight. Oh, well…cute kid/kitten photos aren’t for everyone.

We then meandered over to the textile arts building to see if my quilt and crocheted items had won.

I’d scrambled to get my pinwheel baby quilt done in time for the entry deadline, and knew it wasn’t my best work, but they were kind enough to still include it in a colorful display.

Wandering around to another portion of the large building, we happened upon my woolen granny square afghan, which apparently didn’t make the cut and was crowded together with other ‘losers’ on a rack up against a barren wall.

Hmmmph. They don’t know quality work when they see it, I thought indignantly upon seeing the 3rd of my 5 entries without a ribbon.

Then my earlier talk with Jericho came to mind and I felt the sting of guilt.

A winter scarf that I crocheted won a 2nd place red ribbon, but the item displayed in front of it blocked both my ribbon and my name and was in a glass case so I didn’t bother with the picture.

Finally, we located the display with my ripple afghan, and was delighted to see that it, too, had won a 2nd place red ribbon!

Afterwards, in keeping with our usual trip-to-the-fair tradition, we all went out for dinner at a diner near the fairgrounds.

All things considered, it was a winner of a day for our family at the fair!

When most people go to Las Vegas, it's probably for entirely different reasons than us.

It had been 14 years since my college roomies and I had all been together in one place.

After talking things over, we decided that Mother's Day weekend was the perfect opportunity and with all of us coming from different parts of the country, Las Vegas seemed the obvious location for spending a weekend together without breaking the bank. Money isn't exactly growing on trees these days.

It helped that our former roomie Tour Guide Mary, was along with us on the trip. She's the one on the left.

She's a travel agent, and knew from her contacts all the best places to eat, shop and stay.

We're all moms with growing kids at home, and none of us wanted to spend any more than necessary to to make this reunion happen. Especially with one of us having recently gotten engaged and needing to pay for the upcoming wedding.

At the last minute, the other three of us put our heads together and decided to spring a little impromptu Bride-to-Be Scavenger Hunt on her.

She's a good sport, and set about fulfilling every item on her list.

Being in Vegas worked in our favor because there were so many crazy things we could make her do wearing the hat and the boa.

What we hadn't counted on was the surprise heat wave, and the itchy misery inflicted on poor Lynette when the feather boa kept sticking to her in the heat. Not to mention shedding white feathers nearly everywhere we went.

And for four Bible College roomies in "Sin City" for a weekend...well, it was an eye opener, let me tell you.

It is true what they say about there being Wedding Chapels on nearly every corner.

My general impression had always been that this would be a little like a fast-food version of a 'real' wedding, but we passed a couple of chapels located in the bigger hotels which actually turned out to be very classy establishments.

There are also a lot of beautiful locations throughout the strip in which to hold weddings and to take photos.

We passed a beautifully landscaped veranda near a pool in the Hilton which was preparing for an outdoor wedding with a gorgeous view.

There was also a piazza area overlooking the Bellagio fountains that is probably a sought after wedding reception location.

The Bellagio Fountains were a beautiful sight to behold.

They are choreographed and set to 'dance' to music. Pictures simply don't do it justice.

There were many fun and beautiful fountains around the strip, all of which looked very refreshing on the really hot day we were there.

Here, to fulfill one of the items on her 'list', our bride-to-be had to climb into a fountain.

Here I tried to get Lynette with a fountain statue's wings as her own, but they came off looking more like antlers, haha.

And I can't tell you how many different Elvis' we saw in that city.

Including this one (with our bride-to-be) which frankly didn't look very authentic or legit.

He was, however, happy to help Lynette mark one of the items on her list. Perhaps overly so.

I was amazed by all the decor we saw in the various buildings along 'the strip' where we stayed in one of the Hilton Hotels.

Copius amounts of money had no doubt been spent to encrust the casinos and the shopping areas in the glitz the glittering city is known for.

This was a gold bubble ceiling that looked very heavy hanging above us.

This fixture was made of hundreds of thin cable wires suspended from the ceiling and each holding a couple of crystals on it, one forming part of the top of the globe and the other part of the bottom. It was a huge installment (bigger than a VW Bug, I'm sure) and beautiful from every angle. It must have taken an enormous amount of planning to get each cable the right length and for all the crystals to form the perfect orb.

This entire hallway had these lights above us.

And another one in green.

This light fixture was, like, was totally tubular.

These colorful umbrellas were suspended from the domed glass ceiling at the top of an escalator.

This gorgeous stained glass also served as a skylight by day.

This display consisted of hundreds of strands of crystals, draped in such a way as to completely encrust the space in 'jewels'.

While most of it was interesting to look at, and some of it tasteful, on the whole, instead of being breathtakingly beautiful and awe inspiring, most of the decor in Las Vegas came across as rather...gaudy. Bordering on tacky.

It rather reminded me of a verse in the Bible: Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. -Proverbs 11:22

This city was no lady.

Earlier in the day, the city streets felt like any other city to me. After dark, however, things changed, and took on the Vegas vibe.

In one very public fountain crosswalk area, we saw a rather second-rate costumed Hello Kitty dirty dancing.

C'mon...Hello Kitty?

All the other costumes a panhandler might have chosen to use (most likely without permission) to turn a buck and they had to dance for dollars in Hello Kitty? Cover your eyes, kiddos!

But what was even more appalling to me was when we drove past one establishment and saw my boys' favorite Disney characters...good old Buzz and Woody, standing out front.

I'm not sure if you can see it or not, but it would appear that the Las Vegas version of Woody has recently undergone a tracheotomy. He was pouring a water bottle into a hole in his neck!

Yes, boys and girls, this is what happens when Woody the Cowboy smokes all his life.

Disney should really look into licensing infringements, because I'm not sure these particular versions were sanctioned by Walt's people.

There was also a particular group of people in bright orange shirts, who along one section of the strip kept trying to thrust nasty advertisements into the hands of each passing person.

We were pleasantly surprised to observe that the vast number of people passing by refused to touch it, let alone look at it, and in fact seemed appalled by it.

Gave us all a little glimmer of hope that perhaps there is still some decency left in the world.

Being known as a city that never sleeps, we found that very little along the strip in Vegas ever closed down. If we had been inclined to go somewhere at 3 am, we would have found plenty of places open for business.

We had all heard tidbits over the years about how in gambling meccas like Las Vegas and Jersey City, the casinos have spent untold billions honing their money-making schemes into the most profitable establishments possible.

In my college art classes, I remember a unit which touched on the 'psychology' of colors, and doing a paper on how fast food restaurants employ the use of certain colors and flooring and arrangements of furniture to encourage people to eat quickly and move along.

Likewise, in the multi-billion dollar Casino and gaming industry, colors, patterns, lighting, music and even 'aromatherapy' scents are used throughout casinos to keep patrons awake and on a seeming adrenaline rush, enough to keep them sitting at their slot machines or gaming tables frittering away their money.

We also observed that you can't usually see the out-of-doors from the casinos because they don't want you to think about how it might be your usual bedtime or breakfast time...they want to keep you focused on one thing...wasting spending your hard-earned money.

After seeing the sights during the day, we were all exhausted and crashed back in our hotel suite where we talked long into the night, having so much catching up to do.

The hotel casinos were arranged in such a way that even if you wanted to get a late night coffee or a snack from one of their little bistros, you had to first wend your way through casinos which they hoped would entice you to sit down and play.

We noticed that all the carpets in every casino we passed through were wildly patterned and colored versions which had been very carefully researched and selected to contribute to guests spending.

We determined amongst ourselves that it's all a very elaborate scam.

It was sad to see how many elderly people were sitting alone at machines, as though they'd come in alone on a tour bus, and aimlessly whiled away their time and money.

Nobody ever seems to 'win' anything, but many play on the slim chance they would, and far too many get sucked into spending way more than they should.

As we wandered around the hotels and other sights along the strip, I found that I craved the sunlight and out of doors. Probably because of all the smoke hanging in the air. In Las Vegas they permit smoking indoors. I'm so thankful for the clean air laws in public places back home.

During the course of the weekend, that smoke triggered more than one unpleasant episode for me and one of the other girls (who didn't even have asthma). Nasty stuff, that second-hand smoke!

We girls did have a fantastic time catching up, hanging out by our hotel pool, shopping and catching up over meals.

It was awesome how things just picked up right where they had left off the last time.

We had such a blast together, just as we always did back in college.

I sure do love these gals, and am so glad the Lord dropped us into each other's lives as roomies 20 years ago.

By far, our favorite place of the entire weekend was located just beneath the Eiffel Tower replica.

It was an indoor mall of sorts which had carefully rounded moldings throughout the vast space and was painted in trompe l'oeil, with store fronts built to resemble the streets of Paris or old Europe. Much like an elaborate set in a movie studio.

While it was creative and beautiful and fun to walk through, something in there triggered a serious coughing attack that I wasn't sure I would recover from.

I suspect now that it was probably a combination of an inadequate air-exchange, filtering and ventilation system for as many people as were crowded inside, cigarette smoke, and possible off-gassing from whatever materials they used to recreate the faux base of the Eiffel Tower, which extended into the building there as though we were walking beneath it.

Whatever it was, it had the same musty, asthma-inducing odor that certain places in amusement parks have when they employ large amounts of wire mesh and that expanding foam stuff they use to sculpt fake rock and whatnot to create a semi-realistic 'look' to a ride.

Whatever it was made for a constant tickle in my throat that didn't go away until we entered the nearby restaurant for dinner.

This was perhaps our favorite place in all of Vegas.

The French restaurant, Mon Ami.

The food was a bit spendy but spectacular.

The cool thing was, we didn't feel terribly guilty eating there, because we hadn't lost money in Las Vegas.

As a matter of fact, we had all earned a little extra cash during our weekend in Vegas.

There were two places Tour Guide Mary knew of along the strip, both tied to major TV studios, where you could preview upcoming, in-the-works TV programs, take a computerized survey afterward and get a handful of Vegas coupons and $15 or $20 for your efforts, depending on how long the process took. Both were under an hour from start to finish. In the end, we each earned $35 cash.

We all sat together and previewed the same program, but could not speak to each other until after we left. They also requested we put our cameras away. It was clear they wanted our direct individual attention and opinion, not influenced by anyone else.

In both places, we were given a handheld device with a button on it which you either held or depressed at various points throughout the preview, depending on whether or not you liked or would walk away from whatever you were watching. In this way you 'rated' the entire episode moment by moment.

Afterwards there was a multiple choice survey which you took on a computer and depending on what your gut reactions were to the programming using the hand-held device earlier, you had the opportunity to explain your like or dislike of it.

We were glad to be able to give our input on one show we hope never goes into production because of a very poor portrayal of family values, and another which had a fresh and interesting take on the whole 'big brother' thing, but involved too much senseless violence and reckless behavior by the main characters in the story which never showed the reality...the naturally resulting consequences of their actions, which we all felt would be very misleading to younger, more impressionable viewers.

While this was an interesting experience, we all felt a bit dismayed with the types of things showing up in TV shows today which are deemed to be 'entertainment' by the producers and networks. A lot of garbage, for sure.

We also walked away with a very real awareness of how much money the studios were willing to lay out to hone their upcoming TV shows, with distinct agendas, which are then foisted upon an unsuspecting viewing public who may not even realize they are being influenced and shaped by what they view/hear on a regular basis.

A great deal of money is being spent to dictate what Television and Movie viewers see, and like it or not, the standards are nowhere near as high as they were 30 or 40 years ago and are far more influential to the course our society is on than we might like to believe.

While we did appreciate the cash that helped pay for our dinner, the experience only served to further cement in us the desire to limit network and cable programming, as well as a host of other influences in our homes.

My roomies and I found plenty of time to kick back, rest and reminisce. Here we found a little outdoor cafe where we could rest beneath the palm trees and misters as it was a scorcher of a day.

Andrea and I roomed together on campus during our freshman summer.

Lynette and Mary were my Freshman year roomies.

We've all been great friends ever since. We all still have so much in common and share so many memories from that golden year of our lives.

Though it was hot, and we all got a bit sunburned, we had a fabulous time catching up.

It's something we all hope to make an annual event, maybe switching to a beachy locale next time around.

When Lynette and Mary boarded their earlier flights on Sunday, Andrea and I headed off for more shopping at an outlet mall, and took in a movie and grabbed a bite to eat before I dropped her off at the airport for her flight home.

Exhausted, I made the long, unusually windy drive back home to my own family. It had been a most wonderful weekend.

:: :: :: ::

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Jeff had decided to take the boys and their cousin K on a little nature hike on Saturday.

It involved a huge outcropping of large rocks

a rather daring climb (along with a bunch of the resulting battle scars, scrapes and skinned up knees)

a nest of owlets

a giant gopher snake (which they encountered way up high on the rock formation, mind you) and which Judah poked at with the toy sword he'd brought along on the hike.

I know it looks like it might be, but that's not the snake near Judah. At least I don't think it was. Oh, mercy... However, he is in a cave or animal den of some kind. I'm quite sure I don't even want to know the story behind that picture.

The view from the top was all worth it, though, at least from their perspective.

Beautiful, yes, but I must say I was relieved that they did this particular trip without me.

I'm afraid I don't do dangerous climbs with rambunctious 5 year olds or knife bearing teenagers or snakes very well at all.