I Gave Her My Heart, She Gave Me A Pen

The group known as the Paperhand Puppet Intervention puts on a big show every year that runs for 5 weeks in August and September. They offer 3 showings a week, and they sell out almost every night. We arrived 30 minutes before start time and had a picnic as the crowd filed in.


The performance this year was called "I am an Insect." The first scene was about a little girl watching all the insects play while her grandfather, the scientist, took a nap.




Notice the grandfather sleeping to the right of the stage.


One of the best things about the performance is the live band that plays the "soundtrack." It takes the show to a whole different level.


Don't forget about the rare break-dancing beetle.




I think I'm going to try to teach myself how to walk on stilts. It seems like so much fun.


While the show is geared towards people of all ages, there are some serious political and anti-capitalistic undertones.
Grasshoppers on bikes knocked over buckets of "oil and money" and shots were taken at our president. Most people in the crowd supported the views of the PPI, but you could see some people were very uncomfortable while many cheered in agreement.


The spider with glowing eyes was really cool. (Spiders are not insects are they?)




Every year they walk one large puppet through the crowd. Last year a 20 foot Buddha passed over the crowd with out stretched arms.

Check out their website for more puppets!
http://www.paperhand.org/

A Coat of White Primer

I spent an amazing week in Austin, TX with Rebecca's two sisters and her 6 nieces and nephews. Here are some of the highlights before my camera ran out of batteries:


The first order of business (ten minutes after I arrived) was to play Lake Ball. This is similar to baseball but if someone hits the ball into the lake you have to jump in and go get it before they score. This is Kate up to bat.


Grant likes to slide into home plate with style.


It pays to be tall in Lake Ball.


Then we went tubing.


Having two tubes was great because you were able to jump back and forth as Brett demonstrates here.


Rebecca and Paige.


I tried wake surfing, which is like wake boarding but your feet are not strapped in. I failed miserably on the first day.


But on my second day, I stood up and got a few nice rides.


Kate got dressed up for our talent show.






There were the alphabet olympics, a magic show, a lion tamer and his lion, sword fighting, a history of music complete with dancers, and much much more.


One day we took a drive to Hamilton Pool, a fresh body of water with a waterfall.


Rachel, Grant, Paige, and Brett


The water temperature was perfect, but since it had been over a week since the last rain fall, the water fall was only a small trickle.


There were fun rocks to run around if you wanted to stay out of the sun.


We drew upside down faces on people's chins.


And Brett just drew a small goatee on his chin.


Kate and I didn't fair so well playing UNO Attack. Both of our hands were full of cards.


Rebecca in the middle of Cousin Soup. Clockwise from Left: Rebecca, Brett, Jack, Rachel, Grant, Kate, Paige


We also went rock climbing.




Rebecca and her two older sisters Connie and Kimberly.




Paige showing off her amazing strength.

Give Me One Reason Not To Do It

I received an email the other day saying that Grey was coming back form Peru for a visit. We were a bit shocked at this but excited just the same. However, when Tim went to pick him up from the airport things just didn't feel right...


"Grey, you have lost a lot of weight... and shrunk in size?"
"Just shut up and take me home tubby."


Grey did the usual things he does so we didn't think much of it at the time. He had a dirty mustache and drank like he used to...


He looked at the internet all day long...
"Hey, have you guys seen this video yet? What about you? Have you seen it?"


He left the blender in the sink...
"I'll clean this up later guys."


He left cabinet doors open...
"No!!! I wasn't going to leave it like that!"


He ate the last cookie.
"Nom nom nom"


He shopped at clothing stores for gay men...
"Hey guys, come check out my cute new jean shorts."


He even went to Rob's Birthday party at the Community Center.
"Hey Rub!! Happy Birthday Rub!!"




We made Rob climb with a My Little Pony balloon tied to his harness.


This was a card that Tim made. The front of the card said, "It takes a village to raise a child." The inside read, "And by the way you turned out we know what Village you were raised by."
I love that I'm the guy in leather. Vijay is the sailor, Grey the indian, Tim does construction work by night, and Rob has a summer job on Brokeback Mountain.


We started to get suspicious when Grey started acting strange.
"Don't worry guys, I'll take out the recycling."


"Sleep tight Rob, it will all be over soon..."

We miss you Grey. Be safe and learn lots of spanish.