Circus!

Lauren is forming her own circus. She will star as the only performer-but then she won't have to compete for attention. I don't even know what these sticks are called, but they are her new passion. She spends every moment outside practicing with them. The trick is that you have two sticks and you use them to toss the other stick back and forth. If you are really brave, you can launch it in the air, get it twirling like a baton, or just fling it from side to side. It sounds like a simple concept, but putting it into practice is much more difficult.

I bought them years ago at a Saturday's Market in Anchorage. They were sold at a little Russian shop, but I've seen them since at the Renaissance Fair. Anyway, I've been surprised at how well Lauren's picked it up. I know it took me a few hours to catch on. Although in my defense, I was dodging moose in the backyard at the time. . .

She can even walk across the lawn, tossing them back and forth, with her eyes closed. Ask me how I know. . .well, I've seen it at least a hundred time in the past two days. But that's what moms and summers are for I suppose.

And to top it all off, she will even have a wild animal in her show. Yes, that is a tarnatula she is holding, but no, it is not alive. However, she is keeping it as a conversation starter. Cade's girlfriends come over, and it is the first thing she pulls out. A couple days ago, Cade called us to say that he found it on the road, but couldn't catch it. (Oddly enough, the thing didn't want to crawl into his baseball glove.) So the girls and I walked down the road to catch it, but right before we got there, someone ran it over. Luckily, that didn't stop us (actually it made it easier). We picked it up, tossed it in a bucket, and Lauren now has a second act for her circus.