Maxed Out Puppetry's new video

Hey all,

Our Maxed Out Puppetry website has been redesigned, and J. Max has just added our newest video--our adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "The Elephant's Child or How the Elephant Got its Trunk." feel free to check it out!

http://www.maxedoutpuppetry.com/2009/07/29/the-elephants-child-or-how-the-elephant-got-its-trunk/

There are lots of other videos of our puppet sketches at the same site, too.

Bullwinkle and bellydancing (not both at the same time.)

We had lots of fun with Grams, Grandpa John, and Holly out for about a week-- a visit marred only by its brevity. We tried to fit all that we could into the visit though. During the visit, we celebrated bithdays and Xander's baptism, visited the zoo, saw Kelly do a beautiful dance in the park, hung out--we were even able to attend the Oquirrh Temple Open House.

We commemorated Pioneer Day this year engaging in an activity pioneers got heartily sick of--we went hiking. We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to visit Cecret Lake (in the word "Cecret," the 9 is silent.) The hike was supposed to be less than a mile, with less than 400 feet of gain. That sounded manageable for a family with fairly young children, so we gave it a go. The wildflowers and views were stunning, and we did eventually reach the lake. To the delight of all, it was full of larval tiger salamanders (if you've never seen one, they have several sets feathery external gills--a similar relative is often called a "mudpuppy.") On the way back, we were lucky enough to see a large bull moose, who was grazing perhpas 50-60 feet from the path. We cautioned the kids to remain quiet and not to approach it. We snapped some nice photos and even took a short, somewhat fuzzy video clip. The moose did not seem in the least bothered by the spectators, but when it slowly started to wander a little closer, we decided it was time to leave. Afterwards I told the kids that they were fortunate--that was only the 3rd moose I had ever seen in the wild, and never had I been so close to one. We were also fortunate it was in a peaceful mood.

Yesterday was the bellydance benefit for Viktoriya. It went so well!!! We had a full house, people bought lots of raffle tickets, and the auction went well. I feel like we had wonderfully kind hearted people in charge of this (thank you LaRa and the rest of Barefoot Bellydance!!), and the show was fantastic. Our group did really well-and I think one of my favorite parts of our performance was that Rus was sitting in the front row. It was the first time I felt like I could see him really well during a performance. Anya was so beautiful I cried. Viktoriya's daughter Nikol did a solo. She looked so much like her mother I wanted to cry again. It was really fabulous to see the community come together and work for this. Enjoy some pics : )

A note to Su and Sun

Hi all-

Su and Sun- if you read this can you please send me an email? The email address I have for you isn't working, and we don't want to lose touch with you. Please email me if you see this, or leave a comment here with your working email address.

we love you!

Kelly

Hello! We have Kelly's parents and sister, Holly, visiting, so I'm not taking much time to type right now, but here are pictures from the weekend. Rus' new bonsai plant we got him for his birthday, Xander with his binoculars, Rus' blowfish picture from his birthday on Saturday, Holly with Isaac, Laurelin, and Gwen; Rus, Kelly and Xander on his baptism day, the kid cousins at Xander's baptism

Sorry about the order of the pictures. Something isn't working right. I tried!

About two weeks ago, I sold 20 baby Bristlenose Catfish for $40.00, and put the male and female back together. I now have another batch of ½ inch babies beginning to leave the nest—I suspect the warmer summer temperatures helped the eggs to hatch sooner.

Xander had his Knight and Dragon themed birthday party more than a week ago in the park near our house. They challenged to dragon to rescue the princesses, had boffer sword fights…Xander was heartily pleased.

On Monday we had a brief but fun reunion with a number of good friends we hadn’t seen in far too long They came from faraway exotic places like Orem, Spanish Fork, Huntsville, and even Poland! The first meeting was at the zoo, and then the rest joined in at Applebee’s for Xander’s birthday dinner.

At his track meet the next day, Xander beat his prior records at the long jump and shot put, bringing his long jump up tp 5'11", and his shot put to 8'.

Yesterday, after a Maxed Out Puppetry performance at the Freedom Festival in Provo, we had a fun time at Grandma and Grandpa Wilson’s house: First, a barbecue, and then a kid-friendly Daylight Firework Festival.

Kid quotes of the week:

Gwen: (referring to imaginary foes in an elaborate game she was playing with the other kids) I know how to defeat these little stinkers! Just get their bums out of their heads!

???

Gwen: Please!

Isaac: Say ‘pretty please with a cherry on top.’

Gwen: I don’t WANT a cherry on top!

Rus: Ma che sono questi? (“What are these things?” referring to some large, red, presumably decorative spheres outside Target. He was talking to Kelly, and did not make any sort of gesture.)

Xander: You mean those red spheres?

Xander understood the Italian, without even realizing that I had been speaking it!

Laurelin: There are three kinds of bad guys. Sort of bad, really, bad, and evil.

Gwen: Or Medieval!

Laurelin: Girls are very special. They are the gateway to life.

Xander: Well, boys are the key!

(Not bad for two kids who don’t even know how everything works yet.)

We were in the car, listening to a silly song called “I Never Go to Work.”

Gwen, to Rus: Babbo, I wish we lived in that song so you never had to go to work.